South Side’s graduation rate among top on Long Island

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South Side High School’s graduation rate was the third highest on Long Island, according to data recently released by the state Education Department.

“I know that very often people don’t want to hear about numbers, and we don’t try to tell our story using numbers, but the numbers do make a difference because they are things that people examine and look at,” said Rockville Centre Schools Superintendent Dr. William Johnson during the Board of Education’s Feb. 6 meeting.

A total of 99.6 percent of seniors graduated from South Side in 2018, with nearly 92 percent earning a Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation. Among Long Island schools, the graduation rate trailed only Manhasset Secondary School and Fishers Island School, which each posted a 100 percent rate last year.

Last fall, South Side was among 349 schools nationwide and 20 in the state to be named a National Blue Ribbon School, which recognizes schools based on their standards, overall academic performance, and its progress in closing achievement gaps among different groups, like minorities and special education students.

“I’m very proud to be a part of an incredible system that I think lives up to all of the expectations of the people who move here and live here in this community,” Johnson said, “and want to have their children educated in these public schools.”