In a press release Friday, Johnston County Public Schools announced they have determined that 13 students who were declared graduates during the 2018- 2019 school year at Clayton High School did not attain the minimum state graduation requirements in order to receive a high school diploma.
State Board Policy requires all students in North Carolina Public Schools meet a minimum state number of 22 credits to be eligible to receive a high school diploma.
Johnston County Public Schools immediately reported this information to the Accountability Services Division of the NC Department of Public Instruction today (Friday). Johnston County School policy requires 28 credits for graduation. Based on a review of all available data, these students did not meet either requirement.
Officials say they are contacting each of the 13 students involved and will provide resources to assist them in resolving the requirements needed. Further, JCPS has communicated with the Department of Public Instruction on corrective action.
Superintendent Dr. Jim Causby states, “I regret this situation with these students and assure them that JCPS will do all that we can to provide them every opportunity to meet these graduation requirements.”
As a part of the ongoing review, previous graduation data at Clayton High School is being examined and any other requirements which have not been met will be self-reported to the Department of Public Instruction. It is a requirement of each school to verify their graduation data in a report to the state each year. In these cases, reviews of the students’ transcripts indicated these students should not have been reported as graduates of Clayton High School with the appropriate requirements.
