Graduation Rates, and the Big City.

Well - now everyone is in an uproar over graduation rates. Shock and awe.

Those of us who have lived elsewhere are unsuprised by this news, to be honest.

From USA Today:

Lowest to highest graduation rates in the nation's 50 largest school districts

Rate	District	Size rank	Rate	District	Size rank	Rate	District	Size rank
21.7	Detroit	11	53.7	New Orleans	48	68.4	Gwinnett County, Ga.	20
38.5	Baltimore City, Md.	30	53.8	Duval County, Fla.	19	68.6	Brevard County, Fla.	42
38.9	New York City	1	54.6	Clark County, Nev.	6	69.3	Fulton County, Ga.	45
43.1	Milwaukee	28	54.8	DeKalb County, Ga.	27	70.0	Hillsborough County, Fla.	10
43.8	Cleveland	44	55.1	Austin	37	70.2	Anne Arundel County, Md.	40
44.2	Los Angeles	2	55.2	Palm Beach County, Fla.	12	70.4	Cobb County, Ga.	26
45.3	Miami-Dade County, Fla.	4	55.5	Philadelphia	8	72.2	Granite, Utah	46
46.3	Dallas	13	56.0	Charlotte	23	75.3	Mesa, Ariz.	39
46.5	Pinellas County, Fla.	22	56.2	Orange County, Fla.	15	75.8	Northside, Tex.	49
46.8	Denver	43	60.1	Polk County, Fla.	34	77.0	Jefferson County, Colo.	33
48.5	Memphis	21	62.2	Jefferson County, Ky.	31	80.2	Jordan, Utah	41
48.7	Broward County, Fla.	5	63.0	San Diego	16	81.3	Cypress-Fairbanks, Tex.	47
48.9	Fort Worth	36	63.1	Fresno	35	81.5	Montgomery County, Md.	17
48.9	Houston	7	63.7	Hawaii (statewide)	9	81.9	Baltimore County, Md.	24
50.4	Nashville	50	66.5	Virginia Beach	38	82.2	Wake County, N.C.	25
52.0	Albuquerque	32	67.3	Prince George's County, Md.	18	82.5	Fairfax County, Va.	14
52.2	Chicago	3	68.1	Long Beach	29		Gee - guess we are not alone. Counties quite often do better than cities. So get over it. The only way to change it is with more parental involvement.

Stealing Thunder

Well the City Market building went off without a hitch, for now. I wonder if the Health Dept. cited anyone for carpet in the food prep area this time...

Doubtful though. 

Bowers, our overly intellegent and highly unintelligible mayor, has been stricken with "Soundbite"-itis. From the "Whatever makes Chico happy..." to the 9/11 - City Market comparison, it looks like having Bowers as mayor will be amusing, if not exactly groundbreaking.

But the big news, at least as I see it - all those biatching and moaning about nothing to do here might finally have something to keep them placated.

A major amusement/restaurant chain might/should/is coming to the Roanoke area.

How soon? I cannot say. Where? I do not know. Why? Thats obvious. 

Anyone have any stories for Haunted Roanoke? This year, I'm not forgetting to tell the tales. Starting on the 21st, 10 days straight of stories from Roanoke's past. Not all of them scary, but certainly all of them as real as they can be.

Talk to you soon, oh - and 1 month, 20 days till Black Friday.