Christmas appears to have come early for the Central Kitsap School District and the 870 students expected to graduate as the class of 2009.

With more stringent graduation requirements including passing the reading, writing and math components of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), this year’s seniors are ahead of last year’s class in terms of meeting those requirements, CKSD Executive Director of Secondary Education Shirley Kenmochi told the CKSD Board of Directors at its meeting Wednesday night at the Jenne-Wright Administration Center.

“I think we’re pretty unusual as a school district that we’re talking about individual students and whether or not they’re passing a course,” CKSD Superintendent Greg Lynch said.

In order for a student to achieve senior status, they must have earned 16 credits at the end of their junior year, Kenmochi said, noting that out of the 996 students expected to be seniors, 126 are ineligible, reducing this year’s senior class to 870 students.

“The numbers are down, so that is good,” Kenmochi said. “We think students are taking the tests more seriously.”

This year, only 216 students have met the standard on either the reading, writing, math or one or more parts of the WASL compared to 256 students at the same time last year, she said.

Even with the new WASL math requirement for graduation, Kenmochi said districtwide there are fewer students who must fulfill those requirements before they can graduate.

For those students, who haven’t yet met the graduation standards, district and school staffs are making a concerted effort to ensure those students have ample opportunities to do so before graduation, Kenmochi said.

“It tells us at the school level, they’re all over that, and we’re driving the numbers down,” board president Bruce Richards said. “It’s that in November/December this year, we know what we’re faced with in spring/summer.”

Lynch credited the school board for tackling the graduation issue last year as the results are being demonstrated with this year’s senior class.

“The added benefit is it’s just not focusing on the seniors,” Lynch said. “It’s focusing on sophomores and juniors.”