Riverbank High School welcomed its students and parents to an evening of explanation at its Back to School Night on campus last Thursday, Aug. 25.

RHS Principal Dr. Sean Richey greeted attendees in the Ray Fauria Memorial Gymnasium for a brief presentation before they were dismissed to classrooms and their teachers.

Along with introducing district officials who were present along with teachers and administrators, Richey described the school’s goals.

“Riverbank High School is about putting students first by providing a nurturing community that creates responsible problem solvers, critical thinkers and career or college ready young adults.” Richey said.

He also displayed a series of charts that showed the progress the district has made in education standards over the past five years. Among other indicators, he showed how RHS has risen from an 87 percent graduation rate in the 2010-11 school year to an almost 93 percent rate last year.

Over the same period, he showed, Riverbank High regularly exceeded county and state graduation rates, by about 10 percent.

The principal also spoke of the major innovation in this year’s instruction for students, the issuance of a Chrome Book laptop to each student.

He pointed out that physical textbooks will be used less and collaboration with classmates through the Internet will be encouraged.

After his introduction, the bell rang and everyone went to their first period classroom.