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What with bronze medals, a spot on the podium and a shot at your name on a plaque, third place isn’t all bad. But when Medford landed third in a report by 24/7 Wall St., published in USA Today, of “the 25 worst cities in the U.S. to raise children,” locals were less than excited. The listicle’s authors said they ranked metro areas based on four metrics: violent crime rate, children’s access to exercise, graduation rates and preschool enrollment rates. “Some parts of the country struggle to provide a good environment for childhood development,” it said. Using those parameters, the authors said only two U.S. cities were worse places to raise kids: Battle Creek, Michigan, and Farmington, New Mexico. But it appears the metrics used for Medford were in some cases outdated and at least head-scratching in others, leading one city official to describe the report as “a bunch of hooey.” The article, which made the rounds via social media and email, prompted reactions in the community typically ranging from offended to dismayed, with others doubtful or just confused. Ryan Mallory, a Talent marketing professional and founder of the Jackson County Scanner Group, shared the article to the group’s Facebook page Aug. 18. Over the next few days, it racked up more than 120 comments. “I figured the public should know what USA Today is saying about them locally,” Mallory said. Here’s the breakdown on the metrics used in the report: Preschool enrollment Michelle Homer Anderson, director of Southern Oregon Head Start, saw the ranking when a co-worker emailed the article to her. “When you see it, the initial reaction is like, ‘Oh, jeez,’” Homer Anderson said. The organization she leads works with preschool-age and younger children, one of the metrics where Medford scored lowest in the list. 24/7 Wall Street said Medford’s preschool enrollment rate for 3- and 4-year-olds is 34.5 percent, according to the 2016 American Community Survey, updated annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. But the 2016 survey reports 42.9 percent of Medford’s 3- to 4-year-olds as being enrolled in school — still 4.6 percentage points below the national average for preschool enrollment at 47.5 percent, but the margin is smaller than reported. Homer Anderson said statewide issues contribute to the more restricted access to preschool in the Medford area. “Most other states fund preschool in a broader way so that virtually all children receive preschool services,” she said. “We currently have a shortage of trained early educators because they are paid about half what a public teacher makes, and the benefits aren’t as robust as public schools, which have PERS and family health care.” Graduation rate “One out of every four Medford, Oregon area high school students failed to graduate high school on time,” the paragraph about Medford opens. A striking number — but is it true? Well, once it was. But Medford School District has improved its graduation rate since 2015, which is the school year referenced in all of 24/7 Wall St.’s rankings. Medford’s graduation rate was just over 77 percent in 2016 and just over 78 percent in 2017 — so the districtwide rate is on an upward trajectory. Oregon’s statewide graduation rate in 2017 was 77 percent. The district did fall short of a self-imposed 80 percent target rate for 2017, which was a benchmark in its pursuit of a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020, but officials continue to focus on graduation rates. North Medford High School’s 2017 graduation rate hit 90 percent, followed by Logos Public Charter School at 87 percent and South Medford High School at 83 percent. But the district’s alternative school, Medford Opportunity High School, recorded a 31 percent graduation rate. District officials hope to boost graduation rates in part through more emphasis on career and technical education. The district will have received nearly $3.65 million in Measure 98 funding by the end of the 2017-19 biennium and is introducing more diverse CTE courses at South Medford and North Medford high schools. In line with statewide trends, Medford students who participated in at least one CTE course graduated in 2017 at a rate 9.3 percentage points higher than the districtwide rate. Violent crime Citing data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting, the article notes that Medford’s violent crime rate is lower than the national average but says children are still impacted by property crime — and theft in particular. Medford police Lt. Mike Budreau is skeptical of that assessment. “I’m not sure that property crime can correlate to ‘bad place to raise a child’ or ‘dangerous cities,’” he said. Budreau said that Medford often is named as a high-crime area because of the size of Medford Police Department relative to its coverage area. In more densely populated urban areas where more people call for service, he said, police departments have to choose more carefully which calls they respond to. That impacts crime rates. “It seems to me that this doesn’t paint the full picture of what it feels like to be raised in Southern Oregon,” he said. But Budreau also said the lack of capacity in the county jail contributes to repeat offenses, which drive up crime rates. Access to exercise Considering Medford’s location in a region known for its outdoor recreation, this metric caused a good deal of the confusion among residents about their city’s ranking. Rich Rosenthal, director of Medford Parks, Recreation and Facilities, called the ranking “a bunch of hooey.” The way 24/7 Wall St. determined this is based on data from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, which is a partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. To determine what percentage of the population has access to exercise, the program tracks who lives in close proximity to a “location for physical activity.” It defines that as living in a census block within a half mile of a park, within one mile of a recreational facility in urban settings or, in rural census blocks, within three miles of a recreational facility. Using data from the 2010 census and another metric from 2016, the program determined only 36 percent of Medford children have access to exercise. Rosenthal said that Medford has an above-average ratio of park acres to population for a city of its size, offering more than 2,500 acres at 27 park sites. U.S. Cellular Community Park, in particular, draws attention to Medford, he said. “We routinely receive phone calls both from municipalities and private developers wanting to know how the city of Medford was able to build a facility of this size, caliber and quality,” he said. “All the facts lead to a simple conclusion that many, many people know that Medford is a great place to live, work and play.” Looking to the future, he said, Medford Parks, Recreation and Facilities is working to create more gyms and indoor recreation facilities. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Kaylee Tornay at [email protected] or 541-776-4497. Follow her on Twitter @ ka_tornay .