Getting with the program

By Staff
Sept. 7, 2003
Superintendents of Meridian and Lauderdale County's public schools say they are pleased overall with school performance ratings released last week by the Mississippi Department of Education. Yet both Sylvia Autry and David Little know there is much more work to be done.
Meridian and Lauderdale County each had one school ranked at Level 5, or superior. In Meridian the top-performing school was Poplar Springs Elementary. In Lauderdale County the top-performing school was West Lauderdale Attendance Center.
The city school district had two schools rated at Level 1, or low-performing Carver Middle School and Kate Griffin Junior High School. While the number of low-performing schools in the city district dropped from six last year when the state ranked school performance in its pilot accountability program, clearly those two schools need to get with the program.
All in all, while we know the job is hardly finished, local schools do seem to be making some headway in performance ratings. We take it as a good sign and encourage students, parents, teachers, principals and administrators to keep it up.