George County School district has received an A-ranking for the third straight year.
Annually, the Mississippi Department of Education’s accountability system gives each Mississippi School an A-F ranking on the basis of state test performance, graduation rates, year to year improvement and other displays of a school’s commitment to success. To the schools, community and to the states the ranking serves as an indicator to these values.
For the first time in the district’s history, no schools have fallen below a B. Elementary schools that received a B are Agricola, Benndale and L.T. Taylor. Achieving an A are Central, L.C. Hatcher and Rocky Creek. The middle school received a B and the high school, an A, as well as a place in the Top 20 Mississippi High Schools for 2024.
Assistant Principal Brittany Brown and Superintendent Wade Whitney express their satisfaction with this achievement.
“I am beyond proud of our faculty, school, students- it is not easy to be in the Top 20 of high schools in Mississippi. It’s a very competitive state of mind that you have to live in and dwell in, and we’re not just in it, we are thriving, and I’m proud of all the work and dedication that they’ve put into getting us there,” Brown said.
“It doesn’t happen without high quality students and high quality staff. It doesn’t happen, I’m just the superintendent.” Whitney said. “The success of our school district is firmly aligned with students and staff- firmly aligned. I’m just the guy that stirs the pot, because all of the ingredients for our district to be successful are already here.”
Having happened three times back to back, this is considered to be the new standard for our schools.
“I am very optimistic that we will not only continue to achieve an A-ranking, but that we will exceed that A-ranking,” Brown said.
While proficiency in state testing can be a difficult hurdle when working towards this ranking, English II teacher Brittney Roberts has seen that students can and have pushed past this.
“State testing is a very unique beast in that the culmination of all of your knowledge as a student comes to this one day, this one test, and there are a lot of factors that go into that one day. From the room being cold to maybe not getting great sleep the night before, we recognize that as your teachers. The state has to see us achieve certain goals though,” Roberts said, “ So everything we can do to mitigate those and try to avoid things like that so we can perform our best I think is the best we can do.”
Overall the teachers and administration are proud of their staff, their students and the district.
“At the end of the day, the teachers, we’re here to lead students to their greatness, but it is their achievement. If they want to achieve their goals they can do hard things. That’s a motto in Mrs. Roberts’ class- you can do hard things,” Roberts said.
“I think the only other thing I would add is that I’m just beyond grateful every day to be part of a team and part of a school where people truly care about each other, they truly care about their students, and the commitment to success cannot be undermined. You have to give our faculty and staff all the credit because if they were not committed to this, students would not be reaching the level of success they are,” Brown said
“The students in our district, the staff in our district and the community deserve schools that are high performing- and that is our objective every single year. To produce high-performing students, produce high-performing schools, and in turn, you will have a high-performing school district.” Whitney said.
