The Alabama Department of Education handed down their annual accountability Report Cards for the 2002-03 School Year last Thursday.

Butler County received a mixed bag of reviews.

There were many areas that the county school system showed improvement. However, there were many more areas that showed an immediate need for improvement.

One school in particular showed a great deal of progress.

McKenzie School was found to be clear in all areas even surpassing expectations in some.

For McKenzie School, 100 percent of last years’ seniors passed the graduation exam. This means that every senior was able to receive a diploma.

McKenzie surpassed even the national average of 92.5 percent for this category.

Grade four for McKenzie also received all A’s on the SAT 10 test.

McKenzie Principal Randy Williams was quick to pass the credit for the good reviews.

&uot;I think that all the credit should go to the students, teachers and parents,&uot; said Williams. &uot;Our teachers have done an excellent job and I think that they have really motivated the students to do well.&uot;

Williams said his school does its best to take advantage of the resources given.

&uot;We have three active plans that I think help tremendously,&uot; said Williams. &uot;We have a Title I plan, a SACS plan and we have a school wide plan of our own to follow.&uot;

Williams and his faculty have stuck to their plan very closely and kept the channels of communication flowing.

&uot;I meet with the faculty at least twice a month,&uot; said Williams. &uot;We try to keep communication wide open so that we can discuss what our students need.&uot;

Georgiana High School Principal Roland Pettie was also pleased with his school’s progress though he saw room for improvement.

&uot;I think that we did very well overall,&uot; said Pettie. &uot;We really need to improve on our writing scores.

Georgiana High School Counselor Janice Davis felt that the programs are in place to make improvements.

&uot;We have three main programs going now that should help,&uot; said Davis.

&uot;We have tutors in class, after school and in the community. We tutor them in the areas that they show a need and when they are able to pass the test move them to another one.&uot;

Greenville High School Principal Dr. Kathy Murphy said her school plans to set higher goals to motivate her students.

&uot;Right now 87 percent of our seniors are passing the graduation exam,&uot; said Murphy. &uot;Our goal is to get that number up to 90 percent to get the school on clear status.&uot;

As a whole the outlook for Butler County school system was bleak.

The system received low marks in many areas.

However, Wayne Boswell, administrative assistant for student services, said the system is in no danger of being taken over by the state.

&uot;This is just a system that the department puts out to give the parents a letter grade,&uot; said Boswell. &uot;By letting them see a letter grade they can better understand how the schools are doing.&uot;

Boswell said all the system can do now is move ahead and try to improve.

&uot;We are not pleased with all of the results, but there were several areas that we did well in,&uot; said Boswell. &uot;What we have to do now is review what we have and try harder. Hopefully we will see a lot of improvement next time.&uot;

The Butler County School system will undergo another accountability assessment in August.

At that time the system will be reviewed again and a decision will be made as to whether state intervention will be needed.