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The Butler County Board of Education convened on Jan.18 and Superintendent Joseph Eiland commenced the meeting by acknowledging the hard work and commitment of its five board members. Carolyn Crenshaw, Eric Gomillion, Michael Nimmer, Wayne Boswell, and Brandon Sellers were honored with certificates for their dedication to Butler County Schools. 

Eiland expressed his pride in serving alongside these individuals, highlighting their significant contributions to the district.

“These five board members are heavily entrenched in Butler County Schools, and that is not the case across Alabama,” Eiland said. “With the horror stories that I hear, it makes me very proud that I serve with these five individuals in a district like Butler County.”

Following the recognition, Donna Ash, director of curriculum and instruction, presented an overview of 2023 Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP) scores, focusing on the performance of second-grade students. 

According to Ash, growth is down, but math and reading scores are on the rise. She emphasized that overall achievement scores have shown an upward trend, aligning with projections. 

Ash also expressed optimism that recent staff changes would contribute to further improvements.

“This is what we expected,” Ash said. “Based on the final results, you will see that within maybe 2 percentage points in any category, we had projected correctly.”

Additionally, Ash noted that chronic absenteeism continues to be a problem within the school system. 

The meeting concluded with a personnel report and an approval to initiate the advertising process for bids on Chromebooks.