The Simpson County School District has maintained a “C” rating despite the fact that under the newly adopted rating system the district received a “D.”
The highest scoring in the state was the Petal School District, which received a total of 734 points. The lowest was 418 points, and that distinction went to the Leflore County School District.
We spoke with Superintendent Greg Paes, who says he is seeing some improvement but indicated that some of the school still have a long way to go. He said the district should have a “C” rating but is working to achieve a “B” rating and feels it is realistic to expect a “B.”
Paes said one of the most difficult obstacles facing the school district is finding and retaining good qualified teachers. He said the district has quality teachers but this problem is not unique to Simpson County. He said many of the other districts are having similar issues recruiting and retaining good teachers,
He said one of big goals is to recruit homegrown teachers. He said they are vested in the community and want to do well. He is hopeful that items like the new elementary and other building programs will increase student enrollment but he was realistic also and realizes it doesn’t come overnight.
He said he is working with administrators whose grades are not where they need to be to develop improvement plans to get their schools where they need to be in order to help the students to improve their grades.
Simpson County came in with a 526 point rating. Under the new standards that would have been a D however because ratings changed the district was able to maintain either the higher new rating or retain the old rating.
There were however some highlights for the county. Mendenhall High went from a D to a B rating. Simpson Central was able to with a total point score of 436. Mendenhall Elementary maintained a C rating with a total score of 336.
Mendenhall Junior High stayed at a D rating with a 305. Magee Elementary kept a D rating with a score of 280. Magee Middle School is D rated with a 277. Mendenhall High went from a D to a B however under the new system it would have been a C. They had a total of 630 points. Magee High maintained a C rating however under the new system they would have gotten a D with a total of 580 points.
All schools will fall under the new system next year unless the state department of education changes the guidelines again.
The schools were graded under Reading Proficiency, Math Proficiency, History Proficiency, Science Proficiency, and growth in respective areas and this means the proper growth in scores from the previous year.
