White County Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said he’s please with the system’s new report card data from the state.
The school system received four A’s, three B’s, and one C. Dronebarger said letter grades do not tell the whole story of a school or school district, but 50 percent of the schools receiving an A is an achievement.
“Certainly proud to have our schools scoring very well,” Dronebarger said. “Our students, our staff, and our whole school communities are working very hard. And so we are proud of the results. Got some areas that we want to improve on, of course, and always looking to pursue excellence here in White County, but proud nonetheless of the results we received.”
Cassville Elementary, Findlay Elementary, White County High School, and White County Middle School received As. Dronebarger said it sounds cliché, but said the success comes from hard work.
“We have high expectations for all of our schools, all of our students, and all of our staff,” Dronebarger said. “We like to think we hire people who have those same expectations. We dig into the data and work really hard to move the needles. You know, we look at areas where we are deficient, and we target those areas, and we work really hard. I like to credit our central office staff also. We have got a group of people that we don’t just hand down directives, we get in there, roll up our sleeves, and work alongside our staff in the schools, and the results are showing.”
The three schools to receive B’s are BonDeCroft Elementary, Doyle Elementary, and Northfield Elementary. The lone C was Woodland Park Elementary.
“Every school has its unique challenges, and Woodland Park is no different,” Dronebrger said. “They are working on those, and we have already begun that work. We are working with some outside agencies to come in and work with our teachers to target specific areas. You know, in general, in White County, we see our biggest struggles being with economically disadvantaged and special education. Those are two areas that we tend to see across the board where we have some challenges, and Woodland Park certainly has their share of those populations. But nevertheless, every school is different, every school has unique challenges, and we will address those accordingly.”
Dronebarger said Woodland Park ws than a point away from receiving a B. Dronebarger said he is proud of the growth that the Middle School has shown over the past few years, going from a top concern to one of the better performing schools.