Lee County Schools Best In The Region

Reprinted by permission from The Sanford Herald
August 21, 2007

Best in the region
Lee County Schools

By CHELSEA KELLNER
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SANFORD — Lee County’s schools rank high when measured against state¬wide Adequate Yearly Progress scores and at the top when compared to surround¬ing districts.

According to the Department of Public Instruction, preliminary test results indicate 42 percent of schools statewide made AYP, a series of guidelines set forth by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Lee County weighed in at 61.5 percent. Locally, Lee topped 21 surrounding coun¬ties by at least 10 percent.

“We always try to work hard and put things in place to try to achieve success, and it always reassures you when you do stack up well in comparison,” Assistant Superintendent Andy Bryan said Monday. Though neither of the county’s high schools made AYP for the second year in a row, all of Lee County’s elementary schools did, and those schools also met expected growth standards.
“I am optimistic, and I think we’re headed in the right direction,” said Lee
County Board Chairman Bill Tatum.

Four Lee elementary schools were on the state’s watch list last year and would have been put on a “school improvement pro¬gram” this year and forced to offer school choice if scores hadn’t improved, which has never happened in Lee County.

Carol Chapell, the direc¬tor of K-5 Instruction, attri¬butes this improvement to such efforts as rigorous analysis of last year’s scores, new staff development programs based on that analysis and a high level of commitment on the part of faculty and staff.

“It’s been no accident. We’ve been diligent, paying attention to where things were working and where they weren’t and telling schools what their goals were so they knew what they were shooting for,” Chapell said. The school district plans to use the same strategy to raise sec¬ondary and middle school scores in upcoming years.

“Our efforts now are in maintaining and improving elementary scores, but we also need to improve mid¬dle and high school scores.

There’s no way around that,” Superintendent Jim Mc Cormick said.

Mc Cormick partially attributes Lee County’s low showing last year and cur¬rent problems in second¬ary and middle schools to the hike in AYP standards, resulting in borderline schools slipping below the mark. Standards are set to increase again next year.

“We cannot rest on our laurels,” said school board Chairman Bill Tatum. “We have a lot more to do.”

In the meantime, reports like this are good for busi¬ness, according to real estate agent and Chair of the Chamber of Commerce Policy Committee John Ramsperger.

“Now not only can we brag about Sanford’s stability and small town flavor, but we also can measure up to the big¬ger communities to the north,” said Ramsperger, of Prudential Sanford Real Estate.