Let me take this means and opportunity to welcome all of our students and staff back for the 2008-2009 school year. Also, we want to welcome our new students to Lauderdale County and our new staff members. As we enter this new year, we are faced with many opportunities and challenges. Standards are being raised at both the elementary and high school levels making it necessary to explore how we teach and learn. The No Child Left Behind 2007--2008 Progress Report showed that the rise in the benchmark to 86% proficient and advanced in mathematics and 89% in language (ie. reading and writing) left us with even more of a challenge.

It will be necessary for us to come up with even more strategies and interventions to help those students who are struggling academically. We also are challenged to meet the 90% graduation rate among our black student subgroup. This too must be one of our primary focuses in 2008-2009. We are calling on community support and parent involvement to insure that our students are getting the support outside of school to help them be successful in school.

While the charge is not going to be easy, I know that together we can build a coalition of teachers and learners and support groups to put us back on track.

I hope that each of you will have a successful new school year. Do not hesitate to call on me if I can be of help to you.

-Phillip Jackson, Superintendent