MONTICELLO — Lawrence County and Franklin County High Schoolswere among 111 schools removed from the U.S. Department ofEducation’s list of 122 possibly “failing” schools.

“We’re obviously very pleased about that,” said Dr. SharonDungan, Title 1 and federal programs director. “I expected that,but we couldn’t say anything until it was confirmed andapproved.”

Last month, a preliminary list was released that included 122Mississippi schools in danger of “failing.” Students at schoolsthat made the final list must be given the option to transfer toanother school within the district.

In most Mississippi districts, this would not be an optionbecause most of the districts are rural and have only one highschool. Lawrence and Franklin counties fall in this category.

Regardless, Dungan said, it was a relief that their removal fromthe list was confirmed.

Districts with schools that remain on the official list include:Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Hattiesburg, Hinds County, HolmesCounty, Jackson, Jefferson County, North Panola and TateCounty.

The preliminary list only took into account the test scores oftwo years ago. In compiling the official list, last year’s scoreswere compared.

“Theoretically, if you showed improvement you came off thelist,” she said. “I think that our students have improvedconsiderably on the second year score.”

Dungan said she had hoped they would release the official listbefore the beginning of school, but instead it came out the sameday school started.

“We aggravated them trying to get the list out before schoolstarted,” she said.

This is a critical year for all Mississippi schools, Dungansaid, because to comply with the changes to No Child Left Behindthat became effective in January, all schools will be tested thisyear.

Last year, she said, only high schools using Title 1 federalfunds were tested. The changes made to NCLB for 2002 are that anydistrict using Title 1 will be tested.

All Mississippi school districts use Title 1 federal funding,but not all apply those funds to their high school, she said.

Lawrence County was also “delighted” to have StateSuperintendent Henry Johnson and Jayne Sargent, retiredsuperintendent of Jackson Public Schools and a state Board ofEducation member, attend and speak at the opening of theprofessional development seminar Tuesday.

“(Johnson) gave a very motivational talk on his goals forMississippi,” Dungan said.

Johnson and Sargent both addressed the issues of accountabilityand NCLB, she said.

Johnson had only been on the job for five days when he addressedteachers Tuesday. He came to Mississippi from North Carolina.