PHOTO/ SUBMITTED / The Lincoln County School Board receives the Mississippi School Board Association Lighthouse Award on Nov. 11 during the awards luncheon in Jackson. (From left) LCSB member Ricky Welch; MSBA President Etta Taplin; LCSB Vice President Michael Posey; LCSB President Kay Coon; LCSB Secretary Johnny Hart; LSCB member Jack Case; MSBA Secretary David Duncan and MSBA Vice President Sondra Odom; and MSBA Secretary David Duncan.

Lincoln County School District received the Lighthouse School Leader Lantern Award. This is the second year in a row that the county schools have won.

“We are very happy and very honored to receive this award,” Superintendent Terry Brister said. “We appreciate the recognition our board has done in leading our district.”

The award, given by the Mississippi School Boards Association, is based on outstanding student achievement on last spring’s testing in the Mississippi Accountability Program. Lincoln County was one of 51 districts that received recognition.

“I am glad that the Association is doing things like this to show appreciation for all the hard work that our board is putting into the schools,” Brister said. “Usually awards are given for some kind of sport, but to be receiving an academic award two years in a row is wonderful.”

The Lantern Award represents a letter grade of “B” under the Mississippi Department of Education’s Accountability Standards, with no schools scoring below “C.” There were 36 schools that received the Lantern title. Other distinctions included a Beacon for schools with an “A” letter grade and Torch for schools with a “C” letter grade, 90 percent or more students participate in the federal free/reduced lunch program, no school graded below “C” and at least one school graded “B” or above.

The Lighthouse awards were created in recognition of “the unsung efforts of school districts to meet more rigorous state and federal accountability standards.”