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The Butler County School System hosted its annual retired educators brunch on Dec. 13 at 211 School Highlands Road in Greenville.

School board member and retired educator, Wayne Boswell, opened the event by welcoming everyone in attendance.

Joe Eiland, Butler County Superintendent, spoke to the group about what was going on in the school system.

“I’m so glad we had this event. I know you all have been shut up indoors over the past few years,” Eiland said.

He addressed the group of educators and commended them for their years of service and dedication to their chosen profession.

“You are a pure blessing to our school district,” he told the crowd.

Eiland shared with the audience the recent challenges the school system has faced; and, how working together with students, parents, and faculty, is beginning to make strides to improving the school system in Butler County.

“We were recognized by Cognia and Governor (Kay) Ivey as a school system of distinction for the work we have done over a five-year period,” Eiland said.

This honor comes despite the challenges the school system faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We basically went 18 months with no person-to-person instruction,” he said.

Butler County Schools are among the Top 10 schools in the country to show growth, even with the shut down, Eiland said.

He then congratulated McKenzie School on scoring a 90 and achieving an “A” rating.

After praising the hard work and effort of the teachers and students in McKenzie, Eiland went on to speak of the other schools in the county.

“We are very excited about our schools,” he said. “Greenville Middle School went from a mid-range ‘D’ to a very high ‘C,’ and that’s huge. Greenville Elementary School jumped nine points.”

He added the Georgiana School is still proudly holding its own.

Eiland said according to the Failing School Act, Greenville HIgh School is now designated as a failing school.

“That’s not our State Department of Education that scored us,” Eiland reminded his listeners while noting the ACT scores determine the rating of a school. “And if you have students with no ambition, no want or no wishes, to go to a two- or four-year college, there’s really no incentive for students to do well on that test.”

He said these students go into the ACT setting and literally finish the test in 10 minutes, a test normally designed to take students roughly four hours to complete.

Eiland said the school and the teachers need to do a better job at making this test matter to the students.