Early AYP info bodes well for 3 Hall schools

GAINESVILLE - Two Hall County schools - Lyman Hall and Myers - will be coming off the "Needs Improvement" list this year, and East Hall Middle has taken the first step toward doing so.

It's been a long time coming for East Hall - nine years, says principal Kevin Bales.

Bales says they challenged the students at East Hall to buckle down this year and turn what had been a negative for the school into a positive.

This time next year, Bales hopes to be able to say the same thing Lyman Hall and Myers are saying this summer - they are no longer on the Needs Improvement list.

Those two schools will come off the list this year after meeting Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years.

AYP and the Needs Improvement List are tied to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The state will issue it AYP report for this year sometime this summer.