Tuesday's release of annual report cards by the Alabama Department of Education is enough to give any teacher, principal or school administrator in Butler County reason to smile.

The county's school system has halted a serious downward scholastic trend and made exemplary strides in reading and mathematics across the board. Five Butler County schools made AYP - the indicator used by the state and federal government to measure academic progress - and the lone reason Georgiana and Greenville High School did not make it was because of a graduation rate that was decided in 2005. Both Georgiana and Greenville - as did Greenville Middle School, Greenville Elementary, W.O. Parmer, McKenzie and R.L. Austin - excelled in reading and math, the main indicator that shows our children are doing what they go to school to do. And that is to learn.

In July of 2005 the Board of Education made the decision to hire Mike Looney as Superintendent of the Butler County School System. While Looney had no prior experience as a school system chief, what he brought was enthusiasm and a unique maxim - &#8220Whatever it Takes.” Judging from these test scores, it's clear that school faculty, administration and the Board has brought into doing whatever it takes to turn our schools around.

We applaud our superintendent, the principals, the staff at the central office and we applaud the teachers. Last - but certainly not the least - we applaud the students who did the work.

Congratulations Butler County Schools. The future is indeed bright.