Principals provided updates on their sites successes and challenges during a Lauderdale County School District board meeting Thursday evening.

Clarkdale High School Principal Brian Jordan told the board about the change of the school’s motto, completion of the painting project and two module classroom buildings. More school facilities improvements are needed because the school is reaching its capacity and is aging, he said, asking the board to help come up with a long-term plan to help with school improvements.

On the academic side, Jordan said students are doing well in English, which includes high ACT and reading scores. He also said 40 percent of students are enrolled in career and technical education programs and about 30 percent are in dual enrollment courses.

Math scores on the ACT are a concern, he said. To help, the school took a teacher from the middle school to teach Algebra I to high school students, Jordan said.

The new motto is “we are trying to build leaders one student at a time.”

West Lauderdale High School Principal Shane Rodgers said the school’s strengths include having high ACT scores, student enrollment in school activities and students participating in the ACT academy twice a week.

He still wants to improve in those areas by continuing to have the ACT academy, collecting student data to help students prepare for the test based on strengths in subject areas, offering pre-ACT prep and recognizing high achieving students, Rodgers said.

The biggest challenge, Rodgers said, has been students adapting to online learning. Students have been confused about what to complete and what they are supposed to be doing at home, Rodgers said.

Another issue is accountability and measuring student success in a digital format, Rodgers said.

Goals for this year are to offer more dual enrollment courses with local colleges, improve communication between parents and increase academic success until classes are back in a traditional format, he said.

In other business

The board chose not to renew the GradeResults program. The program, which was in its pilot phase last year, was an option for students who dropped out of school to return to the district through an online program.