All three campuses in the Skidmore-Tynan Independent School District, along with the district itself, met the criteria for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) — a federal program to determine if schools meet the mandates of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation.

This is the eighth consecutive year the district has met the criteria.

Noting that about 75 percent of Texas schools failed to qualify, Special Programs Director Robin Thomas credited the success to the district’s policy of “giving instruction to each child in the way it is needed for kids to be successful.”

“We really don’t spent time comparing ourselves to others.”

John Matus, the district’s junior high principal, applauded the district’s positive culture. “Our best work,” he said, is when “we get our great students in class with our sensational teaching staff.”

Bill Clough is a reporter at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 358-2550, ext. 122, or at beepic@mySouTex.com.