By Karla McArthur, Correspondent
Faculty, staff and students at John S. Jones Elementary School celebrated their exceptional state report card score of 97 with a schoolwide event.
Principal Jenny Ryals said several teachers asked to recognize the 67th day of school because of a “six-seven” trend among students. “We decided to build off of that, and our faculty and staff took the vision and ran with it,” Ryals said. “What’s better than 67…97!”
The celebration included confetti, a balloon drop and cake. Each grade-level faculty team also chose a walkout song as they took a victory lap in front of the student body. Ryals said the child nutrition program, custodial, resource and support staff joined in as well.
“True academic excellence is a full school culture,” she said. “All of our faculty and staff are part of the success at John S. Jones, so we made sure everyone was part of the celebration.”
Ryals said the school has a decades-long record of academic excellence. “We have always been a leader in our school system and in Etowah County at large,” she said.
According to Ryals, the school spent last year restructuring its Professional Learning Communities to strengthen teachers’ understanding of grade-level state standards. “We have been very purposeful in both identifying essential standards and breaking them down to better understand the skill sets each standard encompasses,” she said. “This allows us to pinpoint student mastery and better remediate and enrich learning at individual levels.”
The school also worked to reduce chronic absenteeism, one of the three factors the state uses to calculate report card grades, along with student achievement and student growth.
“To us — and pardon the pun — it is elementary. Students need to be at school in order to grow and achieve,” Ryals said. “So we targeted the needs of students who are struggling with attendance.”
The initiative paid off. The Panthers improved by 1.39 points in student achievement and 0.74 points in chronic absenteeism. In student growth, the school earned the maximum value of 45 points, achieving 100% growth for the past five report cards from 2018–19 through 2024–25.
Ryals said the school is already looking ahead. “We have set our sights on next year,” she said. As bookkeeper Krista Weaver put it, “Next year when we get a 99—or 100—we will know what to do to celebrate even bigger.”
