VIDALIA &045; The two Vidalia schools with the most change in state accountability rankings already have plans in place to keep moving up.

In scores released Monday Vidalia Junior High School dropped 8.6 points, received a school in decline status and will now be in level 1-school improvement.

The drop wasn’t totally unexpected, Principal Paul Nelson said, though the amount of the drop was disappointing.

Nelson started this school year as the junior high principal after transferring from the lower elementary school. Superintendent Kerry Laster has said she has faith that Nelson will be able to turn the school around.

&uot;We are working on a variety of things that will be starting in the next few months,&uot; Nelson said. &uot;We are in the process of analyzing the scores and coming up with plans at each level.&uot;

Instead of having after-school tutoring for the children who need extra help VJHS is going to start in-school tutoring, taking students out of physical education for intensive remediation, Nelson said.

The school is also using Title I money to hire a tutor to move the students in the bottom quadrant up to the next level.

Enrichment activities involving mapping and problem solving skills are planned, including using chess as a teaching tool and having out-of-school scavenger hunts.

The school is also examining offering Algebra I to eighth-graders in the coming years.

&uot;The staff is very positive and upbeat,&uot; Nelson said. &uot;There’s no reason why test scores should ever drop as much as they did. We definitely have some things we can do better and we are going to get to work on doing those things better.&uot;

So far, Nelson said he hasn’t heard a whole lot of concerns about the test scores, though he knows the label hurts the school’s image.

Nelson formerly served as principal at the junior high before going to Vidalia Lower.

&uot;I was sent back here to do two basic things, improve teaching and improve learning,&uot; he said.

&uot;We are on the right track, but we still have a ways to go,&uot; he said. &uot;You have to get the train out of the ditch and put it on the track. I think we’ve done that, now we have to start moving again.&uot;

At Vidalia High School the change in this year’s scores was a good thing. The school gained 14.7 points in the school performance score, was labeled with exemplary academic growth and is no longer in school improvement.

But the good news doesn’t mean VHS is going to stop working, Principal Rick Brown said.

&uot;This year is a different year,&uot; Brown said. &uot;Every year stands on itself and this gives us a chance to breathe easy, but now there’s more pressure on us to continue to grow.&uot;

In January the school will continue a program started last year, where the students spend 15 minutes of each class period, three days a week working on core curriculum covered in the state tests.

Though they plan to keep working hard, Brown said they are doing a little celebrating.

&uot;We are tickled to death,&uot; he said. &uot;Our teachers and our students took it personal that we were in school improvement. The students worked hard and took the test seriously and the teachers accepted their part in it.

&uot;It’s the teachers and these students that are doing it. Everyone worked so hard. We knew the kids were better than what they’d shown.&uot;

Laster said she was proud of all the parish schools, teachers, students and administrators.

&uot;We must continue to use our resources to improve public education for all students in all schools in our parish,&uot; she said. &uot;We must always remember that our students are doing better and our schools are improving.&uot;