West Point Intermediate Achieves LightHouse School status
Published 10:04 pm Thursday, July 14, 2016
- Students representing West Point Intermediate School were recognized at Tuesday’s school board meeting for participating in the schoolwide “Leader in Me” program. West Point Intermediate recently attained the program’s LightHouse status, signifying the culmination of three years of progressively implementing leadership and academic standards across its student body.
West Point Intermediate School has become the first school in Cullman County — and only the 16th statewide — to reach credentialed status an innovative program that cultivates citizenship, academics and leadership skills in its student body.
The Cullman County School Board recognized the school Thursday for achieving “LightHouse” status in the Leader in Me program, which implements practices from Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Superintendent Shane Barnette said the recognition, which took the school three years to implement and attain, is “a great accomplishment for our school system and for our school,” adding that West Point Intermediate has set a precedent that could have transformative effects if emulated by other schools.
“I know that the faculty and students have worked very hard to accomplish this,” said West Point Intermediate Principal Mike Jones. “When you walk in to West Point Intermediate School, it just feels different. The kids are confident, and they are the ones who greet our visitors. As I have observed the results of this program, I can’t help but think to myself how great it would be if we could implement this same program at our high schools.”
“There are only 236 schools worldwide that have achieved this status, and only 16 in Alabama,” said Karen Pinion, the school system’s learning support facilitator. “The general consensus of all of our parents is that this has made such a difference in their kids’ lives, and has given them skills and opportunities that prepare them for success.”
The Leader in Me program aligns with national and state academic standards, and involves all the students in its participating schools. Yet Jones acknowledges that much of the program’s success at West Point owes to the support of students’ families.
“A lot of what has made this program so successful where we are is the culture of the school district in which it was implemented,” he said. “Parents have been with us every step of the way, and our school would not have achieved this recognition without students and parents who bought in and did the hard work to make it possible.”
