VIDEO: Petal School District tops state's academic performance list

PETAL, Miss. - The Petal School District is the number one school district in the state of Mississippi.

“I’m happy to report that Petal School District has the number on rating school district in the state of Mississippi. I’m very excited about where we are at, I’m excited for our people,” said Petal School District Superintendent Matt Dillon.

The Mississippi Department of Education accountability system evaluates how Petal performed, with a letter grade of an "A+", during the 2016-2017 school year.

“That means every ten batters that come up to the plate, seven gets a hit and that’s special. Our students are responding to what we are doing. ELA is right behind that with close to sixty percent of our students in that same regard,”

Dillon says the success in every building and constant momentum lead Petal School District to the top. “We can do better. That’s what I love about this district and that’s what drives me to come to work everyday because we’re always trying to get better. We don’t want to just maintain where we are. We want to go to that next level, whatever that might look like,” He says using more with less is a key point of resourcefulness within their success alone.

“We wear multiple hats in this district from central office to the building level, my goal as superintendent is to funnel as much money into instruction as much as possible and that’s what we do here. Our principals do not go without, if they have needs, we provide those needs but at the same time – they are very good [over] their money,”