Congratulations to Westside Elementary School, which passed a huge test on Thursday.

No, it wasn’t an aptitude test or California Achievement Test. The reading coordinator from the publisher of the school’s reading program, “Story Town,” came by the school to help it make sure it was doing everything as the publisher, Harcourt, intended.

You see, other schools have been visiting Westside to try to copy from its success with the program, and still others are lining up for a chance to observe our students. So, Westside prinicpal Connie Brown asked Harcourt to come down and make sure we were teaching the other schools correctly.

It turns out that the school — teachers and students alike — got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Jennifer Travis, the reading coordinator at Harcourt. Regional reading coaches Debbie Butler and James Pope should also share in that triumph.

The teachers put in a lot of hours to prepare for the new reading program, which is also being used at U.S. Jones Elementary. They came in during the summer — a teacher’s time off — to make sure they understood the program and had everything (including their doors) ready to go. This kind of hard work and dedication is what makes the Demopolis City Schools system so successful.