The same morning that a story published in this newspaper saying the Alabama Department of Education has labeled R.B. Hudson Middle School a “failing” school, two of their students finished first and second in the county’s spelling bee.

That’s why it’s difficult to use the term “failing” to label our students, teachers and schools. There are smart students at every school and hard working teachers too.

The bottom line is that R.B. Hudson, along with Bruce K. Craig Elementary School and Sophia P. Kingston Elementary School, scored in the lowest 6 percent of reading and math portion of the 2014-2015 ACT Aspire Test. The test is given annually to students in grades three through eight and again in 10th grade.

That’s not anything to be proud of, but every school is working hard to improve test scores. It should be noted that four Dallas County schools on the “failing” list last year improved enough to be taken off it in 2016.

While the number of local schools on the list dropped, the number of schools across the state included actually increased to 76. Of those, 42 are in Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile districts.

Everyone at Southside High School, Keith Middle-High School, Tipton-Durant Middle School and Brantley Elementary School deserve a pat on the back for that accomplishment.

Both superintendents of the Selma City Schools and Dallas County Schools say their system has plans to make improvements at the three schools that remain on the list. We appreciate Don Willingham and Angela Mangum’s willingness to talk about what their systems are doing to get the numbers up. We hope these changes are implemented quickly and next year there will be no local schools having to carry the label of “failing.”