New Bedford Public Schools got a favorable review from the state for the first three months of their new improvement plan.

"We have a long way to go, but this was a major milestone," superintendent Dr. Pia Durkin told WBSM News.

Durkin said that after three and a half years of having to work with a plan manager under state monitoring, this was the first time the school system was able to put their own plan into action. She said the plan was accepted in August, with the state noting it was as effective as any of the plans put into place with the help of consultants.

"This is the very first step of removing the plan manager, and then seeing the result of not having a plan manager (be) equally effective toward reducing our Level 4 status," she said.

Durkin called the state's approval, "affirmation and validation" for all the hard work put into crafting the improvement plan.

"We would not be getting that validation from the state if it was just a plan written on paper, and it didn't show itself as it does with teachers and students in classrooms," she said.

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