St. George Elementary School Named National Blue Ribbon School
September 14, 2010
St. George Elementary School has been named a National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education. The award was announced at a news conference held last week by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Schools honored with the Blue Ribbon School Award are committed to achievement and to ensuring that students learn and succeed”, said Duncan. “Their work reflects the conviction that every child has promise and must receive a quality education.”
SGES was one of only five Kansas schools to receive the award this year. The Blue Ribbon School Award is considered the highest honor an American school can achieve. Nationally, 304 schools achieved this status out of more than 132,000 public and private schools eligible.
Blue Ribbon Schools must be nominated by their state’s education department for excellence in student achievement. Nominated schools can be public or private schools that are either academically superior or, have dramatically improved achievement among minority and disadvantaged students. Last year, SGES was nominated by the Kansas Department of Education for academically superior achievement.
Rock Creek JSHS won this award for the same reasons last year and was the only secondary school in Kansas to be nominated by the Kansas Department of Education. Having two National Blue Ribbon Schools in one school district is a very rare achievement—
especially for a school district our size. Additionally, Westmoreland Elementary School has received the highest state academic honor—the Governor’s Achievement Award—for the past three years. This award recognizes the top 5% of schools for student achievement in reading and math.
SGES principal Debbie Edwards and teacher Brandy Nelson will attend the Blue Ribbon Award ceremony in Washington D.C. on November 16th. There, they will be presented with a plaque and a National Blue Ribbon School flag which will fly on the school’s flagpole in recognition of SGES as one of the nation’s top schools. A ceremony for the flag-raising will take place at SGES on November 19th at 2:00 p.m. Congratulations to the faculty, staff, and students of SGES for this amazing accomplishment!
