Watch Dr. Bob's Blue Ribbon Statement!
Congratulations Our Lady of Lourdes School!
Winner of the 2007 No Child Left Behind
Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award
Dear Visitors,
It is now official! On Tuesday, October 2nd, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings named the schools to be selected in the 2007 No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Our Lady of Lourdes Parish School was one of the fifty private schools being named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Along with Sacred Heart Cathedral School, we become the first Catholic schools in Raleigh and the second and third schools in the Diocese of Raleigh (Blessed Sacrament in Burlington was the first.) to be honored with this prestigious award.
The No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes schools that make significant progress in closing the achievement gap or whose students achieve at very high levels. The schools are selected based on one of two criteria:
1) Schools with at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve student performance to high levels on state tests
2) Schools whose students, regardless of background, achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests or in the case of private schools in the top 10 percent of the nation on nationally-normed tests.
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish School is being awarded Blue Ribbon honors for scoring in the top 10 percent of the nation on the Iowa Tests.
Every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, has an assigned number of possible schools based on the number of students and the number of schools in the state. A total of 413 schools can be nominated. The state’s Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) nominates public schools and The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) nominates private schools. This year 130 private schools in the United States applied for Blue Ribbon; CAPE nominated 50 of those schools. Once the secretary has the nominations from the CCSSO and CAPE, Secretary Spellings invites the nominated schools to submit applications for possible recognition as a No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon School.
We began our journey for Blue Ribbon immediately after we successfully completed our SACS accreditation in October. We filed our initial application in mid-December and received word in early January that CAPE had nominated us. We then sent our final application to the Department of Education in late January. This application had us answering questions about our curriculum, assessment, staff development, and history. I want to thank several people for their assistance with this application. First of all, I could have not gathered the necessary material without complete staff cooperation. They sent me ideas to answer the questions, proofed the paragraphs, and gave additional application critiques. We were a united team working together on this application. Second, I want to thank Mrs. Susan Goethals, former OLL principal and present teacher at Cardinal Gibbons, for giving me a Saturday morning to go over the entire Blue Ribbon application process. Finally, I want to thank Mrs. Susan Getter for her technology assistance in preparing the application. We had to prepare the application for CAPE and the Department of Education to be filed electronically.
After the announcement was made on Tuesday, we presented each student and staff member with a Blue Ribbon tee-shirt. We then took an all school picture with all of us wearing this tee-shirt. I want to thank Mrs. Jan Kimosh and Mrs. Cindi Messina, our art teachers, for designing this beautiful tee-shirt. Also, car magnets were handed out in carpool. Please place these magnets on your car so that all of Raleigh and the surrounding areas can see that you are a part of OLL, a 2007 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. I want to thank Mrs. Pam Mueller for ordering the tee-shirts, car magnets, and banner. If you did not receive a car magnet, please let the school office know so we can send one home. We have ordered one magnet per school family.
The 2007 Blue Ribbon Schools will be honored at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on November 12th and 13th. Each school is allowed to send the principal and one teacher to represent the school. The staff will be deciding who will be going with me at that time. During the ceremony we will receive a Blue Ribbon flag and a plaque. While in Washington, D.C., we will also be honored at the National Catholic Education Association Headquarters for accomplishing this educational feat.
As I think back at this entire process, I realize that OLL was already a Blue Ribbon School. We have a dedicated staff that truly puts children first in all they do. We have active parents who want the best for their children. We have a pastor and parish that strongly support its parish school. We have a great group of students who enjoy being here on a daily basis to get the best Catholic education possible. With all these stakeholders in place and many prayers, we have earned national recognition for our school. Of course, our prayers for this cause did not go unnoticed. Our Lady of the Blue Ribbon pray for us!
Blessings,
Robert B. Scripko, Ph.D.
Principal