West Elementary, still in a celebratory mood after picking up a Blue Ribbon School title last quarter, had a few distinguished guests drop by its campus Thursday to cheer on its success and share their vision for education in North Carolina.
The state’s highest education official, Dr. June St. Clair Atkinson, the state superintendent for public instruction, joined members of her staff, a N.C. Board of Education member, Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher and members of the local board of education to talk up the school’s success in a tour at the downtown school that culminated in a question and answer session from the school’s staff.
“You should all feel great pride by being one of the five schools in N.C. to be recognized as a Blue Ribbon School,” said Atkinson of the recent honor, which spotlights schools across the nation that have either achieve very high learning standards or are making notable improvement in closing the achievement gap.
“It’s gratifying to see the respect that your students are showing you,” Atkinson said in remarks to the staff and local school officials who had gathered in the school cafeteria following the group’s tour of the school’s classrooms. “It’s gratifying to see that you are looking at your students one child at a time.”
Atkinson was joined by her senior policy advisor Mike McLaughlin and Eric Davis, who sits on both the State Board of Education and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education. Local school board chair Phillip Glover was also present.
In a talk with West staff members after school hours, Atkinson praised not just West but overall strides made across districts in N.C. schools, noting that the Tar Heel state enjoys an 83.9 percent graduation rate, the highest in the state’s history.
The U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan named five North Carolina public schools as 2014 National Blue Ribbon Schools. West Elementary is among 287 public and 50 private schools where students either achieve very high learning standards or are making notable improvement in closing the achievement gap. West Elementary is among only one other school in the state honored as an Exemplary High Performing School.
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