Thumbs up to Ashland’s Hager Elementary School for being named a 2009 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, one of only six Blue Ribbon school in Kentucky and 314 nationwide.
This is an award based on performance. To be eligible, Hager students had to be in the top 10 percent in Kentucky on state achievement tests, the school had to have at least 40 percent of its students from disadvantaged backgrounds and it must have demonstrated a dramatic improvement on state test scores. Blue Ribbon schools also must show adequate yearly progress on federal accountability tests mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.
In short, being designated a Blue Ribbon School is a sure sign that Hager is doing something right when it comes to educating children.
“It’s a big deal,” said Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman of the Kentucky Department of Education, of the award. “Only a few schools in each state receive it. There are stringent criteria..
The state education department nominates the schools, which then submit detailed applications that paint and in-depth portrait of their staff, students, curriculum, test scores and instructional methods, said Gross. “The award is designed to hold schools up as models for other schools.”
Hager is not the first area school to win the award. Hatcher Elementary, another Ashland elementary, was a Blue Ribbon School a few years back, and before that, Catlettsburg Elementary won the award. There may have been others, but those are the Blue Ribbon schools that come immediately to mind.
Hager Elementary has long had a reputation for excellence. It’s students always do well in academic competition, regularly winning district and regional awards. The school also has amazingly little turnover in personnel. Many outstanding teachers spend their entire careers at Hager.
We congratulate the students, teachers and parents of Hager. It takes all three to make an excellent school.
Editorials
Blue Ribbon school — 09/19/09
Hager named one of the top elementaries in the country
- Editorials
-
-
Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.
-
Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.
-
'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.
-
Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.
-
Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
-
Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.
-
Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.
-
Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.
-
Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.
-
Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.
- More Editorials Headlines
-
Charles Chattin
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
Nevada Highway Patrol, City Settle Beating Case
Homs Bombardment Continues, Global Outcry Grows
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
