Local school nominated for Blue Ribbon

By Lori Porter Acorn Staff Writer

Brookside Elementary School in Oak Park has been nominated by the California Department of Education to receive the Blue Ribbon Award. Brookside was named a California Distinguished School, (CDS), which is one of the categories the Department of Education chooses from when nominating a school for the Blue Ribbon.

The goal of the Blue Ribbon School awards’ program is to promote and support the improvement of education within the context of the new federal education bill; No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

On Jan. 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the NCLB Act into law to bring reform to America’s educational system. It changes the role the federal government plays in schools, kindergarten through grade 12 by asking the schools to describe their success in terms of student accomplishment. The act contains the president’s four reform principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.

Brookside Principal Esther Winkelman said the school has excellent teachers who love their work. Brookside also has a great student council, she said, that meets every week. She praised the student council advisors, Erin Portmore and Mary Jane Weaver, who, she said, do a fantastic job with the kids.

The student council joined a program that raised money for Unicef last fall. Volunteer students at Brookside collected funds for Unicef as they went trick or treating on Halloween.

Along with the implementation of new programs and ongoing improvements, a nominated school must demonstrate high student achievement and show that students have reached academic standards in reading and math to receive this award. According to NCLB, schools must also make annual progress which is assessed by other data and in test scores.

Winkelman is proud of her school and the Blue Ribbon nomination. Children, students and administrators in Oak Park Unified School District won’t know until the end of the school year if Brookside won. If it does, representatives of the school will fly to Washington, D.C. this fall.

"I will be the first on the plane if we win," Winkelman said.