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Four Long Island public high schools – each dubbed "successful" – on Monday won the National Blue Ribbon Awards as part of a federal effort to recognize academic excellence and improvement.
The winners for 2018 include W. Tresper Clarke High Schools in East Meadow District, John Glenn High Schools in Elwood, South Side High Schools in Rockville Center and Sayville High.
The announcement made Monday by the Federal Department of Education has listed 300 public schools and 49 private schools nationwide, including 20 in the state of New York. This places New York third among the number of honored schools; Texas and Illinois led with 24 schools each.
At John Glenn High, executives and students exchanged high-level greetings in the corridors when they heard the news.
"I've always thought that there was something special about schools in our district," said Annie Song, 17, a Glenn campus senior and president of 800 students.
"There is a certain humming after the ringing of the last ring," said Song, who also plays cello in the school orchestra. "I see students with their exercise books running in their classrooms for extra help, or catching their bags and getting to sports trainings or taking their instruments and going to rehearsals."
Applications for blue ribbon status usually require months of preparation from employees and supporters of the school.
"We congratulate the students, teachers and staff for the job well done," said Kenneth Card, director of East Meadow Schools.
Federal blue ribbons recognize two categories of institutions: those with higher graduation rates and exam results and those with exemplary results in narrowing the gap between students of different races and ethnicities and economic origins. This year's winners on the island are all in the first category.
Some local administrators said their schools were putting more emphasis on the quality of teaching, instead of simply encouraging students to accumulate advanced course credits. John Murphy, director of South Side High, said that one of the main goals was to guide students in finding subtleties and nuances in their literary readings.
"These days, the focus should not be put on more – our students are very busy, thank you – this should be making things better," Murphy said.
Since 2015, the vast majority of public elementary and secondary schools in this region have been excluded from the Blue Ribbon Contest, due to the large number of parents who have chosen not to submit their children to official tests in Grades 3 to 8. . Federal law requires that at least 95% of these students be tested each year.
As a result, local districts focused on the recognition of higher education institutions, five of which were honored last year and four more on Monday.
"We are providing opportunities for kids," said Edward Schmieder, chair of the English department from Grades 7 to 12 in Sayville.
John Hildebrand is the senior editor of Newsday and has covered news and political issues about Long Island for more than 40 years.
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