Hills-Beaver Creek Elementary School is the first Rock County school to be selected as a National Blue Ribbon School.
H-BC Superintendent Todd Holthaus broke the news to elementary staff and students Thursday during a group assembly.
Holthaus was notified about the honor earlier in the week before the districtwide announcement.
“I believe our staff, students and parents are of very high quality,” he said. “Receiving the Blue Ribbon recognition affirms my belief.”
H-BC Elementary was honored as “exemplary high performing” along with 10 other Minnesota schools.
These schools are in the Top 15 percent in English and mathematics as measured by state assessments.
Schools can also be recognized as a Blue Ribbon school for “exemplary achievement gap closing.”
Holthaus said the 2018 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores showed 89 percent of H-BC third-through fifth-grade students proficient in math and 86 percent proficient in reading.
“The Blue Ribbon distinction is a point in time,” he said. “The work continues.”
Other Minnesota schools receiving the 2019 Blue Ribbon School honor include five other elementary schools in Edina, Lonsdale, White Bear Lake, Alexandria and Savage. Middle and high schools receiving the honor include Hancock, Montevideo, Eagan and Wayzata.
H-BC Elementary, along with 351 other public and non-public schools named as 2019 Blue Ribbon Schools, will be recognized at a Nov. 14-15 awards ceremony in National Harbor, Maryland.
H-BC will send three people to the event.
“When I was told there are approximately 89,000 elementary schools across the U.S. that could have been selected, it was very humbling and honoring that H-BC Elementary School was one of the few selected as a Blue Ribbon school,” Holthaus said.
Holthaus began H-BC Elementary principal duties in July. Previous principal Jason Phelps is now middle school principal in Luverne.
Since its inception in 1982, more than 9,000 schools across the U.S. have been recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools.
H-BC Elementary is expected to become a model for other schools, according to the Blue Ribbon website, with the local education leaders giving presentations at state, regional and professional meetings.
H-BC officials may also be called on to conduct site visits to model their leadership and instructional strategies.