Laguna wins ‘Blue Ribbon’

Laguna Beach High School got what district officials hoped for Tuesday when U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced the 2008 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Schools.

The school was one of four in Orange County named a Blue Ribbon School, the only high school so designated. The other winning schools were Northwood Elementary in Irvine, Pioneer Middle School in Tustin and Serra Catholic School in Rancho Santa Margarita.

At Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, board members and school staff were exultant over the win and talking about who would attend the Oct. 20-21 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The school district had learned in November that it was on the short list for the honor, having been nominated as one of 35 schools statewide. Of that number, 31 public and private schools actually received the designation.

Principal Don Austin said students had to meet testing goals in order to make the grade — and they did.

“We were pretty sure we would get it,” Austin said of the honor.

Austin said that in a single-high-school district such as Laguna Beach, high school performance is a direct result of the academics instilled in students from elementary grades on.

“I think it is a reflection on the entire district,” Austin said of the award.

The schools will receive a plaque and flag signifying their status at the ceremony in the nation’s capitol.

Austin said he plans to travel with Walt Hamera, a math instructor who is also president of the faculty association.

The entire school will celebrate after they return, sometime in November.

The program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that are either academically superior or demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement to high levels, according to the education department.

The program requires schools to meet either of two assessment criteria.

It recognizes schools that have at least 40% of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve student performance in accordance with state assessment systems; and it rewards schools that score in the top 10% on state assessments.

Laguna Beach fits the latter category, logging in the upper 90th percentile on the Academic Performance Index (API) score and other testing measurements.

“High performing schools” — including Laguna Beach High School — are in the top 10% of all schools on state assessment scores in both reading (language arts or English) and mathematics, regardless of their demographics.

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or [email protected].