July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Follow the recipe for great schools
Editorial
Good things don't just happen.
They come about when people share a goal, adopt a strategy, work together, communicate, persevere, encourage one another, hang on to their sense of humor, pay attention to detail, raise expectations, and - when the right moment comes - put all they have learned to work.
That, in a nutshell, is the recipe for a Four Star School.
Principals Larry Wilson and Dan Hoffman were bubbly last week when word came down from the Indiana Department of Education that Pennville Elementary School and Bloomfield Elementary School had both been named Four Star recipients for the 2008-2009 school year.
For Wilson, it was a little tough to get his feet back on the ground. After all, this was Pennville's first Four Star in the school's history. That's a moment worth savoring.
Larry's natural humility made it impossible for him to gloat about the school's success. In addition to praising everyone involved, he repeatedly mentioned that this is something the entire school corporation works toward. Students move around, they transfer; if a school is going to succeed, the whole system has to be working.
For Hoffman, the award might have been old hat. This was, after all, Bloomfield's eleventh Four Star Award.
But to Dan, it wasn't old hat at all. It was a matter of tradition, to be sure, but it was also a matter of continuity and community, of making excellence the norm, not the exception. Bloomfield has been setting the standard.
A third Jay County elementary barely missed the award because its attendance came up a tad short. Our guess there were others in striking distance, close enough to the goal to taste it, close enough to start working on the details to get there next time.
Jay Schools posted an outstanding record this year. There were no Four Star schools in Adams, Blackford, or Randolph counties and just one in Delaware County.
That gives you some idea of how impressive this showing was.
How many Four Star schools can a system have? Why not all of them? After all, we know the recipe. - J.R.
[[In-content Ad]]
They come about when people share a goal, adopt a strategy, work together, communicate, persevere, encourage one another, hang on to their sense of humor, pay attention to detail, raise expectations, and - when the right moment comes - put all they have learned to work.
That, in a nutshell, is the recipe for a Four Star School.
Principals Larry Wilson and Dan Hoffman were bubbly last week when word came down from the Indiana Department of Education that Pennville Elementary School and Bloomfield Elementary School had both been named Four Star recipients for the 2008-2009 school year.
For Wilson, it was a little tough to get his feet back on the ground. After all, this was Pennville's first Four Star in the school's history. That's a moment worth savoring.
Larry's natural humility made it impossible for him to gloat about the school's success. In addition to praising everyone involved, he repeatedly mentioned that this is something the entire school corporation works toward. Students move around, they transfer; if a school is going to succeed, the whole system has to be working.
For Hoffman, the award might have been old hat. This was, after all, Bloomfield's eleventh Four Star Award.
But to Dan, it wasn't old hat at all. It was a matter of tradition, to be sure, but it was also a matter of continuity and community, of making excellence the norm, not the exception. Bloomfield has been setting the standard.
A third Jay County elementary barely missed the award because its attendance came up a tad short. Our guess there were others in striking distance, close enough to the goal to taste it, close enough to start working on the details to get there next time.
Jay Schools posted an outstanding record this year. There were no Four Star schools in Adams, Blackford, or Randolph counties and just one in Delaware County.
That gives you some idea of how impressive this showing was.
How many Four Star schools can a system have? Why not all of them? After all, we know the recipe. - J.R.
[[In-content Ad]]
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD