A singular honor for school

Congratulations are in order for the Jackson Board of Education, school district administrators, faculty members, school staff, parents and students at the Christa McAuliffe Middle School.

The education community in Jackson is celebrating its receipt of a national Blue Ribbon Schools award for excellence. The McAuliffe School is the first school in Ocean County to win this distinction and that is deserving of praise.

Superintendent of Schools Margaret M. Quinn, who was the school’s principal when it opened in 1993, was thrilled that the school has earned this honor.

Since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools program has celebrated America’s most successful schools. Through an application and evaluation process, the program identifies schools that are models of excellence and equity.

According to the Department of Education, the Blue Ribbon Schools program promotes and supports the improvement of education in America by identifying and recognizing schools that are models of excellence and equity, demonstrate a strong commitment to educational excellence for all students, and that achieve high academic improvement standards or have shown significant improvement over the last five years; making research-based, self-assessment criteria available to schools looking for a way to reflect their progress; and encouraging schools to share information about best practices based on a shared understanding of the standards of educational success.

McAuliffe School Principal Terrence Kenney and his staff deserve congratulations for fostering an atmosphere of achievement and caring in their building.

As the Jackson school district embarks on a building program that will see the construction of a new elementary school and a new high school, it does so with renewed enthusiasm and a celebration of the accomplishments of one of its schools.

Ocean County has a Blue Ribbon No. 1 — the McAuliffe School in Jackson — and the good wishes of the community that supports it.