Story by Franklin Free Press
Last week, Russellville High School's students, faculty, administrators and staff celebrated the school finishing 18th in U.S. News & World Report's rankings of Alabama high schools.
Next up, it will be time for Russellville Elementary School to party.
Principal Tiffany Warhurst's school received notice September 20th it was named a 2023 Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School.
Based on the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence national assessment process, RES met the required criteria in nine performance areas of high performing schools required to earn this prestigious honor.
The award will be presented to Warhurst in December during the Blue Ribbon Schools Conference in Orlando.
The Lighthouse School designation remains with RES for five years, at which time the school will be eligible to apply for renewal.
Russellville Middle School earned Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School status earlier this year.
One aspect of being a Lighthouse School is a commitment to sharing expertise and exemplary practices with other schools, as well as providing mentoring and networking to other schools engaged in improvement initiatives.
That will be nothing new to Warhurst and the RES faculty. The school was chosen by the Alabama Department of Education and the Alabama Reading Initiative as a spotlight school. That designation includes a commitment to allowing other school officials to come on campus and see what the RES faculty is doing to improve science and reading scores.
Only 12 Alabama schools were selected and among those 12, RES was one of three schools to show growth. And the 16% improvement in scores was tops among all participating schools.
Warhurst was excited, but not surprised, to learn her school was chosen as a Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School.
“Our scores here have always reflected how hard our teachers and students work,” Warhurst said. “This is a detailed process that includes an on-campus visit. (Blue Ribbon evaluators) go into every classroom to observe. They met with groups of students, teachers and parents, approximately 20 of each, to get their feedback as well.”
Russellville City Schools Superintendent of Education Heath Grimes said he was impressed at how well RES did considering it was the school's first review.
“I think it's amazing the faculty, staff, students and administration accomplished this on the first review without corrective feedback,” Grimes said. “It say a lot about the quality of education taking place at RES (and RMS which received its recognition earlier this year).
This is a great accomplishment but it's what we already knew. This just gives us a standard to measure by and a level and accomplishment to share with the public,” he added.
The performance areas considered by the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence include: student focus and support, school organization and culture, challenging standard and curriculum, active teaching and learning, technology and integration, professional community, leadership and education vitality, school, family and community partnerships and indicators of success.
And the celebration? Oh yes, Warhurst said, it's coming.
“We're already in the process of planning a big celebration. I can't release details yet, as we have to finalize plans and receive board approval. We won't just include one group, as this was a team effort,” Warhurst said. “From our bus drivers to lunch room staff to custodians to teachers to office staff and our students, we'll celebrate everyone in this building.”
For more information on the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence program, visit www.blueribbonschools.com.