There’s just one problem, though. There will be no place in the honored school where the award can be placed so people can see it.

Why?

The winning school, the Dale Attendance Center, closed after last school year.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Award, part of the No Child Left Behind initiative, is given to schools which have at least 40 percent of their pupils coming from disadvantaged homes and improve their performance to a high level on state tests, and/or to schools whose pupils — regardless of home background — achieve in the top 10 percent on state tests.

Jackie Bond Frey, who had been principal at Dale for the past six years, said the award is a validation of the hard work of the school’s staff, pupils and parents.

“I don’t believe the school’s closing detracts from the designation we’ve received,” Frey said. “A lot of hard work on everyone’s part went into earning that award.”

Most of Dale’s previous 120 pupils now attend East Side Elementary School, although some parents have sent their children elsewhere either because of convenience or as a way to retaliate against Hamilton County Unit 10 for closing the country school.

Frey, now principal at East Side, said 365 schools across the country were nominated for the award, with 214 of those schools earning the designation. Only 16 schools in Illinois were named Blue Ribbon schools.

U.S. Rep. John Shimkus said although Dale School has closed, he’s still proud it was the only school in his congressional district to win such an award.

It’s unfortunate that financial stresses are forcing districts to close schools, he added.

“As someone who favors placing decisions closest to the people, local school boards are charged with making these tough decisions,” Shimkus said Tuesday. “However, it is encouraging that a small rural school was able to rise to the challenge and make the difference.

“The administration, teachers and students should all be proud of Dale’s honor,” Shimkus said.

Frey said educating children is a reward in itself.

“A lot of effort went into using test data as a guide for state testing and evaluating how we had been performing on standardized testing,” she said. “We also addressed problems within our curriculum to improve the students’ mastery of information.”

Vince Mitchell, Unit 10 Superintendent, praised Frey, the Dale staff, parents and pupils for earning the distinction.

“We’re very proud of what the school was able to accomplish over the past three years in setting out to earn this award,” Mitchell said. “‘Learning Takes Place Here’ was the school’s motto, and they certainly took that to heart.”

Frey also praised the parents.

“Parents really had a lot to do with this award,” she said. “Our parents were always supportive of our children’s education, and I had always felt that their child’s education was important to them.”

Now that the Frey, Dale School’s educators and pupils call East Side Attendance Center their new home, Mitchell expects the education to improve at East Side, he said. He cited math and reading as two subjects which greatly improved at Dale.

“Those good practices which Mrs. Frey ... instilled within students at Dale can now be instilled in more students in our district,” Mitchell said. “I’d told Mrs. Frey the first day she was principal at East Side that I wanted her to replicate all the good things she had done at Dale. She can impact a lot of students.”

©Register-News 2003