ASHLAND — Ashland City Schools’ Reagan Elementary joined 356 public schools nationwide — and only 14 others in Ohio — to receive a designation as one of 2024’s National Blue Ribbon Schools.
The program honors schools across the country based on “student academic achievement measures and progress toward closing achievement gaps,” according to the National Blue Ribbon Schools website.
Nicole Brodie, Reagan Elementary School’s principal, said the school received an email that it was nominated for the award in February. It clinched a nomination after a five-star showing on its Ohio School Report Card for the 2022-2023 academic year.
On its most recent report card, Reagan Elementary School earned a 4.5-star rating.
Check out Ashland County Schools’ report card marks
Brodie then had to fill out an application — a collaborative process that took two months.
(Below is a copy of Reagan Elementary School’s application, published on the National Blue Ribbon Schools website.)
Brodie worked with Ashland City Schools supt. Steve Paramore, assistant supt. Linda McKibben and the district’s EMIS coordinator, Janel Barr, to submit the school’s data. She also asked members of her staff for feedback on the application’s long answers.
“It’s hard to capture a building in words sometimes,” Brodie said.
But, by April, the application was submitted, and then began a waiting game.
The U.S. Dept. of Education announced this year’s awardees Sept. 23. Brodie said the news came as an exciting surprise to her, and credited her staff for the honor.
Team effort
Paramore also shared the news at Ashland City Schools’ regular board meeting Sept. 23. He said there will be a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in November to recognize all the schools that earned the honor.
Ashland City Schools will send representatives from Reagan Elementary School and from the district to receive the recognition.
Both Paramore and Brodie emphasized the award came as a result of a team effort.
“This shows the tremendous amount of love our staff has for our students,” Paramore said.
Brodie, who has served as an administrator at Reagan Elementary since 2017, said the students who’d achieved that five-star rating were the same ones who’d begun at the school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To her, the five-star rating and National Blue Ribbon School status show a motivated staff and student body.
“We adapted and were just very intentional with education,” Brodie said.
She added the school had smaller groups during COVID-19, and more individualized learning. Those elements have remained even after the pandemic ended.
For her, deflecting to the teachers’ and other staff members’ work is important. While she’s at the helm, it’s their work in the classroom each day that earned the school the recognition.
“Our staff is amazing,” Brodie said. “They are so collaborative and support each other in such a way that we’ve continued to grow in the things we do day-to-day.”
According to the National Blue Ribbon Schools website, the last public school in Ashland County to earn the designation was McMullen Elementary School.
That school, in the Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools district, won the honor in 2015.
