Five distinguished county schools not Blue Ribbon nominees
For the third straight year, no Ventura County school has been named a Blue Ribbon award nominee. Last month, the California Department of Education announced that 35 schools in 12 counties are nominees for the national 2010 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon award, none in Ventura County. The 35 nominees had been named in 2009 as Title I Academic Achieving Award schools—schools with a large population of low-income students that rank in the upper half of schools statewide—or disadvantaged California Distinguished Schools.
None were from Ventura County even though five schools—Westlake, Oak Park and Adolfo Camarillo high schools and Sinaloa and Medea Creek middle schools—were among the 261 California Distinguished Schools in 2009. None met the criteria by the U.S. Department of Education for being disadvantaged—40 percent or more students participate in the National School Lunch Program, are English learners, receive Migrant Education services or have parents who did not earn a high school diploma.
The California Department of Education has invited no Ventura County school to apply for the Blue Ribbon award since changing the criteria to recognize high-achieving schools with a large population of economically disadvantaged students three years ago.
The last Ventura County school to win the national award was Simi Valley’s Wood Ranch Elementary in 2007. Between 2003 and 2007, at least one Ventura County school won the Blue Ribbon award every year, for a total of nine elementary and secondary schools.
Tony Knight, superintendent of Oak Park Unified School District, whose Oak Park High and Medea Creek Middle schools were Distinguished Schools last year, called the criteria "unfair."
Leslie Frank, principal of Simi Valley’s Sinaloa Middle School, said though the school isn’t a Blue Ribbon nominee this year, administrators are proud of the students’ achievement. The school scored 821 on the Academic Performance Index (API), an eligibility component of the Blue Ribbon award, surpassing the statewide goal of 800.
"It’s getting harder and harder" to qualify for the Blue Ribbon award, said Janet Cosaro, Conejo Valley Unified School District assistant superintendent. The district is working to help Westlake High’s English learners and economically disadvantaged students make more progress.
"We understand it," said Martha Mutz, assistant superintendent for Oxnard Union High School District, about the criteria change. "It’s disappointing, but you can’t have a population you don’t have."
Mutz said staff at the district and Camarillo High are proud of what students have achieved.
"It’s an outstanding program," she said of the high school.
Stan Mantooth, superintendent of the Ventura County Office of Education, said the five Distinguished Schools are still academically noteworthy.
"It doesn’t mean that their standards are any less. . . ." Mantooth said. "These kinds of schools that get (the Distinguished School) award, they don’t let their standards down once they get it."
He pointed out, for example, that U.S. News & World Report named Oak Park High one of the nation’s best high schools last month.
To win the Blue Ribbon award, the 35 nominees must meet the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and state API targets for 2010. Blue Ribbon winners will be announced after AYP and API results are released, likely in September, said Tim Miller, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education.
More than 70 percent of the students at the 35 Blue Ribbon nominee schools met the criteria for being disadvantaged. The schools also increased the number of students scoring advanced or proficient in English and math an average of 49 percent over the past five years, the department stated.
"We feel it makes less sense," Knight said. "It’s been tough on our schools."
