Schools’ equivalent of cramming for finals

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- The staff of six elementary schools are breathing easier

today as their applications to be named distinguished schools arrive in

Sacramento in time to meet the state deadline.

“I took it to Fed Ex an hour ago,” Daryle Palmer, principal at Kaiser

Elementary School, said Thursday. “It is a major process, but it was very

rewarding.”

Part of the School Recognition Program created in 1985, being named a

distinguished school is one of the top honors bestowed on California

schools.

In October, 14 elementary schools in the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District were listed on the state Board of Education’s Web site as being

eligible to apply. To be eligible, a school’s Stanford 9 test scores were

required to fall in the upper half of the state’s schools.

Of the 14 Newport-Mesa qualifiers, Kaiser, Newport Heights, Victoria,

Davis, Harbor View and Killybrooke elementary schools decided to tackle

the extensive application process.

“My staff decided to go for it,” said Mary Ann Gilbreth, principal at

Killybrooke. “We’ve been working on it for a month and a half, but I

think it was important for us because we’re such a unique and special

school.”

An application to become a distinguished school is a lengthy, complex

document, which uses a points system and requires schools to demonstrate

how theirs is an exemplary school.

When Paularino Elementary School received its invitation to apply, the

staff celebrated, said principal Pat Insley.

“But it was a long application and a short time frame,” she said. “It was

such a complex process that we didn’t feel the timing was right.”

That sentiment is completely understood by Insley’s peers.

“I feel like I’ve been working on it for a million years,” Palmer said.

Each school approached the process a little differently. Kaiser staff

members gathered information, made charts, and even brought in an outside

facilitator.

Killybrooke officials tapped every available resource. Besides a total

commitment from staff and parents, Gilbreth organized a school-wide

project that had students writing why their school was special.

“Our school is the best school ever and I wish that all the people could

like this school as much as I do,” wrote 9-year-old Brittany Derieg. “I

am going to tell you one more thing that is the best about our school.

That one thing is the teachers. Our teachers rule compared to other

teachers.”

Despite the enormity of the task, each school took away something from

the process itself.

“The recognition really comes from within,” said Newport Heights

Principal Brooke Booth. “It’s just validating to bring the school

community together and motivates people to continue to do well.”

At the end of January, the state Department of Education will announce

150 schools as nominees.

“Yes, we’re going to be hurt if we don’t get it,” Palmer said. “But even

if we don’t, it was a wonderful process.”