Hammond Hill, North Augusta El. receive recognition from state
Hammond Hill Elementary School is making its presence known with two distinctions in one week.
The local school is one of five throughout South Carolina to be nominated by S.C. Superintendent of Education Mick Zais for recognition in the 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.
At the same time, Hammond Hill and North Augusta Elementary School have been named to this year's Dick and Tunky Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence SIC Honor Roll.
Hammond Hill principal Janet Vaughan was very excited about both nominations.
National Blue Ribbon Program
Vaughan explained the National Blue Ribbon nominations go to schools with a demonstrated increase in academic achievement.
She said, "Being nominated validates that what we are doing at Hammond Hill to impact instruction is working." She pointed to four factors that are making a huge difference: 1) a nurturing environment, 2) hiring the best teachers, 3) teachers doing a good job of differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all their students and 4) maximizing Title I funds.
Vaughan detailed in three of the last five years a Hammond Hill teacher has been named Teacher of the Year by the Aiken County School District. She admitted when there's an opening at her school, "I do a lot of interviewing." And she noted the school has used its Title I funding to implement such programs as a computer writing lab, the Compass Lab and now a math lab.
All five of the schools nominated by the state department have more than 50 percent of students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds and are in the category of Exemplary High Performing Schools, consistent with the criteria in No Child Left Behind.
South Carolina is allowed to nominate five schools per federal guidelines, and each of those schools has to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind for the past two years in order to qualify for the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.
Hammond Hill was nominated along with Forestbrook Elementary in Horry County School District, Oak Grove Elementary in Lexington School District One, South Kilbourne Elementary in Richland School District One and Marrington Middle in Berkeley County School District.
The 2012 recipients of the National Blue Ribbon Schools awards will be announced in the fall. Vaughan said if Hammond Hill is selected at the national level, she and a teacher will be invited to go to Washington, D.C. to receive the award.
Dick and Tunky Riley Award for SIC Excellence
Hammond Hill and North Augusta Elementary are among 15 schools statewide whose local School Improvement Councils have been named to this year's SIC Honor Roll and will advance to Level Two judging for the award. Vaughan said it was the first time her school's SIC had submitted for the award. "This demonstrates that we have an excellent parent and community partnership," she said. "It takes everybody working together."
At North Augusta Elementary, principal Laurie Reese said her school was recognized last year among the top five schools in South Carolina for the Riley Award for SIC Excellence, "so we submitted again."
She noted the school's theme is "Family friendly, environmentally friendly." The newest aspect to the SIC partnering with the community - the focus of the award - is the school's new "Leadership North Augusta Learning Pavilion," which is to be dedicated Feb. 1. (See related story, this page)
Reese commented the new outdoor classroom has definitely been a community effort, with the school joining with the Class of 2011 of Leadership North Augusta, whose members put together the funding and coordinated the construction of the outdoor facility.
The NAE principal said the application for the SIC award includes other family events at the school, and also highlights the school's new "Children Mentoring Children" programs. Reese said fifth grade students are working with kindergartners on reading and now even on writing, while fourth graders are reading to 4K students on a regular basis.
She said the School Improvement Council was hopeful that the new community and in-school partnerships will take North Augusta Elementary even further in the Riley Award for SIC Excellence.
This year's Honor Roll SICs include Airport High School (Lexington School District 2), Baron DeKalb Elementary School (Kershaw County School District), Blythe Academy of Languages (Greenville County Schools), Burton-Pack Elementary School (Richland School District 1), Ebinport Elementary School (Rock Hill School District 3), Jennie Moore Elementary School (Charleston County School District), Jesse Boyd Elementary School (Spartanburg School District 7), St. James Elementary School (Horry County Schools), Satchel Ford Elementary School (Richland School District 1), Seneca High School (School District of Oconee County), West View Elementary School (Spartanburg School District 6) and Woodmont Middle School (Greenville County Schools).
Five SICs will be selected in February to advance to the Winners Level. The recipient of the 2012 Riley Award will be announced at the SC-SIC annual meeting, scheduled for Saturday, March 24, in Columbia.