A Montgomery County high school and a Prince George’s County elementary school have been named two of the six 2007 Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the Maryland State Department of Education.
Winston Churchill High School in Potomac and Heather Hills Elementary in Bowie now have the chance to advance to the National Blue Ribbon Schools program run by the U.S. secretary of education.
Darla Strouse, a spokeswoman for the state’s department of education, said the schools were chosen for two different reasons. Churchill has continuously had high scores on Advance Placement, SAT and state high school assessment tests, she said.
“They’ve never won a Blue Ribbon award, so we were just delighted to be able to showcase that school,” Strouse said.
As for Heather Hills, Strouse said the school has improved dramatically despite challenges.
“It is another school that’s just really beating the odds,” she said.
Kate Harrison, a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools, said the county has had state blue ribbon schools and 32 at the national level over the years, including Bethesda’s Thomas W. Pyle Middle School last year.
“Being a Blue Ribbon School is definitely a big honor,” Harrison said. “We are very proud of the fact that we have had a pretty solid record of having them over the years.”
At Prince George’s County Public Schools, spokesman John White said the system has made tremendous gains in the past few years. He said the state’s selection of Heather Hills showed “dramatic improvement being made in our county.”
“We still have a ways to go,” White said, “but we certainly have examples of exceptional student achievement.”
