Back in October, DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education celebrated over 350 schools in the country for receiving the Blue Ribbon Award. Delphos’ own Franklin Elementary being one of them. Now, Ohio State Superintendent, Paolo DeMaria, is visiting that honorable school.
At Franklin Elementary school, their mission statement is: “Excellence today; success tomorrow; one student at a time.” And it’s clear that they’re on that path since becoming a blue ribbon award school.”
The Blue Ribbon award is given to exemplary high performing schools in the country for their dedication to improving education. For Franklin Elementary, they were able to “close the gap” between educational achievements of different subgroups of students. Paolo DeMaria explains what it takes to earn that blue ribbon.
“Not being satisfied with just, you know, being good, but really always looking and being on the lookout for how do we get better, how do we get better all the time," says DeMaria. "Which, you know, that’s what great people in great organizations do and I think that’s what’s happening here.
One of the classes in Franklin that stood out to me was Begindergarten. It’s a class designed to help students who aren’t quite ready for the kindergarten curriculum. Among other things, this class helps students learn how to better their overall skills for their future education.
Amber Pohlman, the Begindergarten teacher, says, “We believe in very high standards here at Franklin Elementary and because of that, we believe that the foundation is kind of the start.”
This class was implemented just a few years back at Franklin and has been improving students' education since. So, it’s no wonder why this school is receiving an award for their education, even all the students seemed to enjoy their learning environment.
