Blue Ribbon Day

THOUSAND OAKS — When three delegates from Meadows Elementary School got the chance to fly to Washington, D.C., to pick up the nation’s top educational award at the White House, the students at the Blue Ribbon school wouldn’t let the trip go without fanfare.

So the 474 students transformed their school Friday into a replica of the White House, offering student-led tours--watched over by mini Secret Service agents--through a cafeteria that had been turned into the White House’s Red, Blue and Green rooms, as well as the Oval Office.

“When we were told that only three people were allowed to go to Washington, we decided to bring the White House to the kids,” said Meadows mother Rebecca Nichols, who headed up the monthlong metamorphosis. “It was the kids who came up with doing tours with docents.”

Receiving the nation’s most prestigious educational honor--the U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon award--was the reason retired Principal Tim Stephens, former first-grade teacher Judy Bowers and PTA past President Lynne Kelsey spent part of this week on the Hill, dining with the “heavyweights,” as Stephens joked after Meadows received the designation in May.

The Washington ceremonies, held for three days this week, honored about 260 schools around the country for their academic excellence, high-achieving students and innovative teaching methods.

Meadows was the only school in Ventura County and one of only 31 California schools to win the coveted award for 1996-97.

To witness the school’s White House transformation this month is to get an inkling of why Meadows was chosen for the award. The school preaches that students should be given “power to make decisions . . . and experience dynamic situations through real-world models,” according to a summary statement prepared by state evaluators who chose the school as a Blue Ribbon nominee.

The school is also known for its garden, which is a miniature home to the state’s four climatic regions, and its nontraditional system of evaluating students without grades.

“It makes me feel really proud to go to school here,” said 10-year-old Alexis Nichols, Rebecca’s daughter.

About four weeks ago, the students began researching how to decorate their lunch room to look like 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. They first went online to the White House’s Web page and then picked the brains of docents from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Armed with this knowledge, the kids--along with Rebecca Nichols’ husband, David--created a giant mural of the White House to sit on the school’s front lawn. They sectioned off walls in the cafeteria to show the roses in the Red Room, the elaborate curtains in the Blue Room, the busts of presidents in the Green Room and the meeting area in the Oval Office.

What also made Friday’s event sing was the wind ensemble from Westlake High School, which played Civil War tunes for the children. It was good old-fashioned American music.

“I liked the music the best,” said 7-year-old Jasmine Amiri.

But perhaps the most impressive aspect of Friday’s celebration, at least in terms of technology, was when a phone call from Washington was patched in from the three Meadows delegates and broadcast over the school’s intercom system.

“Good morning. This is Mrs. Kelsey, live from Washington,” the former PTA president said. “We just heard from Hillary Rodham Clinton, and she told us to keep up the good work. . . . We were lucky because the seating is in alphabetical order and California got a table right near the front.”

The U.S. Blue Ribbon program, started in 1982, is the nation’s top education honor. The state has a similar program, the California Distinguished School awards, patterned after the Blue Ribbon honors. Meadows has won both, along with a designation as a California Top 100 school.

The process of applying for the national award is difficult and time-consuming, said state Department of Education consultant Norma Carolan.

“This is an intensive self-evaluation,” she said, adding that school officials fill out a 40-page application to hand in to the government for review. Each state then nominates a certain number of schools based on its population. California gets the most, with 46 applications this year.

Once a school wins, it is prevented from applying again for several years, Carolan said. And if it is nominated a second time, it will be much tougher to win, because educators will have to show that they have improved.

The Blue Ribbon designation carries real benefits, Carolan said.

The award boosts staff morale, bolsters community spirit and even spurs home sales.

About seven years ago, Susan McElvaney called the Conejo Valley Unified School District and asked for a list of the district’s school accountability reports. Since she had heard so many good things about Meadows, she and her husband moved so their children could enroll there.

“Conejo Valley tends to be conservative,” said McElvaney, whose two boys attend Meadows and whose 4-year-old will one day go there. “The progressive schools are not as highly supported. . . . But I think the kids learn better when they do these meaningful, hands-on projects and they’re not just sitting in their seat.

“I’m even inspired when I come here. It makes me want to learn all over again.”

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Blue Ribbon Schools

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education recognizes schools across the country for the excellence of their educational programs and rewards them with the prestigious Blue Ribbon title. Schools are judged on academic standards, teacher qualifications and parental involvement. In Ventura County, 10 schools have received this national recognition. They are:

Conejo Valley Unified School District: Meadows Elementary School, 1997

Hueneme Elementary School District

Charles Blackstock Junior High School, 1996

E.O. Green Junior High School, 1993

Mesa Union Elementary School District

Mesa Elementary School, 1987

Oak Park Unified School District

Medea Creek Middle School, 1996

Oak Hills Elementary School, 1992

Oak Park High School, 1993

Pleasant Valley Elementary School District

Los Altos Intermediate School, 1987

Los Primeros Structured School, 1988

Ventura Unified

Anacapa Middle School, 1991

Source: Ventura County Superintendent of Schools