Willard is Named a National Blue Ribbon School
September 11, 2012
Ridgewood NJ – Willard Elementary School has been named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education. The announcement was made last week by the U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Willard is one of only 269 schools in the nation to receive the award. Willard earned the Blue Ribbon designation for its overall academic excellence, in the category of “Exemplary High Performing.”
“It is a great honor for the entire Ridgewood Public Schools district that Willard School has been named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon winner,” said Dr. Daniel Fishbein, Superintendent of Schools. “The Willard School community serves as a prime example of the Ridgewood Public Schools tradition of excellence. Principal Marianne Williams, the Willard School teachers and the support staff are to be congratulated for the hard work that they do every day with the children. They are also to be complimented on the hard work that went into the Blue Ribbon application process, which required much commitment and effort from many members of the Willard community over a lengthy period of time.”
Principal Marianne Williams will travel to Washington, D.C. on November 12 to attend a recognition ceremony given by the U. S. Department of Education honoring the approximately 219 public and 50 private schools that won National Blue Ribbon awards. The award comes at a particularly big moment in the history of Willard Elementary School, which just completed a year of celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Much of that anniversary year was spent tackling the Blue Ribbon application, a rigorous process undertaken by several Willard School administrators and staff members, following notification of the school’s nomination by New Jersey Department of Education officials. The application was then vetted for acceptance before the final certification as a National Blue Ribbon Award winner.