After days struggling to keep a lid on a pending announcement, Alta Vista Elementary School Principal Susan Wildes shared excellent news with her school’s staff in a surprise meeting in a darkened library after school Tuesday afternoon: Alta Vista has been named a National Blue Ribbon School for its Exemplary High Performance.
Alta Vista is one of 335 schools in the nation to earn such an honor.
As a slideshow behind her flashed the words “There’s good, there’s great, and then there’s Blue Ribbon!” Wildes clasped her hands and looked to her school’s staff.
She told them she’d “been sitting on this secret for four or five days,” struggling to find just the right way to illustrate her staff’s commitment to their students, when it hit her.
She was walking behind Omera Olson (Mrs. O, as she’s known throughout the school), and watched as Mrs. O led a group of kids from the school’s speech and language training classrooms.
“She’s got this little line of ducks walking behind her, and there was this fourth grader — everything for him is a struggle,” she said. “But as he walked with the other kids down the hallway, you could see that he was so proud of himself.”
Then it clicked: Her staff simply gets its students — and that, she says, is key.
“I tell the staff at the beginning of each year, all you want as a parent is for a teacher to get your kid; to understand who they are and what they’re passionate about, and out of that comes achievement,” Wildes said.
Though Alta Vista is the first elementary school to take this award in the Redondo Beach Unified School District, it’s no stranger to high honors. Last year, the school was one of four in the district to be named a California Distinguished School.
“We’re proud of all of our schools, but this is a very special award,” said RBUSD’s Deputy Superintendent of Educational Services, Dr. Annette Alpern. “Alta Vista is a perfect example of the quality schools we have in Redondo, and we’re happy to have them represent the district.”
“Ms. Wildes and the entire Alta Vista staff earned this,” said District Superintendent Dr. Steven Keller. “There is no ‘free ride’ in realizing this honor—you have to perform.”
