Two Encinitas Schools Nominated for Award Ocean Knoll, Flora Vista Distinguished Schools honor Adam Kaye ENCINITAS --Two local elementary schools are among 230 nominees statewide for the California Distinguished School Award. If state officials confirm the nominations of Ocean Knoll and Flora Vista. elementaries during visits to the schools in March, the Encinitas Union School District will become eight-for-eight in receiving the award, over the past three years, Superintendent Douglas DeVore said. More than 90 percent of nominated schools win the award after their 11-page applications are verified by a site evaluation, said Doug Langdon, a spokesman for the county Office of Education. "I'm glad it's happening this year," Ocean Knoll Principal Owen O'Connor said of the nomination. "The school looks nicer and better than it ever has" he said, referring to a just-completed $3.5 million modernization program. Principal Gail Patterson of Flora Vista Elementary said she, her staff and students' parents were "delighted to have done as well as we did." "We've always been proud of ourselves in-house," Patterson said. "It's nice to see the state recognize us." If Ocean Knoll and Flora Vista become California Distinguished Schools, they will become eligible to apply for the National Blue Ribbon Award. "My guess is that (they) will be competitive for it" DeVore said. The Distinguished Schools application includes nine paragraph-long questions, which ask for descriptions of the schools' curricula and how parents and families are included in the schools' activities, O'Connor said. Completing the applications was a collaborative process that included parents, teachers and administrators, the principals said. The two Encinitas schools won "honorable mentions" when they applied for the award in 1997. Both of them "just barely missed" receiving the award, DeVore said. He said he didn't know why. "It's hard to say," DeVore said. "Sometimes it comes down to your ability to write. That usually makes the difference." The nominations were released by the California Department of Education this week. The award program began in 198S. Elementary and secondary schools alternate competing for the award every year. Statewide, a record-high 681 schools applied for the award, 65 of them from San Diego County. Thirty schools in the county received nominations. North County schools nominated for the award include: Aviara Oaks and Kelly Elementary (Carlsbad Unified); Del Mar Hills Elementary (Del Mar Union); L.R. Green Elementary(Escondido Union); Iowa Street School (Fallbrook Union); Ivey Ranch and North Terrace Elementary (Oceanside Unified); Chaparral, Deer Canyon, Los Penasquitos, Park Village, Sunset Hills, Tierra Bonita and Westwood elementaries (Poway Unified); Discovery, La Costa Meadows and Richland Elementary (San Marcos Unified); and Breeze Hill Elementary (Vista Unified). Linda Friedman, a school site council member at Flora Vista and parent of fourth-grade twins, said she felt fulfilled that the school has been nominated for the award. "I wouldn't move until my kids are out of this school, ' she said. "(Flora Vista is) truly a school that deserves it." |
