The Blue Ribbon Goes to Greenport Elementary

Greenport Elementary School was identified by the U.S. Department of Education this month as a National Blue Ribbon School, an award given this year to 304 schools nationwide and 19 statewide. Greenport and Glen Cove were the only two Long Island schools to receive the award.

Decked out in blue clothing, elementary school students and facility formed a blue ribbon on the school's front lawn on Sept. 15 to celebrate the honor.

"Your teachers have taught you and increased your vocabulary and comprehension, and as a result, you've achieved greatness on tests that do matter," said former Greenport Schools Superintendent Charles Kozora at the ceremony.

Every year since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education has "sought out schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals, including those that beat the odds," for the Blue Ribbon, according to the federal department's website.

With the help of staff members, Kozora, who retired in 2009, applied years ago for a grant for the federal Reading First program, a No Child Left Behind initiative focused on a highly individualized approach to teaching reading to children. The school was awarded the $1.4 million grant in February 2004.

And in the ensuing years, the results showed — not only in reading improvements but in math and general test scores, said former Greenport Elementary School Principal Paul Read, who helped write the Reading First grant.

"I knew we were doing better last October, when I got the call from the state with test scores improved by as much as 15 percent," said Read, who retired in January. "We've been doing better in general over the past five years."

In mid-November, Read and another representative of the school will head to Washington, D.C. to receive the Blue Ribbon Award from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The former principal said he wasn't surprised that Greenport Elementary, a small school with limited resources and a diverse, multi-lingual population, would "beat the odds" and receive the honor.

"We're always struggling to stay on par with the neighbors," Read said of the elementary school, "For it to be considered high-achieving has proved our success."

At the ceremony, Kozora reminded everyone how greatness can rise from poverty.

"More than half of our students receive free and reduced lunches — they are at poverty level," he said. "So for them to come up and score so well on these exams is really a true tribute to the achievement. They have overcome their poverty."