Norway Elementary wins Blue Ribbon Award

NORWAY, Mich. (WLUC) - The Federal Department of Education awarded Norway Elementary School with a special award on Tuesday.

The Blue-Ribbon Award is given to schools all over the nation whose students achieve an exemplary high academic performance. Norway Elementary’s third through fifth-grade M-STEP scores were nearly double the statewide average.

Norway-Vulcan Area Schools Elementary early kindergarten through eighth-grade Principal Rico Meneghini describes the surprise phone call he received from the Department of Education last January.

“At first I was a little bit nervous, when the State of Michigan Department of Education calls you, it’s maybe, you forgot to do something or some paperwork wasn’t filed,” said Meneghini. “It took a little while to sink in, so she had to say it a couple of times. She was like ‘No, Rico this is a really big deal.’”

Meneghini says the right staff and resources make for a winning formula.

“The most important thing we can do for kids is put quality people in front of them and the next most important thing we can do is have quality tools and resources for people to use,” Meneghini said.

Norway-Vulcan Area School District Superintendent Lou Steigerwald thanks the Norway and Vulcan community for their support.

“It’s recognition of all that hard work,” said Steigerwald. “It reflects well on the community because they have the confidence to bring their kids to school with us, and we are happy about that. So, it’s a great great thing for the school and the community.”

Less than 400 awards were given this year, putting Norway Elementary in the nation’s top 0.3% of schools.

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