Two Long Island elementary schools named National Blue Ribbon winners

Two Long Island elementary schools have won the right to fly "blue ribbon" flags this year, continuing a long streak of U.S. honors awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to schools in the region. 

Lakeville Elementary School in Great Neck and South Grove Elementary School in Syosset were both named 2024 National Blue Ribbon Schools, federal officials announced Monday. The two schools are among 21 in the state and 356 in the nation awarded ribbons this year. 

Schools are recognized in two categories for blue-ribbon honors: exemplary academic performance, and success in narrowing achievement gaps between different groups of students. Both South Grove School and Lakeville School are included in the exemplary academic category. 

Typically, applications for honors require several months of preparation by dozens of staffers in schools and central district offices. Announcements of winners are often accompanied by pep rally-type celebrations, where students, teachers and others gather in gyms and lunchrooms to share in the excitement. 

"I am just elated — speechless just now," said Mi Jung An, principal of South Grove School. She spoke to Newsday Monday in advance of a planned afternoon celebration. 

South Grove, which enrolls 420 students in grades kindergarten through five, puts a great deal of emphasis on fostering students' individual academic interests, local officials said. An example of the school's approach is its longtime tradition of holding "brown-bag" sessions, where children can choose to listen to experts talk about various subjects, while eating lunch. One recent visitor was a cartoonist; another was a paleontologist who passed out small fossil samples. 

"This demonstrates the district's commitment to cultivating the interests and strengths of all students," said Michele Webb, who is South Grove's teacher responsible for academic enrichment. 

Syosset's system assigns an enrichment specialist to each of its seven elementary schools. 

In Great Neck, as in Syosset, staffers say there is an emphasis on individual students' interests. 

"We motivate children to take risks, respectfully challenge each other's thinking and celebrate their own unique ability to make positive contributions," the Lakeville School stated in its application to the U.S. Department of Education. 

Blue-ribbon flags and banners are familiar sights in Nassau and Suffolk County, which tend to win multiple awards annually. Three of the region's schools in Amagansett, Jericho and New Hyde Park took ribbon honors last year; four area schools won the year prior.

Such schools are "raising the bar for our nation's students," said U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement. "As we celebrate their achievements, let us look to these schools for inspiration." 

Competition for the federal program is open to private schools and independently run charter schools, as well as traditional public schools. 

Check back for updates on this developing story.