Hanging up West Shore’s fourth National Blue Ribbon Award plaque in the front office, Principal Burt Clark feels a sense of pride and appreciation towards the school community as he recognizes its dedication in achieving academic success.
“Watching how hard the students work, how hard the teachers work, and how much the parents support the school is truly amazing,” Clark said. “I think [this award] is just a recognition of their collective efforts to continue to achieve at this level. It’s humbling as a principal kind of coming into that, and it obviously sets the bar really high on what we need to continue to do here. I know what my role is in that, and I will make sure to honor that legacy.”
West Shore’s recognition as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School makes it the only high school in Florida to have been awarded four times; the school previously won the award in 2004, 2012 and 2014. The distinction is given to exemplary schools nationwide that perform consistently over time or demonstrate significant progress in improving student achievement levels. Created in 1982 as a way to highlight the best public and private elementary, middle and high schools in the United States and their practices, the award is widely regarded as the greatest honor an American school can receive. Schools are eligible for nomination once every five years, and every time West Shore has been nominated, it has received the award.
“You don’t stumble into something like that,” Assistant Principal Glenn Webb said. “Success is always on purpose. It never happens by accident. You may stumble into a good result now and then, but this is something that shows exceptionalism over a period of time.”
Webb said the school’s recognition is the result of its “community culture that supports excellence.”
“The culture that has been established at our school is such that it’s not dependent on any one individual,” Webb said. “People can come and go from our program, but our culture is maintained and valued. Our students and teachers can work together, build relationships, trust each other, do what’s necessary to add value to our students’ lives, and understand that everyone has everyone else’s best interest in mind. That’s a culture, not a process.”
Former Principal Rick Fleming, who was principal when West Shore earned the nomination last year, said he believes the award encompasses the hard work of students and staff alike.
“It’s difficult to put into words how proud I am of our school and our students in particular,” Fleming said. “Our students never fail to push and challenge themselves with the most rigorous coursework. My philosophy has always been that honors and accolades are simply a byproduct of doing things the right way. And if you’re doing things the right way, meaning our students continue to challenge themselves, our teachers continue to push the envelope with content and our parents continue to support the school, that [fusion] between the three of those things makes for a very successful school.”
To be nominated, schools must be selected by their state. To determine eligibility, a variety of criteria are taken into consideration, including students’ reading levels, math levels and learning gains.
Towards the end of the school year, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program notifies eligible schools of their nomination by their state and presents them with details regarding the application process, which includes narrative-based questions that help the committee see schools beyond their data.
“They already have data, and those things are very empirical in nature,” Fleming said. “In other words, they can look at those and say, ‘This is good, but we want to know who you are. How do you get these results?’ So, we document everything from our department head meetings, how we review data, how we use that data for continuous improvement, how our students perform and where the curriculum meets the road in terms of student mastery on the content.”
Angela Feldbush, the school’s college and career specialist, coordinated the information and got feedback from each area of the school to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to offer ideas.
Upon completion, the school sent the application to the Florida Department of Education and then the U.S. Department of Education. Over the summer, Clark received documentation that the application was accepted and under review, but it wasn’t until Sept. 23 that West Shore was officially named a National Blue Ribbon School for the 2024-2025 school year.
“West Shore does a really good job of consistently getting great students and great teachers, and I think we have these wonderful outcomes as a result,” Feldbush said. “I think that being a school of choice, people know that they’re going to be getting an academically rigorous and challenging education, and so I think that’s just a formula for success. And because we’ve been successful for so long, with the involvement of our parents and teachers, that’s going to continue to breed success.”
The ceremony where the award was accepted took place in the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. in November. Schools typically send two to three people, and while it was initially planned for Clark, Fleming, Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Mark Rendell and an additional staff member to attend, Fleming declined the invitation due to his retirement policy restrictions. After careful consideration, Clark decided to send Webb and Feldbush in his place to accept the award on behalf of West Shore.
“I chose [Webb] not only because he was here last year, but also because of the amount of time and tenure he’s served here,” Clark said. “I feel like he deserves it and it’s the right thing to do. I also sent Feldbush, who was also very active in the writing of the application for the award, as I felt like she should have that opportunity to go up and be part of that recognition.”
After returning from the ceremony, Webb said the experience was an exciting opportunity to meet teachers and educators from around the country with a shared focus on quality education.
“I think my expectation was that I was going to listen to people who are at other great schools and kind of see what they do,” Webb said. “What I found was that every school is so unique that what works at [one] school doesn’t necessarily work at others. You know, resources are different. Students are different. But when it comes to what’s happening in the schools, there was a similar theme that ran everywhere, which was that student-teacher relationships were the key to success. Nobody at the event was taking credit for being there, they were all representing teachers and students who did remarkable things together.”
Following the ceremony, Clark began planning a school-wide celebration day, carrying on a tradition from earlier years. The event will be held on March 13 as part of the school’s Spring Fling, a festival that will be open to all students, families, incoming students and past staff and administration. Attendees can expect food trucks, carnival games and storytelling sessions both during and after the school day.
“I think it’ll be a great way for our school to come together,” Clark said. “My hope is that we’ll be able to get everybody involved on some level, whatever they’re comfortable with and interested in.”
As the school prepares for the spring celebration, Fleming said he is proud of all students—past, present and future.
“To the incoming students, [I want to say]: continue to challenge yourselves and uphold the legacy and work ethic of those who came before you,” Fleming said. “To the students who helped earn this award: it’s time to reflect a little bit, to look back and see what you’ve built and all of the success that you’ve earned, not only for yourself but for the school community. Yes, you’re guided and supported by myself and the staff, but you guys have to do the work, and you do it. And so I’m very proud of all of you, and I look forward to celebrating with you when that award is celebrated at school one day.”
