The Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence announced this week Hayes High School has met the criteria to be named a Lighthouse School.
In 2018, Hayes was selected as a Points of Light School by the organization after a two-day visit and assessment by educators at the organization. Hayes was the first school in Ohio to receive the award that year.
On Wednesday, Hayes Principal Dr. Ric Stranges said the assessment provided valuable feedback, and the school’s academics were preventing it from earning the top honor, being named a Lighthouse School.
“It’s not just based on numbers, it’s based on them coming into the classroom, meeting with students and staff, and seeing what the school is about,” Stranges said. “(In 2018) they said (Hayes) was the ‘finest school culture they’d seen,’ but the areas we were lacking were academic. When we presented to them, they felt like we were on the right path to become a Lighthouse School.”
Stranges said the school has been working to improve grades and other measures of student success.
“We found the areas we needed to improve, did a curriculum audit, started mastered learning and started a creating systems that allowed our students to be successful,” he said.
Stranges added in order to earn the Lighthouse School recognition, Hayes had to meet required criteria in nine areas: student focus and support; school organization and culture; challenging standard and curriculum; active teaching and learning; technology and integration; professional community; leadership and education vitality; school, family and community partners; and indicators of success.
Stranges said Wednesday he’s proud of the school’s achievement and is particularly proud of the staff at Hayes.
“During the pandemic, teaching and learning have been difficult tasks,” he said. “For our staff to be able to achieve this type of recognition and this level of success validates truly how good they are. This is a staff award. I’m very proud.”
Stranges said Hayes is one of 12 schools to earn the distinction this year.
