[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 14 (Thursday, February 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  NOMINATION OF SEVEN MASSACHUSETTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR RECOGNITION AS 
                          BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I commend the attention of my 
colleagues in the Senate to seven public elementary schools in my home 
State of Massachusetts which have been nominated for recognition as 
Blue Ribbon Schools.
  This week, in his State of the Union Address, President Clinton 
called on us to make education the first priority of this Nation, as we 
enter the 21st century. I could not agree more.
  Fortunately, as I have traveled throughout Massachusetts in the last 
few years, and particularly last year, it has been very apparent to me 
that many communities have already taken on the President's challenge. 
In scores of neighborhoods throughout the Commonwealth, parents, 
schoolchildren, teachers, principals, and community volunteers are 
working with infectious enthusiasm to make their schools the best in 
the world.
  Each of the seven schools which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has 
nominated for the Blue Ribbon Schools Award this year has demonstrated 
that we can achieve high standards in education in this country, and 
that we can make good public schools a fundamental building block of 
strong, vibrant communities.
  The seven schools are located in communities all over Massachusetts, 
and represent Massachusetts in all its diversity: the Mason Elementary 
School in Boston; the Blanchard Memorial School in Boxborough; the 
Emerson Elementary School in Malden; the Tisbury School on Martha's 
Vineyard; the Johnson Elementary School in Natick; the Steward 
Elementary School in Topsfield; and the Jacob Hiatt Magnet School in 
Worcester.
  Each school has embraced high standards and welcomed innovation in 
teaching; but, more important, each has brought parents, teachers, 
schoolchildren and the community together to make school an exciting 
place where children can learn, want to learn, and do learn.
  The U.S. Blue Ribbon Schools Review Panel will make its decision on 
the winners of this year's Blue Ribbon Schools Award in a matter of 
weeks. Regardless of the decision, we in Massachusetts are proud of our 
nominees. They have established themselves as leaders, and I am 
confident that many other Massachusetts schools will follow in their 
path of excellence.

                          ____________________