By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Two Niles elementary schools have recently been nominated for a prestigious leadership award.
Howard Elementary and Ballard Elementary have both received notice from the Middle Cities Education Association that each is eligible for the 2004 Muth Excellence in Leadership Award.
The Middle Cities Education Association is a consortium of 33 school districts in Michigan, whose purpose is to improve educational opportunities for urban students through cooperative services and activities.
According to the MCEA website, the award is designed to recognize "principals and staff who demonstrate outstanding leadership in school improvement, specifically improvements that reflect gains in students' social and academic achievement."
The award also recognizes schools that have shown notable improvements in one or more curricular area of the MEAP test.
Principals at both schools were proud to be recognized and said the nomination is a testament to the quality of their schools' staffs.
The Muth Award will be given to three different schools and comes with a $1,500 grant to be used for additional school improvements.
Because the award can only be given to one school per district, Garrard said Howard Elementary has decided not to apply.
She said the school was also nominated for a Blue Ribbon School Award and plans to apply for that award sometime later this year.
Devos has been working hard to finish Ballard's application for the Muth Award over the past two weeks. The application deadline is April 16.
According to the MCEA, the schools receiving the awards must demonstrate sustained improvement among the major subgroups, have a written school improvement plan in place and show evidence of community, staff and student support of their school program.
The winners will be announced at MCEA's Spring Roundup on May 7 and honored at a special ceremony during the Fall Roundup in September 2004.