NH schools among the state’s top

Administrators and staff at the North Harrison Community School Corp. were prepped to celebrate their achievements earlier this year, but a glitch in a computer program delayed sharing the news until recently.
When the Indiana Dept. of Education released its Four Star Schools in April, North Harrison High School was one of those omitted even though D. John Thomas, superintendent of NHCSC, knew the high school should have been included.
He said a glitch in the computer program left out algebra test scores which caused NHHS to be omitted.
For weeks, Steve Hatton, principal at North Harrison High School, checked to see if the issue had been resolved.
Finally, earlier this month, Dr. George Frampton, director for the Office of School Accreditation in Indianapolis, sent Hatton an email saying, ‘I was given permission to provide this (list) to impacted schools. I am still working on a more formal notice but wanted to get this in your hands today.
‘I am so very sorry that our software let us all down,’ he wrote. ‘I apologize on behalf of the department.’
Besides NHHS, the revised list of Four Star Schools for the 2012-13 school year include North Harrison Middle School and North Harrison Elementary. The NHCSC’s fourth school, Morgan Elementary, is also considered an ‘A’ school.
(Milltown Elementary School, which is in the Crawford County Community School Corp., was the only other school in the two counties to make the Four Star Schools list.)
In the 2009-10 academic year, the Indiana Dept. of Education adjusted and simplified the process for determining some of its best schools, which are named Four Star Schools.
‘I am very pleased, Thomas said of the achievement for North Harrison. ‘I feel like the teachers are concentrating on what’s important, and the administrators are helping direct the teachers.
‘Most of all, I’m proud of our students,’ he said. ‘They had to do the work.’
In order to achieve this designation, a school must be in the top 25th percentile of schools in ISTEP+ testing results. A total of 313 schools received the award for the 2012-13 school year.
The last school in the Harrison-Crawford area to reach Four Star status was Morgan Elementary in 2009-10.
‘I am honored to name these schools as our Four Star Schools for this year,’ Glenda Ritz, Indiana superintendent of public instruction, said. ‘Winning this award required excellent work by teachers, administrators, students and parents throughout the year and, on behalf of the entire Indiana Dept. of Education, I send them my sincere congratulations.’