February 2017
St. Paul Lutheran School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, has been recognized as a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. The blue ribbon flag hanging on the outside of a school immediately identifies the school as a site of exemplary teaching and learning.
Each Blue Ribbon School must meet standards of excellence that include research-based indicators of school quality as well as student achievement. Students in every grade level must perform in the top 15% of state or national testing norms.
“This National Blue Ribbon School Award is the culmination of years of school-improvement planning and implementation,” said Jennifer Heinze, principal. “Reaching this level has been our goal for the past few years, and it’s fantastic that the results of our efforts are recognized in such a tangible way.”
“In addition, we are so blessed to be representing Lutheran schools in general— those who work, day in and day out, to serve thousands of families and reach them with the love of Christ,” she added. “It takes a lot of time, prayer and support.”
The national program recognizes both public and private schools. Saint Paul was among 50 private schools nationwide to receive the award for 2016. These 50 private schools along with 279 public schools were honored in Washington D.C. in early November.
St. Paul Mount Prospect is a PK-8 elementary school with 265 students. Heinze has been on staff for 27 years and became principal in 2004.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Lawrence Institute in Southfield, Michigan (1985) and another in education from Concordia Chicago (1987). She earned her master’s in educational administration from Concordia Chicago in 1998.
“St. Paul School enjoys one very well-developed quality that is important for every Lutheran school; the congregational and pastoral support of our ministry is second to none,” Heinze said. “We are beyond blessed by this relationship, which is a true partnership in every sense.
“Our school is viewed as a giant part of the church ministry, well-supported with money, personnel, volunteers, and prayer so that we can be the best school possible,” she explained. “The entire church staff (pastors, DCE, musicians, business manager) joins with school staff to embrace out-of-the- box thinking with trust.
“Our church leaders have cultivated practices in our church to make it a very welcoming place for young families, so we’re all on the same page. We could not be a successful school without all this in place.”