Recognize 'Excellent' school

As pointed out in our sister daily newspaper last week, Columbia County school officials inexplicably have failed to publicly applaud Stevens Creek Elementary for being named a Georgia School of Excellence.

There is precedent to consider. The last time a Columbia County school received the honor - when Riverside Middle was named in 2001 - the achievement was highlighted during a meeting of the Board of Education.

Now that Stevens Creek is honored, though, school system officials and elected trustees have yet to utter a peep in public - though they had ample time in their most recent meeting to debate copier-machine repairs.

In some respects, we have little grounds for complaint; this editorial page, which is edited by the husband of Stevens Creeks principal, also has been silent on the schools honor. But while that silence was designed to avoid the appearance of favoritism, school system officials and trustees have no such excuse for failing to crow about the only elementary School of Excellence in Columbia County.

The silence is especially deafening when you consider a Stevens Creek pupil can now attend his or her entire career in a School of Excellence; Riverside and Lakeside High also have the distinction, and most Stevens Creek students attend those schools.

I dont know of another school system in Georgia where you can attend schools of excellence all the way up, brags state School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, who recently came to the rescue of Stevens Creeks foreign-language program with a $50,000 grant.

That program, threatened by system-wide changes in elementary curriculum, has attracted hordes of vocal parental and community supporters.

Maybe those tenacious parents have touched a nerve in the school systems central office or among the elected officials whose phones havent stopped ringing. Still, thats no reason to ignore an honor that belongs not just to Stevens Creek, but to all of Columbia County.