DES PLAINES – State Senator Laura Murphy (D – Des Plaines) was at George Washington Elementary school in Park Ridge Tuesday to present the school with an official Senate recognition honoring the district for being named a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Ensuring the youth in our state receive a quality education is one of the most important tasks that my colleagues and I have as legislators,” Murphy said. “I am thrilled to be able to present this recognition to George Washington elementary for displaying an outstanding commitment to educating students, and I hope to be able to hand out more of these to other schools in the coming years.”

The National Blue Ribbon Schools program was started in 1982 as a way to recognize public and private elementary, middle and high schools that either promote a high level of academic excellence among their students or exhibit signs of positive progress in closing achievement gaps between subgroups of students. George Washington Elementary was one of 349 schools named to the program in 2018 by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

George Washington Elementary was the only public school in Murphy’s district to be named to the National Blue Ribbon School program in 2018. In total, 24 schools in Illinois received the honor this year, and over 100 Illinois schools have received it since 2013.