By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Fayette County High School has been named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, becoming one of an elite list of the best schools in the United States.

“We're very excited,” said Gary Phillips, principal of Fayette's oldest high school, who phoned newspapers Monday morning fairly bursting with the news. “We passed every test as they came along, and at each level we were more and more hopeful, but you just never know,” he said.

Before being named a Blue Ribbon school, FCHS was named a Georgia School of Excellence under a program of the state Department of Education.

Being a School of Excellence is not a prerequisite to being nominated for the Blue Ribbon program, but it's rare for schools to be nominated for the national program without first receiving the state award.

If a school becomes one of the few nominated for the Blue Ribbon program, a two-day review is conducted by representatives of the U.S. Department of Education, who talk to students, teachers, parents, the principal and central office staff in addition to reviewing the school's facilities, curriculum, test scores, extracurricular activities and other aspects of the school.

After a thorough review, the information is passed on to a committee that decides which schools will receive the award.

“It's largely based on the performance of your students,” said Phillips.

And students at FCHS have performed.

The school's Beta Club has more than 120 members, who have met national academic and citizenship criteria.

Sixty-two graduating seniors at FCHS are in the National Honor Society, which requires grades of 93 percent or higher, and the senior class boasts 134 honor graduates, more than 25 percent of the total.

Graduates this year will receive about $2 million in scholarships, said Phillips, who added that the school also has two military academy appointees as well as numerous Presidential Scholars.

Students will take scholarships to universities like Georgia Tech, Emory and the University of Georgia, as well as such prestigious institutions as Harvard.

In the school's evaluation, Phillips said, it received especially high marks for its advanced placement program, in which students take college level classes at FCHS and then take proficiency tests to determine whether they can receive college credit.

Eighty-two percent of FCHS's advanced placement students received college credit this year, compared to a national average of 55 percent. The school's students also scored above national averages on SATs and the state-mandated high school graduates' test.

Continuing education programs for the teachers also helps, and so does having a variety of opportunities for students, such as sports, band and other fine arts programs.

The school has won recent state awards, and its teachers have won accolades as well, said Phillips.

“This shows that we are a strong, well-rounded school,” he said. “We're all over the map in being able to show excellence in a variety of areas.

“We're very proud of them,” said Fayette superintendent of school Dr. John DeCotis. “It's something they've been working hard on for many years and it paid off,” he said.

Although one school at each level in each congressional district can be a Georgia School of Excellence, only one or two schools from the state go on to be reviewed for the Blue Ribbon program, he said.

Only one other Fayette school, Flat Rock Middle, has ever received the designation.