Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important to also acknowledge that while celebrating academic excellence is valuable, public awards like the Presidential Award can unintentionally make other hardworking kids feel overlooked—especially at the elementary level. Some kids face learning challenges, personal struggles, or neurodiversity that make “top grades” harder to achieve, even when they’re putting in just as much effort.

It’s not about shielding kids from disappointment—it’s about understanding that growth, perseverance, and kindness also deserve recognition at this age. If we only publicly celebrate the highest achievers, we risk sending the message that other forms of success and effort don’t matter as much. There’s room to celebrate all kinds of strengths in a school community.

Nonsense. This is the self-esteem movement, where we praise everything, whether deserved or not.

Somehow, this does not apply to sports, where we are ok with recognizing the winners.

Celebrate those who did well. If others forms of success are important, then recognize that too.

We went through a couple of years at a HS where the principal did not want any type of academic achievement to be recognized or published because you guessed it, equity.

For every parent on this board that’s saying we should recognize academic excellence, there’s three more that are ready to complain nonstop to the principal and teachers about it.

These decisions have been made because of parents, not kids.

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s important to also acknowledge that while celebrating academic excellence is valuable, public awards like the Presidential Award can unintentionally make other hardworking kids feel overlooked—especially at the elementary level. Some kids face learning challenges, personal struggles, or neurodiversity that make “top grades” harder to achieve, even when they’re putting in just as much effort.

It’s not about shielding kids from disappointment—it’s about understanding that growth, perseverance, and kindness also deserve recognition at this age. If we only publicly celebrate the highest achievers, we risk sending the message that other forms of success and effort don’t matter as much. There’s room to celebrate all kinds of strengths in a school community.

Nonsense. This is the self-esteem movement, where we praise everything, whether deserved or not.

Somehow, this does not apply to sports, where we are ok with recognizing the winners.

Celebrate those who did well. If others forms of success are important, then recognize that too.

We went through a couple of years at a HS where the principal did not want any type of academic achievement to be recognized or published because you guessed it, equity.

I think it’s important to also acknowledge that while celebrating academic excellence is valuable, public awards like the Presidential Award can unintentionally make other hardworking kids feel overlooked—especially at the elementary level. Some kids face learning challenges, personal struggles, or neurodiversity that make “top grades” harder to achieve, even when they’re putting in just as much effort.

It’s not about shielding kids from disappointment—it’s about understanding that growth, perseverance, and kindness also deserve recognition at this age. If we only publicly celebrate the highest achievers, we risk sending the message that other forms of success and effort don’t matter as much. There’s room to celebrate all kinds of strengths in a school community.

Anonymous wrote:Our school gave them out at the promotion ceremony. I would say about 20-30 percent of the AAP kids got the excellence award, and then the rest of AAP and about 10 percent of everyone else got the achievement award.

DS got the excellence award. He has had 2s in the behavior areas of his report card, but only 3s and 4s in academic subjects. He’s always scored a pass-advanced on SOLs.

He was so proud of himself, and that made me happy.

Was this at a center or at a local?
Asking because at our center school it appeared that only about half of the aap kids got either academic award and about half the kids getting either award overall were gened

I hope Principals and AP reading this… Recognizing students in public can inspire others to work hard and set goals.

Our school gave them out at the promotion ceremony. I would say about 20-30 percent of the AAP kids got the excellence award, and then the rest of AAP and about 10 percent of everyone else got the achievement award.

DS got the excellence award. He has had 2s in the behavior areas of his report card, but only 3s and 4s in academic subjects. He’s always scored a pass-advanced on SOLs.

He was so proud of himself, and that made me happy.

I think it's sad these kids aren't able to celebrate their achievements. Read their names out loud!!

Our school also had the assistant principal read a letter, and the awards were pinned to the diploma case. If you knew what to look for you could see if someone got it, the diploma showed when they paused was it vs the normal diploma. It sounds like less than 10% of the class got it.

At our 6th grade promotion ceremony this week, the AP read a letter about the presidential award but didn’t say who got them. Anyway we found out my kid got one after we opened the envelope at home. I think kids should be recognized for their hard work and achievement. It’s not bragging. It can push others to work harder so they can also earn one. In the workplace we celebrate promotions, not everyone gets promoted. That’s part of life.

Our elementary school didn’t do this but DD got one in middle school. They handed a certificate to every kid with over a 3.5.

As I had to explain to my mother, her grandmother, the president isn’t actually signing anything and to calm down. It’s obvious it’s printed from a computer.