St. Luke in River Forest earns Blue Ribbon

Updated: October 21, 2012 1:17PM

RIVER FOREST — St. Luke Parish School has been announced as a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School.

St. Luke is one of only 50 private schools throughout the nation to receive the distinction. St. Luke was designated as Exemplary High Achieving in the contest; schools can also be selected in the category of Exemplary Improving.

Administrative Assistant Joanie Schwarzbeck said St. Luke has long had the reputation for excellent academic achievement. Students commute from more than 10 suburbs as well as Chicago to attend class there.

St. Luke houses pre-school through eighth grade students, with an enrollment of 371 students.

St. Luke was also named as a National Blue Ribbon School in 1993.

“I was teaching there when we got the award in 1993,” said former St. Luke Principal Barbara Rasinski. “I was part of the committee that put the application together then, too.”

Rasinski was principal at St. Luke when the school applied for the award, but is now working as principal for St. Bede The Venerable Parish School in Chicago. During Rasinski’s 23-year tenure at St. Luke, she worked first as a teacher, then as the assistant principal and finally, as the principal.

Rasinski will attend the Nov. 12-13 National Blue Ribbon School award ceremony in Washington D.C., stepping in for current St. Luke Principal Therese Craig. Stephenie Sutton, learning disabled resource teacher, will accompany Rasinski.

Both public and private schools must first be nominated for the award by the state’s top education official. From there, nominees go through an application process. This includes an analysis of standardized test scores from the last five years, as well as questions about the school’s culture, how specific subjects are implemented and what makes the institution stand out.

The school will receive a plaque and a flag signifying their status as a National Blue Ribbon School.

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