By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

Jeff Travis is a firm believer that educating a child takes a team effort.

That's why he, as superintendent, and the board of education for Waconda USD 272 based in Downs decided to send all its teachers to the nation's capitol to accept a national award.

The district's middle school, which includes fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders in Cawker City, was one of five Kansas schools recognized last week as a Blue Ribbon School for the 2009-10 school year.

This year, 155 schools out of 135,000 across the nation were honored. The only one in the western half of the state was Lakeside Middle School.

Schools honored by the U.S. Department of Education each year are allowed to bring the principal and one teacher to the Blue Ribbon Schools conference in Washington.

But when USD 272 learned it had won the prestigious award, Travis said he knew he had to find a way for the entire core teaching staff to go.

"It would be kind of like winning the national championship but not getting to go to the ceremony," Travis said.

Plus, added Principal Robert Green, "everybody jumped in and helped tackle" an application that is estimated to take 40 man hours.

"It was quite a feat," he said.

When Travis learned earlier this fall that Lakeside was one of this year's winners, the planning for a big trip began.

The district picked up the bill for hotel rooms, and a local businesswoman bought into the team concept in a big way.

Kelly Berkley, a local pharmacist who has two children attending schools in the Lakeside district, gave the Washington-bound contingent her frequent flier miles she had accumulated on a credit card to help cut down their personal costs to D.C.

Berkley said she was sure the district would have come up with a way to send those teachers anyway, but this way it could use that money elsewhere.

"I had just enough (miles) to send six people," she said.

One of those teachers, Stephanie Draayer, is a special education teacher, so the seventh airline ticket was picked up by the Special Education Co-op in Beloit.

"It was perfect, a great way to give back, too," Berkley said. "It was just meant to be."

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program, established in 1982, honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools that are either high performing or have improved student achievement to high levels, especially among disadvantaged students.

Green and Diane Porter, the middle school reading teacher, attended the workshops at the conference. They were joined at the awards ceremony by teachers Draayer, Kay Gaston, Cynthia Goth, Barb Palen and Lynn Wacker.

"We were really excited and honored," said Green, who is also principal at the district's Glen Elder elementary school and the junior high in Cawker City since the 2003 consolidation of students from Downs, Cawker City, Glen Elder and Tipton.

"There are a lot of schools that are just as good as, or even better than, us," Green said. "But I think our consistency over the last several years has been (impressive)."

Lakeside has received statewide recognition by winning numerous Governor's Achievement Awards and Challenge Awards the past several years.

And there is no secret to that success, Travis said.

"We've kept our K-3 grades small on purpose to give that good foundation," said Travis, whose elementary schools located in Glen Elder and Downs average 11 or 12 students per classroom. "We feel we're getting better results by keeping those young primary grades smaller. (Students) get that one-on-one help early and get those identifiers done if there is a problem somewhere."

"The foundation has been built at that point," Travis added in reference to middle school.

Green feels the same way.

"Everyone is deserving, not only in the building but everyone in the elementary school before (students) get to the middle school," Green said.

The district received a plaque and a Blue Ribbon flag, both which are on display at the middle school.

Travis said plans for a district- and community-wide celebration sometime during the second semester are under way.

"We have a lot of community support," said Travis, in his sixth year as superintendent in USD 272. "This is a big deal, for everybody. It's about everybody working together."

So he thinks they should celebrate together, too.

Berkley agreed.

"We'd like to thank the janitors, the cooks, everybody," she said. "We're all in this together. This is a team effort."