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The annual awards ceremony will be held Thursday, November 14, 2019 – Friday, November 15, 2019 at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, MD.
You can preview an overview of the agenda here.
There is no registration fee for the National Blue Ribbon Schools awards ceremony; however, schools are responsible for the costs of travel and lodging. All ceremony activities will take place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. We are holding a block of rooms at a special discounted rate of $184 a night plus applicable state and local taxes. Please reserve your room by Friday, October 25th, 2019 through our personalized website at https://book.passkey.com/go/NationalBlueRibbonSchools or call 877-491-0468. Please note, all reservation cancellations must occur at least 72-hours prior to arrival to avoid a one night’s room and tax penalty charge.
Due to our limited budget for this year’s awards ceremony, it is not possible to increase the number of official school representatives beyond the maximum number of representatives allowed. A separate email about your school’s recognition as a 2019 National Blue Ribbon School was sent to your superintendent. An official invitation is extended to your superintendent and they will be included as part of the official school representatives if they choose to attend the ceremony. The maximum number of representatives for each school will either be three representatives (Principal, Teacher/Staff and Superintendent) or four representatives (Principal, Principal at time of nomination, Teacher/Staff and Superintendent).
The principal is responsible for registering all official representatives. Principals must use their school’s unique identifier (provided in Congratulatory letter) to complete the registration here: https://cvent.me/R0lxg. Registration for the ceremony is due by Friday, October 25th, 2019.
Each school may be represented by:
- the current building principal
**In the event the principal at the time of the school’s nomination for the award (i.e., the principal at the time of nomination/application) is no longer the current principal, then the principal at the time of nomination is also invited.
- a teacher (or staff member) and
- superintendent (or district leader)
Once you have registered all your official school representatives, you will receive an email confirming your registration including the number of official representatives registered. Please do check your spam/junk mail folders just in case your email filtering programs are filtering out your confirmation email as spam or junk mail. Please be sure to bring your registration confirmation email with you to the ceremony as reference.
In the event your school is not sending any representatives, or you need to cancel your registration, please contact aba.kumi@ed.gov so we can ensure we note that in our planning for the awards presentation.
Please note that the dates for the actual National Blue Ribbon Schools awards ceremony are November 14 and 15.
Public Schools: please do not purchase non-refundable airline tickets until you are certain about the status of your school’s performance targets for the 2018-2019 school year. You may contact your state liaison in August to confirm your school’s status.
School representatives are advised to book travel home after 5:30 pm on Friday.
There is no registration fee for the National Blue Ribbon Schools awards ceremony; however, schools are responsible for the costs of travel and lodging. All ceremony activities will take place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. We are holding a block of rooms at a special discounted rate of $184 a night plus applicable state and local taxes. Please reserve your room by Friday, October 25th, 2019 through our personalized website at https://book.passkey.com/go/NationalBlueRibbonSchools or call 877-491-0468. Please note, all reservation cancellations must occur at least 72-hours prior to arrival to avoid a one night’s room and tax penalty charge.
In addition to presentations, networking, and small group discussions, awardees will attend a special awards luncheon. Following the luncheon, school representatives will go onstage, school by school, to be greeted by Program Director Aba Kumi and receive the National Blue Ribbon School flag and an engraved plaque as symbols of their success. A ceremony agenda will be sent out prior to the event.
Contact NBRS or Aba Kumi, Director of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program at: Aba.Kumi@ed.gov or Phone: (202) 401-1767
School supporters and family may attend breakout sessions however there are no accommodations for attending or watching the awards ceremony.
The event is not formal; wear what you would normally wear to school.
The agenda for the Ceremony is very full. If you can extend your stay there is much to see and do in our beautiful city. To find out about events, access Destination DC, Washington, DC’s travel and tourism site: at http://www.washington.org, the Washington Post site: at http://washingtonpost.com, or the Washington Times site: at http://www.washingtontimes.com. The Washingtonian Magazine at: http://www.washingtonian.com also includes a best restaurant guide.