On Wednesday, April 10, Beaker the Falcon flew by McDowell Mountain Elementary School to deliver some good news to the students. It was official; MMES had been given the Arizona Educational Foundation’s A+ School of Excellence rating.

Of course, MMES Principal Valerie Dehombreux and the staff had known about the rating before Beaker dropped by. Dehombreux remembers getting the Foundation’s announcement email while monitoring AzMerit testing.

“I thought that we were going to find out the 10th, but Monday the 8th, I am monitoring some testing and I actually get a phone message from the front office,” Dehombreux said. “They called and needed to talk to me directly, but then I got an email that notified me and it was so exciting. I felt so good. It felt like everything we had done was worth it. I didn’t let out a big yell because I was with kids doing their AzMerit test, but I looked at them so proudly.”

After talking with the other staff members who have experience with the application process, Dehombreux felt fairly confident that the 40-page report her and others wrote had convinced the AEF that McDowell Mountain was worthy of the rating.

“What I understood from what lots of people who have experience with this is that it really is the application that does [the work],” Dehombreux said. “The visit is to confirm everything that you said in your report.”

The site visit took place over a period of two days, Feb. 28 and March 1. AEF sent two judges to visit the school and their journey through McDowell Mountain started with a student-led tour.

“They preferred student tours,” Dehombreux said. “So we had two of our Falcon Leaders with Mrs. Smart take them around.”

The falcon leaders could not have been happier to show the school’s guests around.

“It was kind of exciting because I was showing around people who had no idea what our school was all about,” Grace Herman, one of the Falcon Leaders, said. “I told them about all the galleries and all the art on the wall. I showed them where the classrooms where. I had a lot of fun.”

After that tour, the two AEF judges were able to take in the preschool Teddy Bear Parade before heading into the classrooms. Dehombreux said that they had received information before the visit that indicated the judges might not make it into every classroom, but the two judges not only were able to visit every classroom in MMES, they visited some classes twice.

“We didn’t know this would happen, but the teachers were so touched,” Dehombreux said. “The judges wrote for every teacher a little note about something positive they did in their instruction. That was amazing.”

After observing dismissal on Feb. 28, the two judges held a teachers-only meeting after school. The next day the judges also met with classified staff, parents and community partners, and of course the students.

“(The judges) passed out tickets while going around the classrooms and it was random,” Dehombreux said. “They only chose first, second and third grades initially, but our kindergarten teachers asked them to meet with two of their students. They usually won’t go that young but they were, like, we’ve got two kids who can handle it.”

When the judges left after two days of taking in all McDowell Mountain has to offer, they had only kind words for Dehombreux.

“They said we’ve been in the same shoes as you and obviously we can’t let you know yet because this is a decision made by a whole panel,” Dehombreux said. “They said even if you don’t get the A+, you should start planning your celebrations now because you have really accomplished something here.”

With the A+ rating, Dehombreux is hoping that other people will see that accomplishment when researching schools.

“Now we are able to advertise that and tell people about the A+ and show them the reasons for it; that it is more than a label,” Dehombreux said. “So I hope that is able to draw people to give our school a look.”

The AEF will be stopping by MMES on May 6 to deliver the official A+ School of Excellence banner.