A commitment to meeting high expectations in every area has resulted in a big prize for Fondren Middle School. That campus was recently named the inaugural winner of HISD’s Blue Star Award for Service Excellence.

The award was created to honor schools that provide exemplary customer service; a friendly, professional environment; and a culture of positive expectations, and Fondren was selected from a field of 22 nominees and five finalists. As a part of the evaluation, a team of volunteer judges made unannounced, structured visits to each nominated campus, in which they conducted walk-throughs of the facilities and interacted with staff members. They also made anonymous calls to each school to test the clerical staff’s response.

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“We were up against some pretty tough competition,” said Principal Monique Lewis. “But I knew [that Fondren would win]. We are a force to be reckoned with.”

A “prize–style presentation took place at the school on April 27, during which Lewis received a banner to hang on the front of the school, a $5,000 cash prize from Capital One to support campus programs, and enough free tickets to an Astros home game for every student and staff member to have one.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to recognize all the great work that Ms. Lewis and her staff [do],” said Board of Education member Mike Lunceford. “From the people in the kitchen to the guys who clean up, the teachers, [and] the assistant principals—everybody has done a bang-up job.”

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