Blue Bell Creameries and Georgia State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge will honor Crabapple Crossing Elementary School named 2012 National Blue Ribbon School, with a school-wide ice cream party and award presentation on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

In concurrence with Dr. Barge’s personal presentation to the school, a Blue Bell truck filled with ice cream will arrive at Crabapple Crossing Elementary School in Milton at 10:30 am to treat all 860 students, teachers and staff members.

 “At Blue Bell, we recognize the importance of encouraging and honoring schools that have achieved educational excellence,” says Paul Kruse, CEO and president of Blue Bell Creameries. “We are well aware that such high levels of achievement require tremendous effort from students, teachers, administrators and parents. This is Blue Bell’s way of showing how proud we are.”

The U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools program has honored more than 7,000 of America’s most successful schools for the past 30 years. This year, 269 public and private schools across the country received this coveted award. Blue Ribbon Schools are selected on the basis of two primary criteria:

1. they are among the highest-performing schools in their state, and
2. they are schools with at least 40 percent of students from disadvantaged backgrounds that have improved student performance to high levels.