St. Regis public schools have earned another honor this school year. The Montana Office of Public Instruction selected St. Regis Elementary School, Kindergarten through sixth grade, with a $30,000 National Title 1 award for high achieving schools.

“It is a testament to our teachers and our kid’s achievement,” St. Regis principal Tammy Demien said.

After being honored with the highest test scores in the county at the beginning of the school year, this national award came as a nice surprise.

St. Regis Title 1 Director Teresa Wilson said the national award was a wonderful surprise.

Wilson agrees with principal Demien that the staff and students deserve the honor.

“We have the best staff,” Wilson said. “They deserve it and the kids deserve it just as much as the teachers.”

For this national award, Wilson said two schools are picked from each state, one school for academic achievement and one for closing the gap.

St. Regis won for academic achievement and became one of only 100 schools in the country to win the award.

To qualify for the national award, St. Regis had to have a Title 1 program, a poverty rate of at least 35 percent, demonstrate high academic achievement for two or more consecutive years and meet or exceed state standards for making adequate yearly progress for two or more consecutive years.

Along with the $30,000 award, the St. Regis School District is invited to the National Title 1 Convention in Seattle Jan. 12 through Jan. 21, 2012.

St. Regis must send at least three people to the convention.

Principal Demien said likely teachers would be the ones to attend the convention next year.

At the convention, teachers will learn from teaching experts.

Wilson said the National Title 1 Convention would be a valuable experience for the teachers.

Part of the award money will pay for the trip to the convention. The rest of the award money is meant for the betterment of the school.

As of now there is no set plan on what to use the national award money for.

The St. Regis school district will also be honor for the national award at the OPI Title 1 Conference in Missoula April 25 through April 26, 2012.

Wilson said the national award shows St. Regis’ focus on the students.

“For them to have an award for all the hard work,” Wilson said. “That’s huge.