Newport Central Catholic (NCC) is proud to announce that the Council for American Private Education (CAPE) has nominated NCC as a 2025 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in an announcement made on the CAPE website on Friday, September 12, 2025. For a full list of 2025 CAPE-nominated schools, visit: https://capenetwork.org/department-of-education-ends-national-blue-ribbon-schools-program/.
Each year, the Secretary of Education would invite CAPE to nominate up to 50 private schools that met the criteria for recognition. Newport Central Catholic was one of two schools selected from the state of Kentucky this year. Blue Ribbon eligibility is only for “exemplary high performing schools” as stated by the CAPE Network website. “High performing” means:
“The achievement of the school’s students in the most recently completed school year, places the school in the top 15 percent in the nation in reading and mathematics as measured by a nationally normed test or in the top 15 percent of its state as measured by a state test”.
“The graduation rate in the most recent class of graduates must be 95 percent or higher”.
Newport Central Catholic achieved these standards with both the 2024 and 2025 graduating classes. The application cannot take place until the following school year. Having met the quantitative requirements of testing to apply, NCC staff completed the National Blue Ribbon Application process in the Fall of 2024, which includes a detailed qualitative narrative. https://ncchs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/25ky100pv_newport_central-catholic_high_school_clean.pdf
In an August 4th email from Judy Cercone, Director of National Blue Ribbon Schools Program from the U.S. Department of Education, Principal Kenny Collopy was notified that “Your school has met all of the requirements, however, I’d appreciate it if you held this good news ‘close to the vest’ until after the Secretary’s official announcement”. On August 29, 2025, an announcement came from the United States Department of Education notifying schools that the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program would be terminated, effective immediately.
Principal Collopy stated that “while we are disappointed that we will not be officially receiving the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence directly from the US Department of Education, we are grateful to have been nominated by CAPE and potentially other national organizations. This does not detract from our students’ achievements and the hard work and dedication of our teachers and administrators.”
“The nomination of Newport Central Catholic High School as a 2025 National Blue Ribbon School is a proud moment for our diocese,” said Kendra McGuire, superintendent, Catholic Schools, Diocese of Covington. “It reflects the commitment of Catholic schools to provide a rigorous academic program rooted in faith and service.”
Celebrations for Newport Central Catholic will take place in the upcoming weeks. Collopy stated that “Achievements such as this ought to be celebrated in a big way and we intend to do so. Our students, staff, and community have worked so hard to ensure our students are receiving an incredible educational experience and this national recognition is just one piece of evidence that we are doing so.”
More information about CAPE and the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program Nomination Process can be found at: ncchs.com/blueribbon