Last week, the students of a small South Bay elementary school ate blue Takis, stamped blue handprints onto a giant tree mural and colored blue ribbons to celebrate a historic achievement.

Lucille J. Smith Elementary was nominated as a National Blue Ribbon School for closing achievement gaps on state standardized tests. The school was one of 31 in the state this year and the first in the Lawndale Elementary School District to be nominated for the award — arguably the highest honor an individual school can get from the federal government.

For more than 40 years, the federal Department of Education has presented the award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., but in late August, the department ended the program.

The cancelation is one of many changes to U.S. education policy since Pr

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