First Posted: 2/10/2014

Dubbing herself “the first lady and second banana,” Gov. Tom Corbett’s wife, Susan, came to town to give Dallas and Wycallis elementary schools the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Academics, presenting large banners she said would remind students and visitors every day that they “are in a great school.”

The governor had been scheduled to appear as well, but had been “called to an emergency,” Superintendent Frank Galicki told the students. Tom Corbett opted to head to Montgomery County to declare a state of emergency in the wake of extensive storm damage that left many without power.

“But he sent the real brains of the operation,” Galicki said in his introduction of Susan Corbett.

The Governor’s Award is being given to schools that scored 90 or higher in the new School Performance Profile system introduced last fall. The system looks at a wide range of standardized tests as well as other factors to give each public school school a score of up to 100, with extra credit worth another seven points.

Susan Corbett noted more than 400 schools statewide had earned the award, but after the program said that “two schools in the same district doing so well is very rare.”