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Recognitions

GCS Receives 2009 Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Great Start Award
The board recognized the district as a recipient of the 2009 Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Great Start Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Recently, GCS formed an indoor air quality project team that will be leading the district’s efforts in identifying, correcting and preventing indoor air quality problems. The project team will work to implement the EPA’s program, a comprehensive resource that helps districts maintain a healthy environment in school buildings.

Consent Agenda
The board approved the following items on the consent agenda:

1. Meeting Minutes
2. Personnel Action Reports
3. Approval of North Carolina A&T State University – NASA Grant
4. Agreement with State Employees’ Credit Union to Construct Sidewalk at Oak Ridge Elementary School

Staff Reports

Approval of Low Performing School Plans
The board approved the revised action plans to be submitted to the Department of Public Instruction for the following schools designated as low performing:  Fairview Elementary, Gillespie Park Elementary, Hampton Leadership Academy, Montlieu Math and Science Academy, Oak Hill Elementary, Parkview Elementary, Hairston Middle, Andrews High, Dudley High and Eastern High.

School districts must develop improvement plans for schools designated as low-performing by the state’s ABCs of Public Education. Low performing schools are those that failed to meet their expected growth standards and have less than 50 percent of their students' scores at or above Achievement Level III.

Career & Technical Education (CTE) Program Update
Dr. Barbara Zwadyk, chief curriculum and organizational development officer, and Robert White, director of college tech prep and career and technical education, presented an update on the district’s CTE program. In Guilford County, students have the opportunity to select from a wide range of CTE courses to assist them in preparing for post secondary education and employment in technical careers. The district offers 97 CTE courses in grades 6-12. During the 2008-09 school year, 295 CTE teachers provided instruction to about 23,242 unique students.

CTE courses provide the foundation for College Tech Prep, a course of study that prepares students to enter technical careers after completing two or four years of college study. College Tech Prep completion also provides students with the eligibility to apply for the CTP Scholarship at Guilford Technical Community College. This fall, 288 GCS graduates received the scholarship.

CTE makes a difference. The 2007-08 four-year cohort graduation rate overall for North Carolina students was 70.3 percent, and for Guilford County it was 79.7 percent. For North Carolina CTE completers the rate was 88.0 percent, and for GCS CTE, it was 97.3 percent.

Oak Ridge Elementary School Update
Leo Bobadilla, chief operations officer, and Angelo Kidd, Western Region superintendent, presented an update regarding Oak Ridge Elementary. The Facilities department holds weekly conference calls with Turner Building Science and Design, LLC and continues to work with the group on developing protocols for work being done. The vinyl composition tile (VCT) is installed and testing of airflow is being conducted. The district received final protocols from Turner on work in the crawlspace, sheet rock, ceilings and flashing and roof repairs. It is estimated that it could take until the end of November to complete these projects. Protocols from Turner are still pending on other repairs and final cleaning.

Since students and teachers split into three school locations, Oak Ridge Military Academy (ORMA), Northwest Middle and Colfax Elementary, parents and school staff have shared some concerns. These concerns include staff finding materials that were stored during the move, help for teachers who monitor the bus hub at Northwest daily, technology available at the ORMA site and the availability of library books.

Construction Update
The board authorized to execute the application for the release of the education lottery distributions for 2009-10.

Andy LaRowe, director of facilities and construction management, presented an update on the district’s construction projects. Twenty six projects are underway with many in various stages of the design process. These projects include continuing work at the new Jamestown Middle facility and boiler replacements at six schools.

At the site for the Meredith Leigh Haynes – Bennie Lee Inman Education Center, the contractor has completed the first phase of site grading and has begun footing installation. The district is planning a groundbreaking ceremony for Sunday at 3 p.m. A rain date of Oct. 18 at 4 p.m. has been reserved in the event that it is needed.

SAT Update
Dr. Gongshu Zhang, chief accountability and research officer, presented an update on SAT results. In 2009, GCS had the lowest number of students to take the SAT since 2003. This decrease was mostly among white students, while African-American students reached the highest percentage among SAT takers since 1999. While the district’s total score on the math, reading and writing sections decreased, the number of schools whose total mean scores of exceeded the state and national scores increased in 2009. Among the top 10 percent of school class ranked students, GCS has outperformed North Carolina and the nation for six consecutive years. Among the top 40 percent school class ranked students, GCS performed about the same as North Carolina, which is below the national average.

Board Discussion

Law Enforcement Use of Tasers
Chairman Duncan led the board in a discussion regarding the use of tasers by law enforcement.

Evaluation of Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green
The board approved a statement on the annual evaluation of Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green and approved to extend the term of his contract by one year.

Guilford County Board of Education meetings are broadcast live on GCSTV 2 (cable channel 2). The meetings re-air the day after the meeting at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. and the Saturday following the meeting at 1 p.m.