The Guilford County Board of Education voted Thursday to apply for a waiver of the 185-day instructional year requirement included in the state budget adopted earlier this month. Under the waiver, student instructional days on the traditional calendar GCS has already developed for 2011-12 will stay the same, but five of the teacher workdays will be adjusted to meet state requirements for the waiver.

If the waiver is approved by the state, the teacher workdays on the traditional calendar for Oct. 28, March 26 and June 7 will be changed from protected to mandated workdays. Schools will use these days for professional development on literacy and the state's common core curriculum. Regional superintendents will work with principals to arrange time for grading and planning.

The workdays scheduled on the calendar for Aug. 24 and Jan. 20 will be changed from protected to optional workdays to allow teachers to use leave days they have accumulated.

The calendars for year-round, early and middle colleges and other alternative schools will be adjusted accordingly. Once approved, all of the district's updated calendars will be posted on the GCS website.

The state budget adds five student days to school calendars by eliminating five protected teacher workdays and using them as instructional days instead. With approval from the State Board of Education, school districts can apply for a waiver to use the five days for professional development on the state's new common core curriculum and Race to the Top.

"While GCS historically has been supportive of providing additional learning time for students through extended school days or school years, we believe adding five days presents a number of challenges at this late date, including transportation costs, adjusting student schedules and other concerns voiced by our parents and staff," said Nora Carr, chief of staff.

With the five instructional days added by the state, the required number of hours students must be in class each year increased from 1,000 to 1,025. GCS already exceeds this requirement, with most schools providing between 1,100 and 1,145 instructional hours per year.

It's nearly three weeks into summer vacation, and parents across Guilford County are no doubt looking for ways to get their children away from the TV screen and on to more productive tasks. Studies show that keeping young minds active can help prevent the "brain drain" that affects students once they leave the classroom, especially students of lower economic status.

Students may lose as much as one grade level in reading and math during the summer months. To combat the dangers of brain drain, Guilford County Schools (GCS) has some helpful advice for parents:

• Through Guilford Parent Academy and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, free educational software is available to appeal to a variety of topics and age levels at https://parentacademy.gcsnc.com .

• When watching television, parents should engage the captioning feature and reduce the volume so that children are encouraged to read words on the television screen.

• Play math games: Monopoly, Mancala, Chess, Trouble, Life or any game that involves counting spaces. Point out printed words on traffic signs, menus and labels.
• Teach science by creating a rain gauge or studying the phases of the moon. A nature hike is another great way to investigate the world around us.

• Take advantage of every opportunity to travel, visit museums or participate in other educational activities such as the historical museum and children's museum, science center and reading programs at the Greensboro Public Library .

• Make sure your children know multiplication facts automatically. Try www.honorpoint.com , a great site for practice.

• Practice geography skills with your child. Some students confuse continents, countries and states. The site www.freerice.com is a fun way to review geography.

Several GCS schools have summer programs that are designed to encourage reading and keep children engaged:

• Murphey Traditional Academy offers its Dive Into Reading program on Wednesdays through July 27 from 9 a.m. to noon, where students can participate in crafts and science experiments, read independently or with assistance, visit educational websites and hear from special guests such as firefighters or historians.
• Union Hill Elementary will begin its summer reading program Thursday, July 7, featuring a vacation theme. Students will be given a suitcase booklet to track their reading progress.
• Florence Elementary and Jesse Wharton Elementary both offered incentives at the end of the school year for students to read during the summer and will reward those efforts in the fall.
• Media centers at several schools are open select hours in the summer, including Monticello-Brown Summit, Alderman, Murphey, Archer and Pilot elementary schools. Many also promoted the active summer reading programs at local public libraries.

"We hope our efforts help our students maintain the reading gains they achieved throughout the regular school year, and that they have a great time doing so," says Murphey media specialist Tracey Patterson.

For more tips and suggestions, visit the GCS Summer Reading page at www.gcsnc.com/summerreading .

This "behind the scenes" player is key to her team's achievement at Kernodle Middle, say those who work closest with her. She is quick to assist her fellow teachers and students regardless of their needs, and one first-year teacher claims that without McCoy, her ability to reach a particular group of students would not have been a success.

"Debra McCoy has figured out how to walk the fine line between friend and authoritative figure with her students," says one nomination. "They all have 'special needs' but she makes them see how 'normal' they really are. She is able to be demanding, yet gentle. She is helpful but always enables the students' independence. In the classroom, she is invaluable. As a teacher she has been a wonderful resource and a calming presence."

As Employee of the Month, McCoy will be honored with a $50 gift card from Sam's Club, which continues to provide generous support of the employee recognition program. During the month of July, her photo will hang at the district's central offices and at Kernodle Middle, as well as at the Sam's Club on Wendover Avenue.

"We have great contractors who are doing whatever it takes to ensure that construction is finished before students return on Aug. 25," said Karen Burress, principal of Southeast Middle. "Whether it's working late into the night or over the weekend, these individuals are doing whatever they must to finish the project on time."

Instillation of an updated fire suppression system is still underway, as is construction on the cafeteria. The cramped quarters of the cafeteria only allowed enough space for one serving line to feed a school of more than 1,000 students. When the expansion is complete, the cafeteria will have a larger seating area and an additional serving line that will help to decrease the amount of time students must spend waiting in line.

With 11 schools currently undergoing construction in some form and 30 - 100 workers per construction project, it is clear that the 2008 Bond Referendum has helped provide jobs in Guilford County.

The Guilford County Board of Education approved calendars for Wiley Elementary and Andrews High. The calendars are part of the transformation model the schools will be following next school year under the School Improvement Grant.

Andrews will add 10 professional development days for staff members to the calendar for the 2011-12 school year. The school will continue to follow the traditional calendar for student days and the regularly scheduled workdays and holidays.

Important 2011-12 Calendar Dates for Andrews:

• First day for staff - Aug. 5
• First day for students - Aug. 25
• Last day for students - June 6
• Last day for staff - June 12

Wiley will follow an extended year calendar for the 2011-12 school year. Ten days will be added to the calendar and 45 minutes will be added to the instructional day. Students will attend school from 7:40 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. each day.

Important 2011-12 Calendar Dates for Wiley:

• First day for staff - July 27 
• First day for students - Aug. 10
• Last day for students - June 6 
• Last day for staff - June 12

The Guilford County Board of Education approved to return to schools approximately $4.7 million in funds previously identified as reductions or redirections for 2011-12.

About $3 million in Weighted Student Formula dollars and about $1.7 million from the teacher allotment formula adjustment to increase class size by 0.25 students in grades K-12 will be restored to schools for next school year. These were previously identified as tier two cuts in the superintendent's budget proposal.

Additionally, the board approved to remove the proposal of a two-day pay reduction for employees earning $35,000 or more from consideration in the final budget. This had been identified as a tier three cut to be used only as a last resort.

GCS had prepared for a potential $35.6 million cut in state funding. After initially reviewing the budget adopted by the state, district staff estimate the impact to be about $14.3 million. Staff also estimate an increase of about $4 million in sustaining operations costs for the 2011-12 school year.

Staff will seek final approval of the 2011-12 budget at the next scheduled board meeting on July 13. In the meantime, the board approved an interim budget resolution that will allow the district to operate in the new fiscal year until a final budget is adopted. The interim budget authorizes the district to pay employee salaries, principal and interest on debt and other ordinary expenses between July 1 and the adoption of the final budget.

Guilford County Schools (GCS) announces the appointment of principals for seven schools. Their positions will be effective starting July 1.

Trina Bethea will be the new principal at Madison Elementary. Bethea served as principal at Hairston Middle during the 2010-11 school year. Prior to her service as principal there, she was the principal at Joyner Elementary for three years. She has served as an assistant principal and school counselor in GCS middle and high schools.

Hairston Middle will be served by Rydell Harrison, who has served as principal at Sternberger Elementary for the past two years. He was also an assistant principal at Jackson Middle. Harrison began his education career as a music teacher in New Jersey and New York before teaching in GCS.

Dean LaVere , who has served as the principal at Union Hill Elementary for eight years,will be the new principal at Shadybrook Elementary. LaVere's 29 years of experience include serving as an assistant principal at Pilot Elementary for three years and as a technology teacher at Allen Middle for 17 years.

Angela Graves will serve as principal at Brightwood Elementary. Graves has been serving as an assistant principal at Northern High since 2007. Prior to her service at Northern, she was a curriculum facilitator/specialist for eight years. She has also served schools in the role of teacher assistant, summer school teacher, reading teacher and Saturday academy coordinator.

Nathanael Greene Elementary will be served by Brian McCain, who has served as the student services administrator for the GCS Western Region since July 2009. His experience includes serving as assistant principal at Aycock Middle. He was also an elementary teacher for nine years in Danville, Va.

Anita Stewart will be the new principal of The Academy at Lincoln. Stewart has been an assistant principal at Northwest Middle since August 2006. Prior to her tenure at Northwest, Stewart was a middle school teacher for seven years.

Mark Harris will be the next principal of Peeler Open Elementary. He previously served GCS for more than 13 years as a teacher and assistant principal at High Point Central High and as principal at Murphey Traditional Academy and Ferndale Middle. Recently, Harris spent a brief time working outside of the district.

GCS also announces the appointment of Misti Williams as the executive director of induction and professional development. Williams is returning to the district from a professorship at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she taught in the educational leadership program. During the last four years, Williams has conducted the training for the Assistant Principal Leadership Academy, serving more than 150 assistant principals. Her professional experience also includes serving as the executive director for administration and middle schools curriculum director in Stokes County. She was also a principal at Stokesdale Elementary and Rankin Elementary.

Guilford County Schools (GCS) and the Guilford County Department of Social Services are partnering to bring national experts to Greensboro for a discussion on how racial biases affect the experiences of children and families.

Members of the community are invited to attend the program on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the International Civil Rights Museum, 1345 S. Elm St., Greensboro.

The free program will feature opening remarks from John A. Powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. Experts from the fields of education, social services and law will lead the discussion as panelists and presenters.

"The institutions in our community - the school district, social services and the judicial system - are partnering together to look at the disproportional nature of our systems," said Monica Walker, diversity officer for GCS. "We need to understand the implicit biases in our society. By lifting them up, we can examine how our operating policies and the way we do business are creating disparities. Through this discussion, we hope to learn more about how other systems across the country have looked at creating institutional reform."

The Casey Family Foundation and Racial Equality Institute are also supporting the program.

The Guilford County Board of Education will meet on Thursday, June 30 at 6 p.m. in the Board Room of the Administrative Offices, 712 N. Eugene St., Greensboro, NC.

During the meeting, the board will hear reports on 185-day instructional year calendar waiver, calendars for Andrews High and Wiley Elementary, a continued discussion of the 2011-12 budget and construction. The board will recognize Alamance Elementary teacher Daniese Smith, Northeast High and Smith High. The meeting will be preceded by a closed session.

Guilford County Board of Education meetings are broadcast live on GCSTV 2 (cable channel 2) and 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. To watch the meeting online, visit http://media.gcsnc.net/gcstv . 

Superintendent Green will receive the award and be honored on July 12 at the NSPRA National Seminar in San Antonio, Texas. The judges noted that Green was chosen because "his commitment to open communication and transparency focused on public engagement and grassroots outreach has helped to drive the district toward a common goal of providing educational excellence for every student."

"Mr. Grossman was an outstanding leader, so to be recognized in his memory is a great honor for me," said Green. "The students and employees in our district continue to achieve great successes, and I accept this award on behalf of them."

The Bob Grossman Leadership in School Communications Award is given annually to a superintendent or CEO of a school district, education agency, service center or intermediate unit for outstanding leadership in school public relations and communications. Robert L. Grossman, APR, was an NSPRA past president known and respected for his creative and strategic public relations practices and for his belief that the support and commitment of education leaders to effective school communications is vital to student and school success. Green was selected from a field of outstanding superintendents from across the nation.

NSPRA, founded in 1935, is a non-profit professional association recognized as "the leader in school communications." The association provides school public relations and communication training and services to education leaders throughout North America and the U.S. Department of Defense Dependent schools worldwide.