Friday Notes from Guilford County Schools

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August 25, 2006

District Mission

GCS = College/Work Ready

District Core Values

The Board, in partnership with parents and community members, wants to share these district core values in order to strengthen our schools and improve the quality of life for all of our citizens.

Diversity.  We are committed to creating an educational organization where a variety of persons and perspectives are welcome. We are committed to providing an environment where students and staff from all cultures and backgrounds may succeed.
Empathy.   We are committed to developing a culture where our employees identify with and understand the feelings of our students and parents and their colleagues. 
Equality.  We are committed to creating a school system where everyone is appreciated and judged based solely on their contributions and performance. Through the work of this institution, we will create awareness of and develop strategies to understand and eradicate prejudice, discrimination and racism on the individual and organizational level.
Innovativeness.  We are committed to fostering a work environment where the goal is not to manage innovations, but to become innovative. Problems are identified, ownership of those problems is assumed by the adults in the district, and everyone works together as agents of the solution until the problems are solved. We will not stop until obstacles are removed, solutions found and clear and compelling goals are established.
Integrity.  We are committed to creating a school district that acts with honesty and forthrightness, holding ourselves to high academic and ethical standards, and dealing with everyone with respect.

Principals and Future Leadership

Each year, during the past several years, an average of 280 new principals were hired in North Carolina. According the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 48 percent of North Carolina principals are 50 years of age or older.  Sixty-six percent are 45 years or older, or have 20 plus years of experience.  As these administrators face retirement, their replacements will work with school populations that are much more diverse that the ones which greeted them during their first year as principal.

The Guilford County Schools (GCS) is aware of trend and is planning accordingly.  This fall, we will begin our third cohort of teachers who will seek, at district expense, their master’s degree in School Administration at a local university.   This program and an aggressive new interview process is helping GCS make strong progress in our effort to hire strong school principals that are reflective of the diversity of our community and student body—the GCS student body has changed from 52 percent white in 2000 to 57 percent non-white in 2006.  This year, 44 percent of our school principals are non-white—compared to the state-wide average of 25 percent.   Since the 2000 school year, the number of non-white GCS principals has increased from 33 to 51.  Click here to view a chart comparing our progress in this area.  Please call me at 370-8992, should you have questions.

Wanted: Lunch Buddies!

Looking for an easy and fun volunteer opportunity? Be a Lunch Buddy! Through this program, we pair a caring, responsible adult with a child who may need a role model or some extra attention. You'll have lunch with your student buddy once per week, and you'll develop a friendship that could last for years. Just one hour per week can make a big difference in the life of a child. Visit the GCS Web site at: http://www.gcsnc.com/community/lunchbuddies.htm for tips on how you can make your Lunch Buddy experience enjoyable and beneficial for both you and your student buddy. For more information, please contact any GCS elementary or middle school and ask for the Lunch Buddy Coordinator, or contact Cecilia Adams, manager of community partnerships, at 370-8355.

September 1 is GCS School Pride Day

As part of our Back-to-School celebration, GCS has designated September 1 as GCS School Pride Day. Show your pride by wearing the colors of your favorite district school. If you have a school t-shirt, wear your school shirts on September 1. Click here to access a list of colors for the district’s schools. For more information, please contact Jacqueline Todd, program administrator for internal relations, at 370-8353.

New Teacher Reception

This year’s New Teacher Reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. on September 14 at the Medlin Center, GTCC Jamestown Campus, 601 High Point Road. Sponsored this year by the Guilford Education Alliance, the Greensboro and High Point Chambers of Commerce and local businesses, this festive event will provide information and giveaways to the district’s new teachers! Click here for RSVP form. Fill outformand fax to 841-3696 by September 11. For more information, please contact the Guilford Education Alliance at 841-4332 or Jacqueline Todd, program administrator for internal relations, at 370-8353.

First Enrichment Fund Deadline Approaching

Enrichment Fund Scholarship and Mini Grant applications for the 2006-07 school year are now available online. The fall deadline for scholarships, which provide funds for classroom fieldtrips, is September 18 for trips scheduled from October 6 – January 22. Visit the GCS Web site at http://www.gcsnc.com/community/enrichmentfund.htm to download instructions and copies of the applications. For more information, please contact Cecilia Adams, manager of community partnerships, at 370-8355.

Curriculum Expose'Hosted by the Office of Curriculum & Instruction

The Office of Curriculum and Instruction held a Curriculum Expose' on Wednesday, August 23 at the Washington Street Annex. Principals and curriculum facilitators responded to the invitation and learned about curriculum updates, the availability of a variety of curriculum documents, the division’s plans for support, and to meet members of the newly organized Office of Curriculum and Instruction.  More than 200 elementary, middle, and high school principals and curriculum facilitators attended one of eight informational sessions that were offered throughout the day.  For more information, please contact Tina Hester, executive director of elementary curriculum and instruction at 370-2371, or Lillie Cox, executive director of secondary curriculum and instruction, at 370-2313.

Secondary Reading Professional Development Sessions

Administrators and teachers from our GCS middle schools attended a three day in-service on Secondary Reading August 8, 9 and 10.  Secondary Reading is a series of professional development sessions that concentrate on techniques and strategies for improving literacy skills for all middle and high school students.  These interactive sessions are intended to build the teachers’ understanding of the best practices needed for improving reading.  Teachers who participated in this training gained a variety of instructional strategies that will enhance reading skills for all students.  A strong emphasis was placed on teaching comprehension and vocabulary. The research of the 2003 National Reading Panel’s, Put Reading First, and 2004 Carnegie Report’s, Reading Next, was foundational for these three days and will serve as background for upcoming sessions.  Participants received a manual, two resource notebooks which included activities, strategies, and summaries of applicable research.  Each participant will also receive instructional coaching and demonstration lessons to assist with implementation of the strategies in their classroom. For more information, please contact Angela Graves at 370-2349 or LaTina Robinson at 317-3096.

Pathways to Achievement Capacity Team

District administrators, professional development trainers, and curriculum facilitators had their first training as the GCS Capacity Building Team for Pathways to Achievement. The role of the Capacity Team is to:

• acquire the knowledge and skills to train and maintain Pathways to Achievement,
• assist teachers and School Teams Achieving Results for Students (STARS) teams in learning from their training experiences and incorporate as feedback into the planning/delivery process at their schools,
• collaborate, plan and implement future training based on content parameters, and
• support and embed cooperative learning, graphic organizers, and professional learning communities within the school district.

The Capacity Team training is to ensure that GCS has the ability to provide ongoing training and support to STARS teams at schools and others based on the Fullan model beginning the 2007-08 school year. This 20-member team will attend the Capacity Building trainings, script the sessions and eventually be involved in future sessions to develop personal/team mastery. For more information, please contact Valerie Collins, chief officer of organizational development, at 370-2305.

Greensboro Public Library and GCS Sponsor One City, One Book Workshop

The Greensboro Public Library and Guilford County Schools will co-sponsor a one day workshop for middle and high school English and social studies teachers for the City of Greensboro’s One City, One Book, Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl.  The workshop will be held on September 26 from 8:15 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Greensboro Public Library, 312 Church Street.  Click here for additional information.  

Workshop presenters will use the diary as a springboard for historical information about the Third Reich, the Holocaust, the lives of the Frank family in the Secret Annex and after their capture, policies and practices of racism and discrimination, and rescuers.  The format will include lecture, discussion, viewing of film, and group activities. 

Middle and high school English and Social Studies teachers can click here and submit and “Events Request” to register for this workshop. Participants should use One City, One Book Workshop as the title for the workshop.  When completing the “Events Request,” use August 27, 2006 as the starting date and June 11, 2007, as the ending date.

Participants can earn up to 2.0 CEUs by attending the workshop and/or events in the Greensboro area approved by the Greensboro Public Library.  A “Teacher Attendance Documentation” form must be signed by the event leader of each event in order for participants receive CEU credit. Click here to view the 2006 One City, One Book calendar of events in the Greensboro area. 

For more information, please contact Fannie Bratcher at 312-0311 or Jonathan McRae at 370-2399 in the Curriculum & Instruction Department; Randy Shiflett at 549-8862 in the Organizational Development Department; Jean Howard at 370-2357 in the Media Services Department, or Suzanne Pell at 373-7605 at the Central Library.

Anti-Racism Workshop Conclude

Anti-Racism workshops concluded on Wednesday, August 23. Training totaling 22.5 days were held weekly, beginning on June 12, to accommodate the attendance of all certified staff at Mission Possible schools. The content of these sessions focused on ending racism and other forms of institutional oppression -- the training moves beyond a focus on the symptoms of racism to an understanding of what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, why it persists and how it can be undone. Participants were instructed and collaborated on how the strategies and history contained within the session impacts decisions, the instruction and interactions with their students.

The training serves as a continuation of district goals and efforts to establish a system-wide endeavor to advance dialogue and action towards understanding differences and creating culturally sensitive work environments. During July and August of 2005, all principals and central office staff were trained. The district also held six community viewings of Race: The Power of an Illusion, a powerful and eye opening documentary video series that challenges our most fundamental belief, that human beings come divided into distinct groups. Mission Possible participants will work within their school communities to facilitate this ongoing process.

As a result of the workshops, school leaders will use their workshop experiences to foster learning environments that support the many different cultures and multiple learning styles served in our schools. For more information, please contact Valerie Collins, chief officer of organizational development, at 370-2305.

ACES Training

After-school Care Enrichment Services (ACES) site directors participated in a workshop on August 22 at Colfax Elementary. The workshop goal was to equip the district’s ACES directors so that all 62 ACES programs offer high quality care that expands children’s experiences, extends their learning, and provides warm and caring support.

A group of ACES directors helped plan and conduct the workshop. They set up the dining room as for an ACES afternoon, and guided directors as they participated in activities as if they were ACES students. The experiential learning workshop demonstrated best practices in quickly transforming a school dining room into a vibrant after-school space, making a wide variety of program resources accessible to students, incorporating music, art, gardening, and fitness activities in the after-school program, and providing opportunities for students to practice the math, reading, and writing skills they learn during the school day.

In addition, an online ACES Orientation presentation and an organizational system for program records were unveiled at the workshop. The ACES orientation can be viewed from any school district computer with internet connection (GCS Web Page, Employees, Employee Highlights, ACES Orientation). For more information, please contact Jean Reece, director of after-school programs, at 370-8905.

The National Network of Partnership Schools

The National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University invited GCS to partner with them on a federally-funded two-year study to examine the effects of family and community involvement on student achievement. Seventh-grade science teachers from Hairston Middle and Penn-Griffin School for the Arts participated in the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) Science study and data collection training on August 14-18. The study will answer: how does regular use of TIPS homework affect student achievement in science in the middle grades compared to similar non-TIPS classes; what does the TIPS process add to students’ homework completion, parental involvement, report card grades, and standardized achievement in science; and what are the effects of TIPS for students in different subgroups.

Arlisa Carey at Hairston Middle, and Andrea Verellen, at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts, worked with Dr. Frances Van Voorhis, TIPS Project Director. They selected the TIPS science homework assignments they will use with their students this year in conjunction with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and the GCS Science Pacing Guide. TIPS assignments are weekly activities which invite students to share something interesting they are learning in science class with a family partner.

The second year of the study will involve eighth-grade students and their science teachers in 2007-08 at the same schools. For information and sample activities, visit the “TIPS” section of the NNPS Web site at www.partnershipschools.org. For more information, please contact Don Hare, executive director of federal & special programs or Carolyn Gilbert, title I program specialist, at 370-2368.  

Employment Office

The Employment Office has been working hard to interview, recruit, and process new staff members. To date, a total of 741 new employees have been hired, with 580 being new teachers. Of those new teachers, 125 are lateral entry. Lateral entry candidates must be considered Highly Qualified (HQ) as required by the No Child Left Behind legislation effective July 1, 2006. Elementary education, special education, and English as a Second/Other Language (ESOL) teachers with lateral entry licenses must be able to present passing Praxis II exam scores to be considered HQ. Secondary (middle and high school) lateral entry teachers in core subjects must have a degree major or at least 24 semester hours in the appropriate curriculum area to be considered HQ. For more information, please contact Alan Hooker, director of employment, at 370-8318.

Employee Relations

Our annual Policy and Procedures presentation was conducted on August 15 for new teachers at Grimsley as a part of the Right Start Orientation. A brief human resources session was presented for all School Nutrition employees at the coliseum on August 21 during their Back-to-School orientation. On August 16, six hour-long mini-sessions on HR issues were presented for managers at Western High School. We have been working with District Relations to shoot the Teacher of the Year (TOY) videos of each of the five finalists. Interviews are done at the school and video footage of classroom instruction will be done the second week of school. The winner will be announced on September 18 at the SunTrust Gold Star Teacher of the Year reception. Finalists:

Rhonda Holes Blue – Kirkman Park Elementary
Jake Henry – Southeast Middle
Teresa Potter – Page High
Jason Thompson – Academy at Lincoln
Shawn Watlington – Greensboro Middle College

For more information, please contact Carla Alphin, employee relations, at 378-8821.

Benefits

The Benefits Department has worked with 656 new employees who are eligible for various types of benefits. In May 2006, the State Health Plan offered three Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) health plans. The Benefits Department held nine employee informational meetings. A total of 5,554 employees changed their health insurance from the Comprehensive Major Medical to one of the PPO plans. All of the forms have now been processed, and the new health insurance will go into effect October 1, 2006. For more information, please contact Patty Kinkade, director of benefits, at 370-8092.

Induction and Success

The Induction and Success Office continues to provide support for and assistance to our new teachers. The induction support coaches and curriculum coaches are available to assist new teachers as needed. Newly hired lateral entry teachers have had the opportunity to participate in an orientation session each afternoon during the week of August 21. Our new principals have also been involved in staff development sessions to enhance their leadership skills. For more information, please contact Martha Snavely, executive director of induction and success, at 370-8098.

The Demand Outweighs the Supply

North Carolina continues to experience a significant teacher shortage.  Recently released data from the NC Department of Public Instruction reveals that the production of teacher candidates from in-state institutions will increase over the next four years.  However, the demand for new teachers remains high.  Math, middle grades dual certification, and special education continue to be hard-to-staff areas.  This year, just under 50 percent of the staffing vacancies in Guilford County were in the area of special education.   

For more information, please contact Peggy Thompson, chief human resources officer, at 370-8340.

GCSTV 2

GCS/ABC 45 Partnership Continues

GCS continues its partnership with ABC 45 television to share the following current news and feature stories about our district. The segments run on ABC 45 (Cable Channel 7) during “Good Morning America” each Wednesday and Friday at 7:25 a.m. and 8:25 a.m.

Fill the Bus
A child’s education is enhanced when schools have the support of their communities.  Children in GCS benefit greatly from the support and generosity of Guilford County’s corporate citizens.  See how Citicards and VF Corporations partnered with us to enhance schools and our childrens’ futures.  This newsbreak airs Wednesday, August 30.

Get a Kid Ready For School
The Greater Greensboro Realtors Association is busy helping to get kids ready for class.  Members pitched in to contribute thousands of dollars worth of pencils, pens, paper and other supplies to 10 GCS schools.  GCSTV 2 was there when volunteers delivered the goods to Hunter and Bessemer Elementary.  This newsbreak airs Friday, September 1.

For more information, please contact Leonard Simpson, broadcast production manager, at 370-8167.

NON-GCS EDUCATIONAL NEWS

Annual Litter Sweep Scheduled for Mid-September

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is sponsoring its annual Litter Sweep cleanup Sept. 16-30. In support of this event, Governor Mike Easley has proclaimed Sept. 16-30 as Litter Sweep in North Carolina and encourages all citizens to take an active role in making their communities cleaner and more beautiful. Teachers may want to use this event to highlight the importance of recycling and environmental responsibility with students. For more information, please contact Helen Landi, office of beautification programs, at 919-715-3188.

Hop on the Bus

High school teachers (grades 9-12) may want to encourage their students to participate in Hop on the Bus!  Hop on the Bus! provides students with an opportunity to gain experience and knowledge of entrepreneurship by generating an idea and building it into a business of their own. Hop on the Bus! will begin in September. Prize money will be awarded to the top five students (or student teams) and their teacher/mentor. Click here for program information.

Study: Public School Students Outperform Charter Peers

Fourth-graders in traditional public schools scored, on average, 5.2 points higher in reading and 5.8 points better in math than peers in charter schools did on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress exam, reports a pilot government study released Tuesday. Charter proponents call the study flawed because it did not track charter students' progress over time. Click here to read more...

Columnist: Great Web Sites for Students to Bookmark

Los Angeles Times business columnist David Colker offers up dozens of Web sites for students on a variety of academic subjects. His picks include a top-notch resource for science reports, a link to online math flashcards and an interactive site demonstrating physics principles. Click here to read more… 

Study Explores Impact of Police Officers in Schools

Putting police officers in violence-prone schools may cut crime, but it also increases tensions, turns harmless disputes into criminal matters and is perceived by many students as racially biased, according to a recent report by graduate students at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. The Impact Schools Initiative began in January 2004, when New York City assigned officers to 22 especially troubled public middle and high schools. The city claims that half of those schools have shown such dramatic safety improvements that they have now been removed from the program, reports Kamelia Angelova. But the Wagner report found that the program has also increased expulsions and that many students in these schools get criminal records for incidents that would not be treated as criminal offenses if they were committed in schools with less police presence. “The Impact Initiative is a quick-fix to lower the number of crimes and it ignores the educational and psychological aspect of violence,” said Roberta Thomas, who recently graduated from the Wagner program and worked on the report. When police are present, students are often charged with “disorderly conduct” for screaming in the halls or yelling at a teacher -- incidents that are punished less severely in other schools, the study found. The study recommends that the city focus on crime prevention rather than punishment, on building relationships with the students rather than treating them as potential criminals, and a renewed focus on the broader issues of reducing overcrowding and funding disparities. Click here to read more… 

Schools Ban Hoodies, Say They Hide Identity

Hooded sweatshirts, hoodies to the teenagers who wear them, are becoming the latest banned item at Boston-area schools because some students use them to hide their identity beneath hoods when they're cutting class or shuttling stolen goods from the building. Citing safety and decorum, Randolph Public Schools is poised to ban hoodies later this month, along with baseball caps and other nonreligious headcoverings, from middle and high school classrooms and hallways. Hoodies pose a safety threat, area school officials say, for several reasons. Students, perhaps after doing something wrong, can make a quick, anonymous exit from school by shielding their faces from security cameras. Nonstudents can blend in and sneak in and out of the school. Also, students can hide contraband more easily, reports Tracy Jan. parents say it's hypocritical of the schools to ban hoodies when athletic teams and other student groups sell hooded sweatshirts to promote school spirit and, in some cases, to raise money. The Randolph Parent Teacher Organization sold hooded school sweatshirts last year as a fund-raiser. Even teachers wear them in class. Click here to read more…

Arizona Governor Proposes Dropout Age of 18

Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano wants Arizona teenagers to stay in school until they are 18 or until they graduate as one of the key ways to modernize and revamp the state's educational system. Napolitano, who is pushing a national plan to retool America's classrooms, said raising the dropout age to 18 from 16 is part of an overall strategy to meet the changing needs of a competitive workplace. The dropout age was one of eight recommendations Napolitano gave to her P-20 Council, a statewide effort to unify educational improvements and reforms from preschool through graduate school. The Center for the Future of Arizona, a Phoenix-based, non-profit organization that studies dropout rates, said 13 states have a minimum dropout age of 18. The organization also noted there are benefits that come with keeping kids in high school longer. "The bottom line is that there is evidence that it can be helpful in reducing the dropout rate and possibly increasing graduation rates," said Sybil Francis, executive director. "It's a valuable thing to do as an educational-reform package. And for reasons we don't totally understand, it seems to have more of an impact on minorities." Click here to read more…

Parent Guides for Non-English Speakers

Read early and read often. The early years are critical to developing a lifelong love of reading. It's never too early to begin reading to your child! The tips below offer some fun ways you can help your child become a happy and confident reader. Try a new tip each week. See what works best for your child. NEA’s Read Across America partners Reading Rockets and Colorín Colorado have created parent guides for non-English speakers in Spanish, Haitian Creole, Arabic, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Hmong, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Korean. Download these free guides and share them in your communities. Other parent tip sheets are also available for parents of Kindergartners, First Graders, Second Graders and Third Graders. Click here to read more….

Involving Families in High School and College Expectations

The Education Commission of the States High School Policy Center has released a new policy brief on the need for students and parents to receive better information on the steps from high school to college, particularly to improve the "college knowledge" of students whose parents did not attend college. The new policy brief provides a synthesis of the research on the college aspirations of many students and their parents today, as well as the documented lack of information far too many families possess on the necessary steps to make the transition from high school to postsecondary. The brief identifies current state policies that address each of the four steps necessary to negotiate the bridge from high school to college: (1) Students and their parents obtain information on colleges' entrance expectations -- minimum coursework requirements, GPA, etc. -- preferably as early as the middle grades if not earlier, but absolutely at the beginning of high school; (2) Students and the  ir parents set goals related to students' post-schooling aspirations and annually choose high school courses to guarantee that college entrance expectations are achieved by end of grade 12; (3) Students and their parents receive annual updates on students' progress toward their high school graduation goals -- and information about remediation opportunities, if necessary; and (4) Students and parents receive information on making the transition from high school to college -- including applications for college admission and financial aid. Click here to read more…