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It's been a very eventful year for the Wake County Public School System, and it's not even halfway over! From Bill Poston's latest issue of The School Connection newsletter, here are some of the year's headlines:
- WCPSS SAT scores increased 12 points to a record high of 1075.
- 61 WCPSS schools were named North Carolina Schools of Excellence.
- For the third year in a row, more than 90 percent of Wake County elementary and middle students and 83 percent of high school students performed at Level III or IV on state End-of-Course assessments.
- Five new schools opened, one returned to a campus that underwent major renovations, and an office building on New Bern Avenue was renovated and opened as the new River Oaks Middle.
- Student enrollment surged -- but you've heard a lot about that here lately....
- Superintendent Bill McNeal announced his retirement, and the Wake County Board of Education began its search for his successor by opening up the application process to internal candidates first (according to school board policy).
- Three new school board members and one returning member -- Patti Head, Eleanor Goettee, Lori Millberg and Horace Tart -- were sworn in by Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
- The school board hired Summerford Accountancy, P.C., to conduct an audit of WCPSS's finances and analyze the school system's vulnerability to fraud.
- Wake Kids for Katrina -- a joint effort of WCPSS and the Wake County PTA Council -- raised more than $293,000 which was presented to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Gulf Coast hurricanes.
- Morrisville Elementary was named a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.
- Creech Road Elementary's James Overman was named WCPSS Principal of the Year for 2005.
- 165 Wake County teachers earned certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.
- The Leesville Road High and Wakefield High counseling programs earned national honors from the American School Counselor Association.
- Aimee Allen (Lincoln Heights Elementary), Belinda Harris (Holly Ridge Middle) and Jeanette Boone (Enloe High) were named 2005 WCPSS School Counselors of the Year.
- Aimee Niebaur (West Millbrook Middle) was named a 2005 Milken National Educator; she was the only North Carolina teacher to earn the $25,000 honor from the Milken Family Foundation.
- Susan Stewart Taylor (Leesville Road High) was named the state's first BB&T Economic Educator of the Year.
- The National Early Reading First (ERF) Office recognized Project Enlightenment's ERF program, with coordinator Mary Ashe asked to be the keynote speaker in describing WCPSS's implementation of the research-based literacy program for pre-kindergarten children, teachers and families.
- And finally, Moore Square Museums Magnet Middle won a national Impact on Learning award for Specialized Learning Spaces from School Planning and Management magazine and the Counsil of Educational Facility Planners International.
Posted by Chip Sudderth at 4:53 PM on January 6, 2006 | Leave Feedback
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