Classroom Connection - April 15, 2011
You Get a Voice In Under-Enrolled Year-Round Schools Decision
Parents, students and staff at 14 under-enrolled Wake County year-round schools are being asked their opinions about the idea of scheduling all students on a single-track for the 2011-12 school year. The deadline for completing the survey is April 30.
Wake Superintendent Tony Tata has asked the staff to study traditional schools with declining enrollment as well as under-enrolled traditional and year-round schools to determine what if any programs or modifications are necessary. Read more…
2011 Teacher of the Year Finalists
On April 13, the Wake County Public School System honored finalists for the 2011 Wake County Teacher of the Year in a reception at the NC Bar Association. The 12 finalists include:
Leslie Bailey, Baileywick Elementary School
Kevin Boynton, Dillard Drive Elementary School
Ashley Cooper, Underwood Elementary School
Kristen Curley, Oak Grove Elementary School
Rhonda Dunn, Zebulon Middle School
Kyle Hamstra, Davis Drive Elementary School
Mary-Kathryn Hixson, Broughton High School
Shireen Mehl, Fuquay-Varina Elementary School
Alicia Miller, Wake Forest Elementary School
Saswati Mukherjee, Farmington Woods Elementary School
Stephanie Rhodes, Sanderson High School
Patrick Tart, Banks Road Elementary School
The Wake County Teacher of the Year banquet is scheduled for Thursday, May 12, when the Teacher of the Year will be honored.
Take Our Website Survey
WCPSS wants to improve your online experience with the district website. Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey. Click here to take the survey.
If you have trouble getting to the survey from the link, visit www.wcpss.net and you will see a box with the words: Take Our Website Survey! in the middle of your screen, just above the News and Information tab.
NC Highway Patrol Steps Up Enforcement Near High Schools
NC Highway Patrol Commander Mike Gilchrist held a news conference at Millbrook Magnet High to announce increased patrols around high schools as part of Operation Drive to Live.
Colonel Gilchrist wants to send a message to students, their parents and the community about the importance of teens driving safely. He expressed concern about teen traffic deaths and the number of wrecks involving teen drivers.
Speaking at the news conference with Colonel Gilchrist were Superintendent Tony Tata, State Superintendent of Education June Atkinson and NC Crime Control and Public Safety Secretary Rueben Young. Read more…
Listen to NC Highway Patrol Promises to Step Up Enforcement near High Schools
This is a 6-minute mp3 file.
- Teenage Driving Tips – NC Highway Patrol
- UNC Highway Safety Research Center
- Teen drivers often ignore bans on using cell phones and texting
Centennial Campus Club Sponsors Field Trip for ESL Students
Centennial Campus Magnet Middle English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students took part in a garden tour of the Executive Mansion and a tour of the Lieutenant Governor’s home on April 15. The school’s Service Learning Club sponsored the field trip to help English Language Learners gain background knowledge about NC government and history, as well as NC horticulture.
The field trip connected with a lesson in the ESL class unit on NC history and government. The trip supported middle school Social Studies curricula and built knowledge that will help English Language Learners to succeed in high school Civics class.
The field trip supported Service Learning Club goals to motivate students to stay in school by providing students with essential background knowledge. You may remember that club members have shown their passion for encouraging students to graduate from high school by producing the winning entry in the NC Society of Hispanic Professionals Stay in School video contest. The club financed the field trip with funds earned from the video contest.
The Service Learning Club members work closely with principal Edye Morris-Bryant and ESL teacher Cindy Linton to tackle challenging social issues. They research problems, devise and evaluate potential solutions and implement projects to help make our world a better place. The student leaders have designed and put into action projects to tackle such issues as student obesity and elementary literacy.
Joyner Magnet Elementary Choir Earns Top Honors
Joyner Magnet Elementary choral students sang their way to top honors at the April 9 “Music in the Parks” celebration at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia.The Joyner Gold Show Choir earned first place in their division with a rating of Excellent for their performance of:
“Be the Light” by John Jacobson
“You Raise Me Up” by Brendan Graham
“Thriller” by Rod Temperton/Michael Jackson
The students won the prestigious “Esprit de Corps” Award for outstanding spirit, attitude, behavior, sportsmanship and professionalism. This award goes to only one school across all grade levels.
Knightdale High Students Travel to Washington, DC to Study the Holocaust
A class of Knightdale High students and their teacher visited Washington, DC as part of a Close Up Foundation trip to the White House, Lincoln Memorial, FDR Memorial, Museum of the American Indian and the National Holocaust Museum. Teacher Battle Watkins and his 15 students are studying the connection between decisions made in US history and the effects of the Holocaust.
As part of the trip, the students viewed the permanent collection at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and met with Holocaust survivor Erica Neuman. They heard her testimony and had the chance to talk with her. The group visited the Embassy of Rwanda and talked to Ambassador James Kimonyo and Department Ambassador Justine Mbabazi. They also met with Daniel Solomon, a student at Georgetown University and Coordinator for STAND, the student division of the Genocide Action Network.
The students visited Arlington National Cemetery and the World War 2 Memorial.This visit gave the Knightdale High students a close up view of lessons learned from US and World History to be applied to 21st century challenges and is part of Wake County Schools 21st Century Skills program.
Enloe Students Qualify for State Math Contest
A team of Enloe Magnet High math students won first place on April 6 at the Regional Comprehensive Math Contest at Winston-Salem State University.Team members included Ivan Kuznetsov, Qimin Wu, Damien Gu, Tejas Sundaresan, Allen Jiang, River Wu and Ian Jiang. Allen took 5th place and Tejas took 6th in individual honors. They will advance to the State Math Contest next week at the NC School of Science and Math.
The math team that attended the Elon University Regional Mathematics Contest took 3rd place overall. Justin Luo took 7th place and qualified to attend the State Math Contest next week. Other team members were Nafiyah Enayet, Anne Feng, Eric Li and Aribah Shah.
The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) has informed Enloe that 9th grader Justin Luo is the statewide winner of the AMC 10 mathematics contest administered nationally in February. Sophomore Calvin Deng is the statewide winner of the AMC 10 math contest. These students earned plaques to be awarded at the NCCTM Annual Conference in Greensboro in October.
Davis Drive Elementary Students Participate in Laps of Love
Students at Davis Drive Elementary School walked laps to raise money for the American Cancer Society on April 15.
Laps of Love is an annual school-wide fundraiser held each April at the school. Grade levels took turns walking in the school’s carpool lane from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. during this mini Relay for Life event. Students walked for cancer survivors and family and friends who have lost their battles with cancer.
Funds raised through sales of cookies, popcorn, lemonade, bracelets and buttons helped support the American Cancer Society. Laps of Love is the final event in the school’s year of fundraising. Throughout the course of the year, Davis Drive raises more than $13,000 for the American Cancer Society through the mini fundraising events.
K-9 Unit Visits Oak Grove
Oak Grove Elementary second graders received special visitors last month. A K-9 unit from the Town of Cary Police Department visited the students. Oak Grove invited them because the students read about "Amazing Animals" in their literacy unit and studied government services.
Officer Jeremy Burgin and his K-9 partner, Max, provided an outdoor demonstration to show the boys and girls how the dogs assist police officers and help the citizens of our community.
They also demonstrated an article search on the school grounds. The students learned how the dogs are trained and taken care of and saw a demonstration of Max's obedience.
Fuller Magnet Elementary Holds Science Enrichment Day
Fuller Magnet Elementary held Science Enrichment Day from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 14.
As part of the school’s science and technology focus, students spent the day attending a myriad of hands-on presentations on all aspects of science, including live animal presentations, chemistry experiments, and other exciting opportunities presented by a wide range of people from experts in their fields to Enloe Magnet High students including presenters from NC State University, as well as Fuller teachers and parents.)
Science Enrichment Day is a great showcase for the fabulous science education resources that exist in our community. The presentations tie into the North Carolina science curriculum. Since its inception in 2003, the Fuller GT Magnet PTA has funded Science Enrichment Day with the gracious support of presenters, many of them volunteers.
Early College Students Take Part in Job Shadowing Day
Thirty students from the Wake Early College of Health & Sciences took part in a job-shadowing day thanks to the school’s partnership with Junior Achievement. The students visited corporate partner AT&T.
The students were divided into six groups each with five students and were escorted through various AT&T departments including logistics, development, sales and marketing, business accounts and product integration and maintenance. During the tour, students were given information about AT&T’s past and their plans for expansion and continued service. The students formulated and fielded questions and maintained ongoing dialogue with their AT&T counterparts on such topics as phone and data frequencies, range of service, product development, and on the science and engineering of mobile devices and construction and maintenance of service towers.
The AT&T staff selected one student per group for practice in a job interview situation. After lunch, students worked cooperatively in developing new phone “apps.” The students impressed the AT&T staff who commented on the quality of questions asked and ease of engaging in collaborative group work.
Pieces of Gold
March 23rd was an evening to celebrate the Visual and Performing Arts in Wake County! Continuing a 28-year tradition, the Arts Education Department collaborated with the Wake Education Partnership to produce a spectacular showcase of talent and creative expression. 850 student performers, 76 visual artists, 80 student technicians and community volunteers demonstrated the value of the arts in preparing students to meet the challenges of the 21st century. If you missed it - look for it again March 2012, in the meantime, you can catch a glimpse of Gifts of Gold at: http://www.wakeedpartnership.org/events/piecesofgold/gifts_of_gold.htm
Apex Middle's Battle of the Band
The Apex Middle School Battle of the Books team won the region 3 competition held at Darden Middle School in Wilson on April 1. Nine teams participated in the regional competition.
The Apex team battled eight times and tied for first at the end. They won in a tiebreaker battle with Rocky Mount-Nash. They are now eligible to compete in the state Battle of the Books competition on May 3.
This is the third year in a row that a Wake County team has won the regional competition. Davis Drive Middle won two years ago, and Ligon Middle won last year.
Apex Middle Takes Second in Robotics Competition
Members of Apex Middle School’s robotics team took second place in the robotics competition held during the North Carolina Technology Student Association’sannual state conference held in Greensboro April 3-5. This marked the first time the team attended the state technology conference. Apex’s robotics team will now advance to compete during the 2011 National TSA Conference held in Dallas June 21-25. The Apex Middle robotics team is sponsored by an EMC STEM grant.
Board Names School Principals
At its April 5 meeting, the Board of Education named John Wall, Jr. principal at Southeast Raleigh Magnet High and principals for the four Renaissance elementary schools – Sandra Barefoot at Barwell Road Elementary, Ken Branch at Brentwood Magnet Elementary, Catherine Berry at Creech Road Elementary and Mark Tracy at Wilburn Elementary.
Wall has served as principal of North Garner Middle School since 2005. Prior to that, he served as principal and assistant principal at Zebulon Middle and was a teacher at Carnage Middle School. Earlier, he taught in New York schools. He was the 2009 WCPSS Principal of the Year.
Barefoot has served as principal of York Elementary since 2008. Prior to that, she was a principal, assistant principal and principal fellow intern at schools in Cumberland County, NC.
Branch has served as WCPSS Senior Director for Secondary Education Programs since 2007. Earlier, he worked as WCPSS Senior Director of Magnet Programs and was principal at Centennial Campus Magnet Middle, Lynn Road Elementary and Zebulon Middle. He was an assistant principal at Carnage Middle and in the Granville County Schools. He was a teacher in the Durham Public Schools.
Berry has served as principal of Creech Road Elementary since 2010. Prior to that, she was an assistant principal in Orange County and at Holly Ridge Elementary. She was an assistant principal and counselor in Burlington County Schools.
Tracy has served as an elementary school principal in New Hanover County Schools since 2007. Prior to that, he was an elementary school teacher in Maryland, a research assistant at the University of Maryland, Assistant Dean of Students at University of Oregon and an elementary school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia.
These principals will serve as leaders in the four Renaissance schools where federal funds will help to pay to outfit classrooms with the latest technology, and additional teaching staff will be provided for each grade level. In addition, there will be flexibility in the school day and school year to provide more instructional time.
The school system recruited principals for these four schools with a record of student growth and they were paid a one-time recruitment bonus to work at these schools. Current employees at each of the four schools who wish to participate in the Renaissance project were asked to reapply for positions. Employees will also have the opportunity to request a transfer to another school. The principals will be looking to hire teachers with a record of student growth who will be recruited with a one-time recruitment bonus. Renaissance school staff will also be eligible to receive annual performance-based compensation.
The board named as assistant principals Vonda Martin at Walnut Creek Elementary, Angela Ingham at Weatherstone Elementary and Larry Canterbury at Middle Creek High.