Board decisions and education issues affecting Wake County Schools. |
TOP NEWS: Multi-year assignment delayed/Curriculum Management Policies Approved
Issue: National Economy Will Slow WCPSS School Construction
More News: Kindergarten registration changes/ Parking policy revised / PTA Radio Debuts
October 15, 2008
Top News
Multi-year assignment delayed
Discussions about delaying school construction projects at the Oct. 14 Board of Education facilities committee meeting will delay the school system’s plan for a multi-year assignment proposal. When asked by board members in the committee meeting, Assistant Superintendent Chuck Dulaney said the proposal would be contingent on knowing the timeline on which new schools would open. Dulaney said the uncertainty caused for new school openings by the current economic crisis made it difficult for planners to develop school assignment proposals. He said once the school board finalizes a new school construction schedule based on the funding county commissioners can make available, the WCPSS Growth and Planning Office will review its planning, likely looking at a one year assignment proposal based on new schools opening for 2009-10.
Curriculum Management Policies Approved
At its Oct. 7 meeting, the Board of Education gave preliminary approval to two new policies, the first new policies growing out of the curriculum management audit. The new policies establish a basis for management of the instructional curriculum. One policy calls for the district to develop a curriculum management plan that will include procedures and expectations for the design and delivery of the curriculum. It calls for the alignment of the written, taught, and tested curriculum to ensure that each student graduates on time prepared for life in the 21st Century. The second policy would provide a system-wide understanding of where decisions regarding curriculum and assessment lie. Central staff is responsible for decisions regarding the design and support of the curriculum and common assessments. School-based staff is responsible for the decisions regarding the delivery of the district’s curriculum and common assessments. Second reading approval by the board is required to finalize the new policies.
National Economy Will Slow WCPSS School ConstructionIn the Board of Education facilities committee meeting Oct. 14, WCPSS Chief of Operations Don Haydon talked with board members about the impact of the national economy on the school construction program.
Haydon said of the $1.055.9 billion school construction program, $864.4 million has been appropriated to date and $191.5 million has not been appropriated. He said of the $864.4 million appropriated, $591.8 million has been encumbered paying for work that has been done or is currently underway and $272.6 million has not been encumbered. Haydon told the board school construction projects are being evaluated to reduce cash flow needs. Haydon said his staff will evaluate projects based on the impact on student assignment, status of construction projects, impact of project delay on other projects, the cost of delaying projects and in the case of renovation projects, are students adequately housed? Haydon said the actions to reduce cash flow needs could include 1) reducing current encumbrances by suspending construction contracts and purchases; 2) reducing future encumbrances by delaying contract awards; and 3) reducing future appropriations and encumbrances by delaying requests for funds. Of the 15 new schools being built in this school construction program, four have been completed, eight are in construction and three are in design. Of the 14 major renovation projects at existing schools, four have been completed, eight are in construction and two are in design. Of the 16 properties that will provide sites for the next school construction program, seven have been closed, eight are still being sought and one will be built on existing school property. Haydon said staff would bring a proposal for review in the next committee of the whole meeting Oct. 21 that would be presented for action later that day at the board meeting. The school system action is in response to Wake County Manager David Cooke’s presentation to a joint meeting of the Wake County Commissioners and the Board of Education Oct. 7 and action by the commissioners Oct. 13. Cooke told the Oct. 7 meeting that the county was unable to sell bonds in September and October at an acceptable rate because of the current national economic conditions. The bond sales would have provided the cash for the school construction projects, as well as funds for Wake Tech, library and open space projects. Cooke said an alternative may be bond anticipation notes. At the Oct. 13 meeting of the county commissioners, commissioners authorized Cooke to move forward with a $300 million bond anticipation note. At the Oct. 7 meeting, Cooke said the $300 million could provide $256.5 million for school construction, $22.2 million for Wake Tech projects, $19 million for open space projects and $2.3 million for library projects. At the Oct. 7 meeting, Cooke also warned the slow down in residential building will have an impact on operating budgets. After four years of more than 10,000 residential building permits being issued annually, there’s a marked slowdown in 2008. There were 3,227 residential building permits issued for the first six months of 2008, compared with 5,646 for the same period last year. The 2008 total is the lowest in the last 14 years. |
More News
Kindergarten registration changes
The date that determines the age children may be enrolled in kindergarten has been changed by state law. The NC General Assembly passed General Statute 115C-364 changing the cutoff date so that a child would be age five on or before August 31 for entry into kindergarten starting with the 2009-10 school year. Under the old law, children whose birthdays were on or before Oct. 16 were allowed to enroll.
The impact of the law will be the shortening of the admissions window by about six weeks for one school year. School administrators and elementary school principals are looking at the impact this will have on their schools for 2009-10. The Wake County Public School System will begin registration of kindergarten students in February 2009 for the 2009-10 school year.
Parking policy revised
At its Oct. 7 meeting, the Board of Education gave preliminary approval to revision of Policy 7180: Parking of Motor Vehicles so the policy reflects current practice. The revised policy encourages carpooling among students.
PTA Radio Debuts
The National PTA has launched PTA Radio, an audio podcast with helpful information for parents available from the National PTA website . PTA Radio focuses on issues affecting families and child advocates and provides real-life answers to everyday problems. A new show airs every two weeks. The first series of PTA Radio shows will center on male involvement and provide fathers and other male role models quick actionable tips to help them get more involved in their child's education. You can listen to PTA Radio here.
Sign-up for e-news
We have just rolled out an easier way to manage your e-newsletter subscriptions: the E-Newsletter Subscription Manager. This allows you to control your subscriptions to all of our e-newsletters and to the Notification Service with an easy-to-use Web interface. The E-Newsletter Subscription Manager allows you to subscribe multiple addresses to any of our E-Newsletters, including the Notification Service.
However, the new system is such a radical departure from the old one that we can't simply migrate everyone's subscription over.
To continue to receive Notification Service e-mails, you'll need to create an E-Newsletter Subscription Manager account. It's quick and easy and should take you less than five minutes to create an account and sign up for the information that you're interested in.
If you don't sign up for the new system, you will be dropped from the Notification Service. The E-Newsletter Subscription Manager account signup is at: http://www.wcpss. net/signup/ newsletters/ signup/