April 3, 2009

Top News

Board Of Education Approves 2009-10 Budget

At its March 31 meeting, the Board of Education approved its budget for 2009-10. The board approved the budget after meeting March 11, 17 and 24 to study the Superintendent’s Budget proposal and holding a public hearing March 17 to receive public comments.

The board made $115,000 in cuts to the austere budget they received March 3 from Superintendent Del Burns.

The board made reductions of:

• $246,833 by reducing school bus purchases from 17 to 13 buses
• $123,029 by removing H6 from the early hires, task assignment and staff development for new schools case
• $3,220 by removing board member fee increases that had been planned for 1009-10

The board added $257,147 for additional bus drivers. The balance of these changes reduces the 2009-10 operating budget by $115,935.

The board budget now goes to the Wake County Board of Commissioners who will approve a county budget and establish the county tax rate for 2009-10 that will include the school system operating budget. If there is any difference in funding approved for the schools, the school board would reconcile its budget.

The school system budget will be affected by the state and county budgets. The school system budget is funded from three main sources: 62 percent by the state, 31 percent by Wake County and seven percent by the federal government.

With government budgets shrinking due to the state of the economy and school hiring deadlines coming before state and federal budgets are final, principals have been asked to hire 95 percent of their staff allotments and wait for the state budget to be finalized before making decisions on rehiring employees with terminating contracts. This allows schools to prepare for the start of the new school year while providing the school system the flexibility to respond to the final state and federal budgets.

Board Congratulates WCPSS Magnet Schools Earning Honors

Board of Education members congratulated 18 WCPSS magnet schools recognizing school leaders and presenting banners for being honored by the Magnet Schools of America, the national association for magnet schools.

Five Schools - Farmington Woods Elementary, Joyner Elementary, East Garner Middle, Ligon Middle and Enloe High - were among 53 MSA 2009 Schools of Excellence. The five schools are in the running for the Simpson Distinguished Merit award, recognizing the top magnet school in the nation and providing a $5,000 cash award.

13 WCPSS magnet schools were among the 74 MSA 2009 Schools of Distinction:

• Brooks Elementary, a Museums magnet school
• Bugg Elementary, a Creative Arts and Science magnet school
• Combs Elementary, a Leadership magnet school
• Douglas Elementary, a Creative Arts and Science magnet school
• Fuller Elementary, a Gifted and Talented magnet school
• Hunter Elementary, a Gifted and Talented magnet school
• Powell Elementary, a Gifted and Talented magnet school
• Underwood Elementary, a Gifted and Talented magnet school
• Wiley Elementary, an International Studies magnet school
• Carnage Middle, a Gifted and Talented magnet school
• Centennial Campus Middle, a University Connections and Leadership magnet school
• East Millbrook Middle, an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and Creative Arts magnet school
• Martin Middle, a Gifted and Talented magnet school

The schools will be honored at the 27th Magnet Schools of America Conference in April in Charlotte, NC. Below are magnet educators recognized by the school board March 31.

Issue: Board Approves 2009-10 Bell Schedule and Creates Time for Learning Teams At its meeting March 31, the Board of Education approved the bell schedule for 2009-10: adding three new elementary schools to the schedule, adding ten minutes to the school day to provide weekly early dismissal on Wednesdays and moving to a later start time for East Wake high schools and earlier schedule for Wendell and Zebulon elementary schools. 2009-10 Bell Schedule 2009-10 Early Release Days Principal/Teachers Persepctive Listen to Time to Support Learning and Teaching (James Overman, Jennifer Lanane and Sarah Martin) (13 minute mp3) Read Board Schedules Time for Learning and Teaching - March 31, 2009 New Schools Added Three new multi-track, year-round elementary schools - Banks Road, Herbert Akins Road and Lake Myra - open for 2009-10. The bell schedule for all three will be 9:05 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Time Created for Learning Teams In action Superintendent Del Burns said will be critical to boosting student achievement in all WCPSS schools, the board approved a proposal that changes school schedules to provide teachers time to meet in learning teams to study ways to meet the needs of individual students. The new school schedule adds 10 minutes to the school day and provides one hour early dismissal on Wednesdays. On six of those Wednesdays, school will release 2.5 hours early. The schools that have the earliest start times have added the additional ten minutes at the end of the school day. The schools with the latest start times have added the additional ten minutes at the start of the school day. For individual school schedules, check the 2009-10 bell schedule. This will provide time for teachers to meet for an hour on Wednesdays in professional learning communities, or learning teams. In these teams, teachers meet across grade level or subject area to review instruction and look at ways to better meet the needs of individual students. Schools will continue to use the six 2.5 hour sessions for school wide faculty professional development. School administrators and representatives of the Time Committee say the changes will provide the desired status of: Common understanding and expectations for professional learning teams; Consistent, structured time for all WCPSS K-12 educators; All staff participating in professional learning teams; and Community understanding of the value of the learning teams’ work. Over the last five years, WCPSS and four other school districts supported by five corporate sponsors - the News and Observer, Capitol Broadcasting, Progress Energy, SAS and Blue Cross Blue Shield - have worked together in the . The group has studied the goal of having all students graduate from high school and one of the tools recommended has been professional learning communities. High Five has brought in experts to work with school administrators and teachers across the five school districts to help educators see how they can work together to meet the needs of students. During this time, schools across the five districts have begun putting these ideas into practice. Creating time for teachers to meet to develop ways to assess student progress and to use those assessments to work together to strengthen instruction has been difficult. Schools have found different ways to create time and have progressed at different speeds in implementing learning teams. WCPSS created a 40-member Time committee that includes school administrators, principals, teachers and parents to recommend a uniform system that would provide all schools the time for learning teams to work. Time committee members said the drivers for their recommendation were the Board of Education goal for all students to graduate from high school; the need to provide time for collaboration; the need to increase student achievement; the opportunity to close academic achievement gaps among groups of students; the chance to provide job embedded professional development; and the need to provide equal opportunity for all teachers to participate in learning teams to help students achieve. Superintendent Burns said learning teams will allow educators the time to collaborate that will help the school system improve student academic performance. He said the school system has already been studying the implementation of learning teams and will continue to look at ways to use learning teams effectively. Changing Schedules to Strengthen Learning The school system is evaluating bell schedules to determine ways to strengthen learning and teaching. Administrators studying the schedule say some high schools may be helped by having later start times and some elementary schools could be helped with earlier start times. They say studies have shown later start times for older students can be helpful. The board agreed to change the start time for the East Wake high schools to 7:55 a.m. to 3 p.m. for 2009-10. In order to accomplish that with the three-tier bus system, the schedules of Wendell and Zebulon elementary schools were changed. Administrators are continuing to study other schools. They say moving some elementary schools earlier in the day will provide more time for remedial instruction in the afternoons. They will consider additional recommendations for the 2010-11 school calendar.

More News

Board Approves School Audits

At its March 17 meeting, the Board of Education gave approval for WCPSS Central Services staff to conduct an Individual School Audit for Barwell Road Elementary and East Wake School of Integrated Technology. The individual school audit is patterned on the Curriculum Management Audit that examines an entire school district and recommends actions to improve school instruction.

The Individual School Audit is a diagnostic process designed to reveal the extent to which the administrators and professional staff of a school, in conjunction with district officials, have developed and implemented a sound, valid, and operational approach for high student achievement performance. The diagnostic Individual School Audit’s scope is centered on curriculum and instruction, and any aspect of operations of a school and the school system that enhances or hinders its design and/or delivery. The goal of the Individual School Audit is to gather diagnostic data about the current operation of the school staff and compare this data to a set of designed standards for schools with high student performance. From these data, findings are made and action strategies are recommended in a written report to direct the staff in establishing an educational program toward academic excellence.

Board Continues Capping Of Cedar Fork Elementary

At its March 17 meeting, the Board of Education approved continuing the enrollment cap for Cedar Fork Elementary. The base area for Cedar Fork will be significantly reduced by the opening of Alston Ridge Elementary in 2010. However, enrollment in the base area has grown rapidly for the past several years and is expected to continue and could cause serious overcrowding before the new school can open. The Growth and Planning Department recommended that enrollment remain capped for the 2009-2010 school year at Cedar Fork Elementary. Enrollment is capped at 820 students. New families moving into the Cedar Fork Elementary attendance area will be assigned to overflow schools: Reedy Creek Elementary for nodes assigned to Cedar Fork Elementary located east of Hwy 55, and Weatherstone Elementary for nodes assigned to Cedar Fork Elementary located west of Hwy 55. Enrollment capping is governed by Board Policy 6204.

Sanderson High Hosts Chinese Exchange Students

Sanderson High has hosted a delegation of four teachers and eight students from Zhonghua High School in Nanjing, China, as part of an ongoing exchange program between the two schools.
The Chinese students have been visiting at Sanderson March 21-30. The students have been staying with a family of a Sanderson student.

To prepare for the visitors, Sanderson developed an Asian Studies class which focused on China. Part of the time in the class is devoted to helping students learn Chinese so they could be good hosts

The goal of the exchange program has been to break down misconceptions about the people from each country and to establish a relationship for working on joint academic endeavors. One such example would be since both cities have air pollution and clean water issues that students from each school could study. Then the students could exchange information and see if their communities were developing solutions to the problem. Teachers say they could make assignments where the students may study authors and histories and compare what each culture says about the same author or era of time. The schools hope to establish an electronic link.

Sales Tax Agreement with Wake County

At its March 17 meeting, the Board of Education approved a sales tax agreement with the Wake County Board of Commissioners. WCPSS administrators say the proposed transfer by lease will yield the maximum recovery of sales tax. Attorneys for the Board of Education and County Commissioners have been working to finalize the agreement. It now goes to the county commissioners for review.