January 23, 2009

Top News

WCPSS Seeks Grant for Second Early College

At its Jan. 22 meeting, Ruth Steidinger, WCPSS senior director for high school instruction, talked with the board about a request for proposal being submitted to the New Schools Grant to create the Wake NC State University Early College. WCPSS is working with NC State University to develop the early college concept and a location for the school. Steidinger says the initial proposal for the school focuses on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Under the grant proposal, the school could open as early as 2010-11. This would become the school system’s second Early College Program. The Wake Early College of Health and Science opened in 2007-08 as a partnership between WCPSS, Wake Tech and WakeMed offering students a chance to complete a high school diploma and associate degree in five years.

Name Approved For New Elementary School (E21)

At its Jan. 22 meeting, the Board of Education approved Walnut Creek Elementary as the name for the new E21 elementary school. Walnut Creek Elementary had been proposed because of the site’s proximity to Walnut Creek, into which water from the site drains, and which is the nearest notable geographic or natural feature. The site is also located within reasonably close proximity to the Walnut Creek Amphitheater and the City of Raleigh’s Walnut Creek park. Other names considered for the school included Southeast Raleigh Elementary and Sunnybrook Road Elementary. In Oct. 2008, the board acquired 19.774 acres for use as an elementary school in the E-21 target area, with the school scheduled to open in 2011.

Name Discussed for New High School (H-6)

At its Jan. 22 meeting, the Board of Education heard from Betty Parker of WCPSS Real Estate about potential names for the new H6 high school. Parker offered several names for consideration (1) River Bend High, (2) Forestville Road High, (3) Northeast Raleigh High, and (4) North Wake High. River Bend High is proposed because of the site’s proximity to a notable section of the Neuse River, which is a nearby geographic or natural feature. Forestville Road High is proposed as it identifies the road from which the school will be accessed, will help to specifically identify the location of the site, although Forestville Road extends from Wake Forest in a southeasterly direction through Raleigh and terminates in Knightdale near US 64 Highway, and has several schools located on or near it. Northeast Raleigh High is proposed as it identifies the area of the town in which the school site is located, will help to identify the location of the site, and will help to establish a community identity for the facility. North Wake High is proposed as it identifies the area of the county in which the school site is located, will help to identify the location of the site, and will help to establish a community identity for the facility. Board members will provide additional names for consideration and will likely select and approve a name for the site at their next meeting on Feb. 3. In Oct. 2008, the board acquired 80.80 acres for use as a high school in the H-6 target area, with the school scheduled to open in 2011.

Issue: Board Discusses Assignment in Work Session After listening to 11 hours of comments in a series of five public hearings, the Board of Education began a work session to closely review the multi year assignment proposal that will fill 10 new schools over the next three years. Timetable Work Session Monday, Jan. 26, 1-5 p.m., Board conference room Public Hearing for families added to proposal in work session Wednesday, Jan. 28, 6 p.m., Board Room Work Session Wednesday, Jan. 28, following public hearing Work Session Thursday, Jan. 29, 12-5 p.m., Board Conference Room Board Meeting, vote approval of proposal Tuesday, Feb. 3, 3 p.m., Board Room Board Considers Changes at Student Assignment Work Session As the work session began, Assistant Superintendent Chuck Dulaney recommended two significant changes to the Dec. 16 staff proposal presented to the Board of Education. Dulaney recommended: Staff recommends that a transfer request for a student be automatically approved if that particular student will be impacted by district assignment decisions twice within a three year period. For example, if a student was in School A as either a base or a calendar applicant and board action changes that student's assignment to School B and then subsequent board action would change the student's assignment to Sc2009-12 Reassignment Planhool C after less than three years in School B, a transfer request for the student to remain in School B would be automatically approved. Staff recommends that when the "grandfathering" process leads to approval of a transfer for a student and the family applies for a transfer for a younger sibling who has also already begun attending the same school as the older sibling (for example, a rising 1st grade sibling of a rising 4th grade student or a rising 10th grade student assigned to a new high school that has a rising 11th or 12th grade sibling) that the transfer request for the younger sibling automatically be approved. The board met for more than five hours in their work session yesterday and has seven hours of discussions scheduled for today. More work session time has been scheduled. The board will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28 in the board room at 3600 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh. The public hearing will be for families who were added to the proposal, whose year of reassignment was changed or whose school for reassignment was changed during the work session. The board is scheduled to adopt an assignment plan at its Feb. 3 meeting. In the work sessions, the board has been reviewing a series of changes recommended by the staff and making adjustments based on the many comments they’ve received. More than 200 people spoke and more than 1,000 people attended the series of five public hearings. The board heard from 224 speakers who provided more than 11 hours of total comments. Each speaker had three minutes to give their input to the board. The board heard 38 speakers at Apex High on Jan. 5, 18 speakers at Southeast Raleigh High on Jan. 8, 94 speakers at Millbrook High on Jan. 12, 47 speakers at Fuquay-Varina High on Jan. 15 and 27 speakers at East Wake High on Jan. 15. Video of the speakers at the public hearings is posted online. An estimated 1,105 people attended the public hearings. There were 175 at Apex High, 70 at Southeast Raleigh High, 485 at Millbrook High, 125 at Fuquay-Varina High and 250 at East Wake High. The staff proposal being reviewed by the board was open for online public comments through Jan. 15. During the comment period, visitors to the website viewed 193,120 pages and downloaded 14,788 documents. 1,449 people offered comments.

More News

Writing Assessment Update

At its Jan. 22 meeting, Dr. Sherri Merritt, WCPSS senior director for literacy instruction, talked with the board about the changes in writing assessment. Merritt explained that the State Board of Education, acting on recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability, made the decision to move away from direct writing assessment at Grades 4 and 7. Merritt said WCPSS is now part of a statewide pilot approved by the State Board of Education for 2008-09. The pilot for Grades 4 and 7 includes on demand writing to a prompt as well as writing and editing research papers. The traditional writing assessment currently remains in place at Grade 10.

Wight Named Regional Principal of the Year

Matt Wight, principal of Apex High School, has been selected as the state's North Central Region Principal of the Year by the NC Department of Public Instruction, The Principals’ Executive Program and the Wachovia Corporation. Wight now becomes one of eight Regional Principals of the Year under consideration for the 2009 Wachovia Principal of the Year. The state Wachovia Principal of the Year will be announced in April 2009 at the state luncheon in Raleigh. Wight was named Wake County Principal of the Year last October. He has been in education 24 years and has been principal at Apex High for two years. Prior to his job at Apex High, Wight served as principal of Salem Middle, East Cary Middle and was a principal, assistant principal and teacher in the New Hanover County schools. In his two years at Apex High, Wight has brought attention to the importance of working together for student academic success.

Wake County Schools Communicate with Families

Swift Creek Elementary Principal Jim Argent and Wake County PTA Council President Sarah Martin discuss communication between school and families in the latest report on the school board’s family involvement policies. You can read the article, listen to the discussion and provide your comments on communication between schools and families here.