May 22, 2009

Top News

2009 Wake County Teacher of the Year

Combs Elementary School teacher René Herrick is the 2009 Wake County Teacher of the Year. Superintendent Del Burns presented Herrick the Wake County Teacher of the Year Award and praised Herrick for her data-driven classroom instruction and for her active involvement in the lives of her students.

Rene Herrick 2009 Teacher of the Year

Herrick has been teaching for five years, the last three at Combs Elementary. She is working on National Board certification. Herrick says Wake County's Blue Diamond testing is helping her address the achievement gap. She says the assessments help to identify the needs of individual students.

"Using data to direct instruction is only effective when assessed frequently," said Herrick. "My students and I view the assessment results together. I project pie graphs using my laptop and LCD projector in order for us to assess our understanding together, as a class. I then formulate small group instruction to secure specific standard mastery."

Herrick says the assessment data is reviewed with other teachers in their weekly professional learning community meeting.

"One of my strengths for the team is data collection and presentation. I gather the grade level Blue Diamond assessment scores and create spreadsheets for us to review at our meetings," said Herrick. "Demonstrating a grade-level attitude of knowing the status of all students and 'owning' every child on our grade level is an essential part of addressing the achievement gap."

2009-10 Transfer Process

Students received their official school assignment for the 2009-10 school year on May 15 and window for applying for a transfer opened that same day. The Board of Education recently reviewed the student transfer process with Laura Evans of the WCPSS Office of Growth Management on May 19. You can see the procedures for transfer requests here.

WCPSS Student Competes in Geo-Bee

Shantan Krovvidi, 13, a seventh-grader at Ligon Middle School earned third place in the 2009 National Geographic Bee held in Washington, D.C., on May 20. He won a $10,000 college scholarship. Krovvidi was one of the top 10 contestants who met in the final round. He was North Carolina’s representative among the 55 state and territory winners who competed in preliminary rounds on May 19. Nearly 5 million students take part in the National Geographic Bee each year.

Issue: Moments of Joy and Love Times are tough. The financial picture for local governments and school systems across NC are bleak. Work is still underway on the state budget and Wake County budget. Final decisions are still weeks away for both. The funding crunch is already having an impact on plans for next year. While in the midst of these difficult times, it has been heartening to hear folks talk with pride about their schools and even about love. Each of the 8,000 students who are preparing to graduate from our school system has a story to tell about their 13 years in school. Patrick Short will cross the stage at Sanderson High. Patrick had the choice between accepting a Park Scholarship paying his full four years at NC State or a Morehead-Cain Scholarship covering his years at UNC-Chapel Hill. His joy in school has been band. He’s been Spartans drum major and had the biggest smile on his face leading the band through a tune last week. His plan: six months in a government-funded language immersion program in China and several months working at mission school in Guatemala, before starting his schooling at UNC. Andrea McKerlie is in the first graduating class at Panther Creek High. It gave her the chance to do things she may not have experienced at an established school. She’s been the Catamounts drum major for three years. She’s excited about graduation and going to Meredith. And she’s counting down the minutes til the publication of her second fantasy novel. It’s due any day now. At Holly Springs High, Lindsay Cordero’s eyes sparkle as she enjoys her final days at school. She is at home in the school’s weight room and dance studio. She earned her way into West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy. She also received appointments to each from North Carolina’s congressional delegation. Lindsay leaves just after graduation to begin basic training to prepare for the Air Force Academy. Her goal: to fly jets. Each of these students was filled with joy when I talked with them last week. They were almost as excited and happy as Rene Herrick. Superintendent Del Burns handed Rene keys to a Saturn that Bill Shotwell’s dealership is providing her for the next year as the Wake County Teacher of the Year. “Every year as we start the year, I see my students as a present, a gift to me,” said Herrick. “I open each of those children in a way to discover the amazing children that they are. And then I love them. I genuinely love them. And I ask myself what is my definition of love and its being deeply committed, forever committed to them. They believe in themselves and they know they can achieve great things and make a difference in our world.” And finally, Bill Fulton of Hope Community Church and Dr. Sylvia Wilkins, principal of Dillard Drive Elementary, talked with the school board this week about their partnership. The school and church have established a relationship as part of a school system initiative. Fulton says the two have taken some time getting to know and feel comfortable with each other. They’ve begun having an impact in the lives of school families. Fulton talked about the way one family was helped. “We really dug in. We helped with furniture. We helped with some financing. We helped on spending some money on a trip that was required to help a parent in another country who had a stroke,” said Fulton. “I think just basically showing love from maybe an unexpected source. And I believe that had an impact not only on the mother, but on the child. To understand that they were part of something and that love was for them as well.” It’s often difficult for most of us to get beyond the headlines and see the differences that are made in people’s lives. But sometimes, we’re lucky enough to meet people like Patrick, Andrea and Lindsay and hear the stories told by Rene and Bill. There are moments of joy and love.

More News

Schools and faith communities partner

At its May 19 meeting, the Board of Education heard from two school principals and representatives of two churches that have partnered with the schools. Dana King, principal of Millbrook High and Doug Gamble of Crossroads Fellowship talked about the relationship the school and church have developed under a new WCPSS initiative to link schools and churches. Gamble said his church is investing into the community and putting church dollars into programs that will help children. He said the partnership bypasses church-state discussions by focusing on children and outcomes.

“Human services is another way for the faith community to say good works,” said Gamble. “You can leverage a lot of congregations in the same way that you have with us. There’s a way for us to co-operate and to impact the children in our community.” Gamble said the mentoring program between the church and school is the cornerstone of the partnership.

King said the partnership began four years ago when members of the church walked into the school and asked ‘What can we do?’ She said the partnership was formalized two years ago.

“I believe in the mentoring program. The different between CIS and Uplift Mentoring as the faith based program is called is that Communities in Schools attacks academics first. They tutor first and then the relationship grows,” said King. “It’s just the opposite with the faith based community. It's relationship first and then they work through the academics.”
 
School administrators say 30 schools expressed an interest in establishing partnerships with faith communities. They say 10 faith communities have completed the training and are working with schools, seven more are in training and five have expressed interest in the partnerships.

School Administrators Discuss Student Grades

At the May 12 meeting of the school board’s Student Achievement Committee, board members heard from school administrators Ruth Steidinger and Ken Branch about discussions of grading practices underway in WCPSS schools.

They described conversations WCPSS educators have been involved in during the school year on grading practices. They noted students could receive very different grades in the same course based on grading decisions made by teachers. The discussion with educators have helped to stimulate teachers to examine the practices at their schools and exchange views on a number of grading issues: dropping lowest scores, awarding zeroes for work not done, or offering re tests. There were debates over whether grades should measure what students know, or should grades also take into consideration attitudes and timeliness.

The school administrators said the discussion will widen in the coming year to include more stakeholders such as students, parents and the business community.

New Screening process reviewed for beginning readers

A new process for screening beginning readers will be introduced in some WCPSS elementary schools. School administrators speaking at the school board’s Student Achievement Committee meeting May 12 said the screening system appears to provide accurate results and may save teachers time in assessing student reading. They want to provide the needed training for some schools to use it in the coming year. Proper screening will allow teachers to strengthen individual student’s reading skills and challenge all students with appropriately leveled books, so that successful readers are constantly challenged and hindrances to reading are identified and addressed in a timely fashion.

Board reviews policy updates

At its meeting May 19, the Board of Education gave first reading approval to revisions of
Policy 1040: Board-Superintendent Relations
Policy 1325: Board Meeting News Coverage
Policy 1330: Disruption of Meetings

The board gave first reading approval for
Policy 7105: Use of School Transportation Services

The board gave final approval to revisions for
Policy 6400: Code of Student Conduct

High Five Passes the Torch

There was an actual flame involved on May 12 when the High Five regional partnership passed the torch to continue its work fostering Professional Learning Communities in the Wake County Public School System and the four other area school districts in the partnership. At a reception of educators, business representatives, parents, and leaders from Wake, Durham, Orange, Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Johnston school systems, participants viewed a video of the five-year highlights of High Five's work. High Five's work will continue with the Superintendents of Orange, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Wake, Durham, and Johnston school systems serving as the new Board of Directors. The work of High Five was supported by the News and Observer, Capitol Broadcasting, SAS, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Progress Energy.

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