May 8, 2009

Top News

65 Students Named Teaching Fellows
Sixty-five Wake County Public School System high school seniors have been named North Carolina Teaching Fellows. This program provides a $6,500 per year scholarship for four years at one of 18 NC colleges and universities in return for the students agreeing to teach for four years in one of NC’s public schools. The 65 Teaching Fellows attend 18 different WCPSS high schools. Apex High had seven students earn the scholarships. Garner High had six. There were five Fellows at Broughton, Cary, Leesville Road, Middle Creek and Wake Forest-Rolesville high schools. Eight WCPSS students were named alternates to fill in for any of the fellows who chose not to use their scholarship.

Four First-Year Teachers Honored

Four Wake County teachers have been honored with the Diane Kent-Parker First-Year Teacher Award, the award named after the late WCPSS teacher recruiter. The recipients are fifth grade teacher Ryan Williams of Rand Road Elementary, Special Education teacher Jessica Benton of Underwood Elementary, Eighth grade Science teacher Michael Dunbar, Jr. of East Garner Middle and ninth grade Math teacher Austin James of Millbrook High.

Pre-Engineering Program Certified

Southeast Raleigh High School’s pre-engineering program earned certification and was recognized by representatives from Project Lead the Way and Duke University for its exemplary pre-engineering program. The school learned that it had met and exceeded the program’s quality standards during a certification visit April 30.

Certification of the Southeast Raleigh High program means students may now apply for college credit at a variety of national affiliate colleges and universities, if they demonstrate exemplary work in their pre-engineering courses and pass the appropriate Project Lead the Way End-of-Course examination.

Issue: Board Seeks to Balance Competing Values The Wake County Public School System grew out of efforts to shape and reconcile the competing values of the community and those efforts are continuing today. The Board of Education recognized Laverne, Rod and Barry with copies of the resolution honoring their father, Vernon Malone On May 5, the Board of Education honored the children of the late Vernon Malone, the first chair of a combined school system that brought the City of Raleigh and Wake County school systems into one. The combined school system would better serve the needs of the entire county, but it would have an impact on choices for families. One of the reasons was that downtown Raleigh schools were closing due to lack of students at a time suburban Wake County schools were overfilled with students. The development of magnet schools in downtown Raleigh encouraged families from outside the beltline to attend those schools. The magnet program would better serve the needs of the entire county, but it would have an impact on choices for families. Another important moment for the school system was the development of multi-track, year-round schools. The schools were developed for the ability to handle a larger number of students by better utilizing a school facility over the course of a year. As the school system entered a period of rapid growth, multi-track, year-round schools were used with greater frequency. When voters approved the current capitol improvement program, polling clearly indicated taxpayers preferred addressing growing enrollment with multi-track, year-round schools. The use of multi-track, year-round schools would better serve the needs of the entire county, but it would have an impact on choices for families. This month, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that school districts have the authority to assign students to year round schools. This ruling means that the school system will now be able to fully utilize current and future building capacity. It is anticipated that the school system may now move forward with its first-ever multi-year student assignment plan, as approved by the Board of Education. That three-year plan provides students and families greater stability by eliminating year-to-year assignments. The decisions of the court and school board were made to better serve the needs of the entire county, but these decisions will have an impact on choices for families. At the May 5 meeting, board chair Rosa Gill reminded everyone that Vernon Malone had a vision of what our community could become if the citizens of Wake County made the commitment to insure a quality education for each and every child. This series of decisions are a result of community leaders, like Malone, seeking to insure a quality education for each and every child. At the meeting one of Malone’s children noted they were surprised at the visitation to see Dr. Murphy, the school district’s first superintendent. “It was amazing to us because our memory of that time was that my dad and Dr. Murphy went out of their way, not only to bring the county together, but to bring their two families together. They did a lot of interacting, having the two families get together. I got to be good friends with Dr. Murphy’s kids. As I thought about this a lot, I’ve just really come to appreciate, more than I did at the time, the importance of education to him.” On a day when the school board paused to remember its first board chair, the board moved forward in continuing the effort to balance competing values to better serve the community.

More News

Board Approves Employee Salary Reduction

At its May 5 meeting, the Wake County Board of Education approved a reduction of wages in the amount of 0.5 percent of annualized salary for all WCPSS employees in responding to Gov. Beverley Perdue's April 28th Executive Order,

The reduction of salary will occur in the May 2009 paychecks of WCPSS employees. The salary reduction will apply to all employees including members of the Board of Education and cover all salary amounts, including any local supplements.

Board members indicated their action was taken during extraordinary times of financial challenges to address a reduction in the current operational budget, to assure fairness to all employees regardless of funding source and to stay in line with the past practice of applying state salary increases to all employees and to all salary amounts including local supplements.

Governor Perdue's executive order stated that in exchange for the reduction of wages, 10 hours of flexible leave will be granted employees to be used between June 1 and December 31, 2009. The State Board of Education is clarifying use of the furlough time.

Students Can Prepare for State Testing

With the end of the school year, students are preparing for state testing. Students in grades 3-8 take state End-of-Grade tests in math and reading and high school students take state End-of-Course testing in many of their courses. Parents can find some online resources that can be used in helping their children prepare for these tests. For EOG resources, visit the Making the Grade Resource Center. You will find online videotaped instruction by WCPSS teachers in the Success Series website. You can help students by making sure they are well-prepared, well-rested and confident as they prepare for these tests.

Full Circle Discusses Learning Teams

This month’s edition of the WCPSS Full Circle television show hosted by Jeff Nash features WCPSS Chief Academic Officer Donna Hargens, Apex High Principal Matt Wight and Carpenter Elementary teacher ShaRhonda Smith in a discussion of learning teams, or Professional Learning Communities. They explain what they are, how important they are to the future of Wake County's schools, and how they help students achieve more.