August 13, 2010

Top News

Two Northeastern Wake High Schools to Host Ribbon Cuttings

Wake Forest Rolesville High and the new Heritage High will hold ribbon cuttings next week.

You can read about staggered entry and assessment for kindergartners here.

Principal Tina Hoots plans to have a ceremony styled like the television “Extreme Makeover” where a bus moves out of the way to reveal a home that’s undergone major renovations. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, August 16. Hoots suggests parking in the new student table top lot. The front faculty parking area will be the gathering area for the ribbon cutting.

The $50 million construction project provides additional parking, a multi-story new classroom wing, upgrades to all remaining classrooms in the 1958 and 1989 buildings, a new media center, auxiliary gym, cafeteria, and student support services. The majority of the project is now complete, however the final phase of renovations to existing buildings will be performed during the upcoming 2010-11 school year.   

Principal Mark Savage plans a 4 p.m. ribbon cutting for Wednesday, August 18 at the new Heritage High School. The 264,416 square-foot building is located on a 110.46-acre site at 1150 Forestville Road in Wake Forest. The school is a reuse of the Knightdale High prototype designed by LS3P Associates. This prototype was also used for Panther Creek High.
Heritage High construction was completed a year ago through a joint-venture partnership with Heery International and D.H. Griffin Construction and temporarily housed Wake Forest-Rolesville High School students last year.

School Year Starts Soon for Traditional Calendar Student

The 2010-11 school year will begin August 25 for nearly 100,000 traditional calendar students in the Wake County Public School System. Two new traditional calendar schools will open that day. Heritage High will open in Wake Forest. As a new high school, it will open with ninth and 10th grade students. The new Mills Park Middle School will open in Cary.

Board Adopts the 2010-11 Annual Balanced Budget Resolution

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education adopted the annual budget resolution for fiscal year 2010-2011 in accordance with G.S. 115C-425, 115C-426, 115C-432, and 115C-433. The budget resolution includes county appropriation revenue for the operating budget of $313,503,224 as approved by the Wake County commissioners as well as state funds authorized in the state budget approved by state lawmakers.

More News

Board Authorizes Reduction in Force

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education authorized a reduction in force of six non-certified Transportation Department positions under Board Policy 4430. The action was taken as part of additional budget reductions required by reduced state funding after a further reduction of $1.2 million in the state budget funding for the WCPSS Transportation Department.

Board Approves 2010-11 Salary Schedules

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education approved the 2010-11 Salary Schedules. Under the schedule, certified and noncertified employees are not provided any salary increases for the 2010-11 school year. Employees moving up one step on the salary schedule will receive the
same monthly or hourly amount in 2010-11 as they received in 2009-10. These salary schedules have been prepared in a manner consistent with legislation passed in the 2010 session of the North Carolina General Assembly. Additionally, the following are in effect for 2010-11:

• Certified employees who were at the highest step of the 2009-10 salary schedule will not receive a top of the scale bonus.
• Substitute teacher rates remain at 2009-10 school year levels.
• No ABC bonus payments will be made in the fall of 2010 for meeting or exceeding
  test goals in the 2009-10 school year.
• No bonus leave provisions are included with the 2010-11 budget.
  

The salary schedules for 2010-11 do not provide any salary increases, and do not increase state, local or federal expenditures.

NC School Accountability Data Released

There were 14 WCPSS schools named Schools of Excellence and 63 WCPSS schools named Schools of Distinction for 2010-11, according to results released by the State Board of Education based on state testing data.

Under the state ABCs of Public Education, a school earns recognition as an Honor School of Excellence when 90 percent of students are successful on state testing, the school’s state testing results show that it met or exceeded expected growth and the school met the federal No Child Left Behind standard of Adequate Yearly Progress.

Honor Schools of Excellence in 2009-10
Apex Middle	Mills Park Elementary
Cedar Fork Elementary	Morrisville Elementary
Davis Drive Elementary	Salem Middle
Highcroft Elementary	Wake Early College of Health Sciences
Lufkin Road Middle

Schools are recognized as Schools of Excellence when 90 percent of students are successful on state testing, the school’s state testing results show that it met or exceeded expected growth, but the school did not achieve Adequate Yearly Progress.

Schools of Excellence in 2009-10
Apex High	Holly Springs High
Davis Drive Middle	Panther Creek High
Green Hope High

Board Receives Report on Student Achievement Results

At the August 10 meeting, WCPSS Assistant Superintendent David Holdzkom provided the Board of Education with a report on the recently released results from the State Board of Education on WCPSS students’ results from the state End-of-Grade and End-of-Course testing. Board Chair Ron Margiotta had requested an update on student achievement information for School Year 2009-10. You can find the Performance Composite, Growth Recognition and Performance Recognition for each school online at http://www.wcpss.net/test-scores/nc-abcs/2010/

New Schedule Adopted for 2010-11 Board Meetings

The Wake County Board of Education has adopted a revised schedule for its meetings during the 2010-11 school year that will see an increased number of work sessions by the full board, a reduction of full meetings, and the suspension of standing committees.

Effective immediately, the first Tuesday of every month will be a full business meeting of the school board preceded by a brief work session, and the third Tuesday of every month will be a work session of the full board. The work of the standing committees -- facilities, policy, student achievement, human resources and finance -- will move to the work sessions, while the current ad hoc committees will continue. These include the Economically Disadvantaged Student Performance Task Force, Student Assignment, Superintendent Search and Community Relations committees.

Wake County Board of Education Chairman Ron Margiotta said at the August 10 meeting that the purpose was to help the school board operate more efficiently. "This schedule is a change and will require rethinking how we do business, so I have no doubt that minor adjustments may be required," he said. "However, my hope is that the new schedule will support board members' ability to attend meetings and engage in discussions regarding issues that impact our work."

Public hearings will continue to be held during the regular meetings. Margiotta said that the school board will continue to explore ways of making board meetings accessible and convenient to the public, including changing times and locations and investigating alternative methods to sign up for public comment. Special recognition meetings for employees and students will be held quarterly.

You can see the board meeting schedule here.

You can listen to a report on preparing your child to ride the school bus here.

Board Revises Policy 2110 - Job Description of the Superintendent

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education gave final approval to revisions of Policy 2110 - Job Description of the Superintendent. Proposed changes include:

• Organize central office administrative staff to achieve optimal effectiveness and efficiency with existing funds. The superintendent shall confer with the board prior to any reorganization of the central office administrative staff and shall obtain board approval for any increase in expenditure related to such reorganization.
• Submit to the board a clear and detailed explanation of any proposed procedure which would involve either departure from established practice or the expenditure of substantial sums.

Board Approves Naming Field in Honor of Robert Catapano

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education approved naming the Sanderson High athletic field “Catapano Field”, in honor of Robert Catapano. Catapano began his WCPSS service as a teacher at Martin Middle School in 1973, and in 1977 transferred to Sanderson High School. He retired in 2004 and returned to continue his service on a half-time basis as athletic director and math teacher. The action honoring Catapano was requested by the Sanderson High School faculty, Athletic Booster Club, and Parent-Teacher Association.

Cary High School Gym to be Named in Honor of Charlie Adams

The gymnasium at Cary High School will be officially named in honor of Charlie Adams at a ceremony at 3 p.m., Sunday, August 15, at the Cary High School gym. Adams is a native of Cary who was an outstanding athlete and later a coach and teacher at Cary High School. He is a member of several Halls of Fame, including the NCHSAA Hall of Fame and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame. He left his mark on high school athletics statewide serving at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association for 42 years, including 25 as executive director. The Wake County Board of Education approved naming the gym in his honor.

Board Revises Policy 2570 - Naming Of Schools

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education gave final approval to revisions of Policy 2570 – Naming of Schools. Board members revised the policy to provide for naming schools after individuals.

Board Approves Resolution Reallocating Funds to Startup Design

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education approved a resolution to reallocate $2,400,000 in savings from six Capitol Improvement Plan 2006 projects to be used for start-up design on E-20 (north Raleigh), Scotts Ridge Elementary (Apex E-32), and M-8 (northwest Raleigh). Contracts for the designers and construction managers for these projects will be brought to a future board meeting for approval. A future reallocation from reserve funds will be needed at the completion of design to fund construction. Pending the results of the new assignment plan, design will be completed for two of these three schools.

Board Approves Design Consultant Agreement for H-6 High

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education approved a new contract with designer Cherry Huffman Architects, PA. Under this agreement, the architect will adapt its high school design for the new high school (H-6) to be built southeast of Rolesville. The prototype design for this school has been completed under another contract for an earlier site considered for H-6, but now the design will be adapted to the new location. The form of agreement is the standard form approved by the board attorney.

The current project budget is $74,153,251 (for a 2010 opening), of which $1,000,000 is from PLAN 2004 Start-Up, $72,255,556 from CIP 2006, and $897,695 from Offsite (Public)
Improvements. Approximately $5,600,000 of additional funding will be needed to pay for offsite
improvements, site adaption to the new site, and opening in 2013. The additional money will be requested in the spring of 2011 after the design of the site adaption is completed. The total project budget includes proposed compensation for the design consultant of $2,156,656 for the new contract. A deductive change order, in the amount of $1,054,489, will be executed to close the current contract.

Board Approves Change to Definition of Long-Term Suspension

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education approved changing the definition in Policy 6530 of a long-term suspension to a long-term suspension exceeds 10 school days but does not exceed 180 school days. 

This change comes from a district level professional learning team (PLT) that has developed several recommendations to be considered over the course of the next two years. Some of these recommendations can be implemented for the 2010-11 school year including this recommendation to redefine long term suspension.

Under Board policy and/or state law, there are mandatory penalties for students in grades 6-12 for certain serious violations of the Student Code of Conduct. While these mandatory penalties generally do not apply to elementary students, the principal has the discretion to recommend a long-term suspension as appropriate for serious infractions by students in grades K-5.

Policies may be modified on a case-by-case basis to conform to the procedures established for the discipline of students with disabilities.

Board Approves Academically Intellectually Gifted Program Plan

At its August 10 meeting, the Board of Education approved the revised Academically Intellectually Gifted Program Plan for 2010-2013. The board heard from Darryl Fisher, the new WCPSS administrator for the program. The state requires board approval of these plans developed by school districts with feedback from stakeholders to address the needs of gifted students and align with state standards.