June 8, 2011

Top News

Impact of State Budget Discussed

In the June 7 school board work session, WCPSS Chief Business Officer David Neter talked with board members about the impact of the state budget. The General Assembly approved a budget last week that is now before Governor Perdue to sign into law. Neter said his staff has been studying changes in the lawmakers’ budget and the impact it may have on the school system.

The legislative budget would reduce state funding six percent and would require directed cuts, as well as an additional $12.5 million discretionary cut. The budget would increase the number of instructional days to 185 and eliminate five teacher workdays.

Once the state budget becomes law, the school board will be required to reconcile the budget they passed that was based on a five percent cut in state spending. Earlier legislative budget drafts proposed cuts of 10 percent. Board members praised Superintendent Tata for his discussions with state lawmakers about the impact state funding decisions would have on teachers and students.

Neter pointed out that the NC Department of Public Instruction and NC House budget proposals had significant reductions in funds for teacher assistants. He proposed shifting all full-time teacher assistants from 10 month to 9.25 month assignments. This would keep full-time teacher assistants in place on days students are in place, and mitigate the impact of teacher assistant funding reductions.  It would provide savings by reducing pay without having to eliminate any positions. The board will be asked to vote on the teacher assistant issue at its June 21 meeting.

Neter said he may ask for a reduction in custodial services in July in response to reduced state funding.

Board Hears Organizational Audit Report

At its June 7 work session, school board members heard from Dr. Robert Schiller about his organizational audit of the school system, part of Superintendent Tata’s 90-day plan. Schiller visited WCPSS over a three-week period to conduct the audit, interviewing school board members and district administrators. He said the central office was lean in staffing and had strong leadership. He suggested sharpening the focus of some roles to strengthen the system. He recommended creating the positions of Deputy Superintendent and Chief Transformation Officer.

Superintendent Tata said job openings for the two positions were posted June 7 and would be open for the next 10 days with interviews of candidates to be completed by the end of the month. Tata wants to complete the reorganization to reflect new departments by mid-July and have the new administrators at work by mid-August.

The Chief Academic Officer, Area Superintendents, Special Education and Student Support Services would report to the Deputy Superintendent for School Performance, providing a focus on student achievement.

Data and Accountability and Office of Grants from the current Evaluation and Research Department, as well as the Office of Student Assignment, the Senior Director for Long Range Planning and Professional Development Leadership would report to the Chief Transformation Officer, providing strategic leadership.

Graduation Ceremonies Underway for 22 High Schools

Graduation ceremonies are underway for 22 Wake County Public School System high schools. More than 8,800 students will graduate this year.

Twenty high schools will hold graduation ceremonies between Thursday, June 9 and Sunday, June 12. Many of the ceremonies will be held at the Raleigh Convention Center and Memorial Auditorium at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts.

You should expect traffic to be congested and parking to be in high demand with seven ceremonies on Friday, June 10 and seven ceremonies on Saturday, June 11 at the Raleigh Convention Center and Memorial Auditorium at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts.

Persons attending the ceremonies should give themselves plenty of time to get to parking and then to the facility for the ceremony.

Read more about graduation ceremonies here and the Class of 2011 here.

More News

Board Recognizes Class of 2011 Valedictorians

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education recognized the Class of 2011 Valedictorians. The valedictorians are:

School	Valedictorian	University
Apex High	Taber Lewis	High Point University
Athens Drive High	Alexander Goto Keith	UNC - Chapel Hill
Broughton High	Daria Jihae Jung	Columbia University
Cary High	Safiyah Munzer Ismail	UNC - Chapel Hill
East Wake High School of Arts, Education and Global Studies	Jessica Rand Williams	NC State University
East Wake School of Engineering Systems	Brandon Jay Majoy	NC State University
East Wake School of Health Science	Emily Danielle Lusk	UNC - Chapel Hill
East Wake School of Integrated Technology	Joseph Wayne Scoggins	NC State University
Enloe Magnet High	Arjun Bhattacharya	UNC - Chapel Hill
Fuquay-Varina High	Christine Delp	Duke University
Fuquay-Varina High	Mindie Stanford	Meredith College
Garner Magnet High	Victoria Ragan	UNC - Chapel Hill
Green Hope High	Nikesh Doshi	University of Miami
Holly Springs High	Thomas Johnson Ray Safon	NC State University
Knightdale High	Adeem Tahira	East Carolina University
Leesville Road High	Jessica Brooke Allen	Duke University
Middle Creek High	James David Turner	NC State University
Millbrook Magnet High	Ioan Bolohan	UNC - Chapel Hill
Millbrook Magnet High	Alexandra Moreci	UNC - Chapel Hill
Panther Creek High	Yash Agrawal	UNC - Chapel Hill
Phillips High	Vanessa Ruiz	Wake Technical Community College
Sanderson High	David Russell Hemminger	Duke University
Southeast Raleigh Magnet High	Erin Edmonds	UNC - Chapel Hill
Wake Early College of Health and Sciences	Timothy Anthony Rupnarain	Emory University
Wake Forest Rolesville High	Vikram Kane Mukherjee	US Naval Academy
Wakefield High	Claude-Michael Chiemeka Ezie	Harvard University

You can read more about the Class of 2011 valedictorians here.

Board of Education congratulates the Class of 2011 valedictorians

Board Approves Change Orders for New Rolesville High

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education approved change orders for the construction of the new Rolesville High School.

The board approved Change Order No. GC-10 to Barnhill Contracting Company, for their Construction Management at Risk contract for construction of Rolesville High. This change order, in the amount of $62,349,862, is to establish a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) for the remaining 52 bid packages for this project. The total GMP for this project is $62,480,950, which includes $1,104,174 of pre encumbered Owner’s Contingency.

The board approved Change Order No. 01 to S&ME, Inc., for their Material Testing and Special Inspections contract for Rolesville High School. Negotiations have been completed with S&ME to provide construction materials testing and special inspection services for both onsite and offsite at Rolesville High School, in an amount not-to-exceed $347,000, in accordance with the Master Geotechnical, Material Testing, and/or Special Inspections Services Agreement.

Board Approves Agreement on Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education approved an agreement for the College Board to process PSAT tests.

The College Board will process PSAT assessments for 10th-grade students, who have met the Algebra I requirements, as well as those students in grades 8, 9, 11 and 12 who have either met the Algebra I requirement or will complete the Algebra I course by November 13, 2011.

WCPSS will pay the College Board a fixed rate of $104,217.75 for all 10th-graders at a cost based on 75% of student enrollment and a rate of $14 per student for test takers at participating schools in grades 8, 9, 11 and 12. Payment will be rendered against a purchase order from the Evaluation and Research Department and from schools who collect fees from students to take the PSAT. Schools will deposit fees into the Fund 6 code established for collecting PSAT fees, which will be transferred to the Evaluation and Research Department local account to pay the district bill. Total PSAT invoice amount for 2010-2011 was $91,975.00.

Board Gives Preliminary Approval to Revisions to Policy on Student Assignment Transfer

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education gave first reading approval to revisions to Policy 6203, Transfer of Student Assignment. The board reviewed the policy last month adding to the policy documentation for transfers initiated by school administrators and school board approval for transfers that involve children of board members, the superintendent, or the Superintendent’s Leadership Team. The revisions must return to the board for final approval.

Board Gives Final Approval to Revisions to Policy on Board Advisory Councils

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education gave final approval to revisions to Policy 1800, Board Advisory Councils. The changes revise membership eligibility. Changes add “To be eligible to serve, the member must reside within the voting district or have children in a school within the district of appointment.” The changes were discussed in the May 3 work session, and the measure was given first reading approval at the May 3 board meeting.

Board Approved 2011-12 Contracts for School Resource Officers

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education approved contracts with the City of Raleigh and Town of Cary for providing school resource officers at schools in their communities. 

The agreement with the City of Raleigh provides school resource officers at Athens Drive High, Broughton High, Enloe Magnet High, Leesville Road High, Longview/Phillips High, Millbrook Magnet High, Sanderson High, Southeast Raleigh Magnet High and Wakefield High School. Funding for this contract, in the amount of $340,542.00 ($37,838.00 per school), is available through At-Risk fund 69 for the 2011-12 school year.

The agreement with the Town of Cary provides school resource officers at Cary High, Green Hope High, Middle Creek High and Panther Creek High. Funding for this contract, in the amount of $113,514.00 ($37,838.00 per school), is available through At-Risk fund 69 for the 2011-12 school year.

Board Approves Tuition Fee for Nonresident Students for 2011-12

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education approved tuition for nonresident students for the 2010-11 school year at $3,258.70. The staff of the Growth and Planning Department recommended that the tuition fee, as calculated by the Accounting Department, for nonresident students for the 2011-12 school year be set at $2,720.90. The recommended fee is based on the 2010-11 county tax appropriation for current expense, capital outlay and capital improvement. There are very few nonresident students who pay tuition. During the current school year, the parents of three seniors who moved out of county elected to have their students remain enrolled and to pay tuition.

Board Approves NCDOT Turnpike Authority Condemnation Action at Olive Chapel Elementary

At its June 7 meeting, the Board of Education approved the NCDOT Turnpike Authority (NCDOTTA) requirement for a portion of board property at Olive Chapel Elementary as a part of the development of the Western Wake Expressway (I-540) for a permanent right-of-way (0.32 acres), a permanent utility easement (0.12 acres), a temporary drainage easement (0.34 acres), and temporary construction easements (0.51 acres). Some landscape materials will be affected by the construction. NCDOTTA will compensate the board in the amount of $96,375 for its taking of the necessary property interests. The right-of-way and easements taken will not significantly interfere with the Wake County Public School System’s present or future use of the property.