Vance County Cancels School for students on Election Day
The Vance County Board of Education during its meeting Monday night approved the rescheduling of Tuesday, November 8, which is National Election Day, to a mandatory teacher workday with no school for students. It was originally scheduled as a regular school day.
Five of our schools, New Hope, L.B. Yancey, E.O. Young, Henderson Middle and Northern Vance High, are used as voting sites. It was the opinion of the board and school system administrators that with the expected large turnout for the election the day would be especially disruptive at these five schools, if it would have been a regular school day.
With the board’s action, no students in Vance County Schools will attend school on that day. However, all school system employees will be working.
VCS State of Schools Luncheon
End of Grade Tests Better; Vance Has Exited Low Performance Status; Closing Gap to State Averages; Vance Improving Quicker Than Several State Averages
On Wednesday, September 28, 2016, Superintendent Anthony Jackson addressed a crowd of about 70 business and community leaders. In his opening remarks he said, “I want you to leave with a renewed commitment to the schools and the community. Put your name on every child you encounter.”
Discussed was student achievement, safe and orderly schools, quality of education, effective and efficient operations and how to be good educators in the 21st century environment.
The luncheon event was co-hosted by the Henderson Rotary Club and the Vance County Public School Foundation.
Jackson also discussed aspirations for the 17 local public schools for the current school year and provided those in attendance with a “Strategic Roadmap” for the next five years.
He told those in attendance he wanted young adults “ready for society the Monday after graduation.” Jackson wants feedback from business and community leaders about how to better prepare students for entry into the local workforce.
And Jackson said a supportive community is key, that the mindset here needs to be one of looking at the improvements and tying them to excellence.
Some of the information shared by Jackson included:
- an 82 percent graduation rate for Vance County Schools for 2015-2016
- members of the Class of 2016 graduating with over $7.5 million in scholarships to attend colleges in the fall
- the Vance County Early College High School completed the 2015-2016 school year as an “A” school based on the N.C. School Performance Grade recognition system
- Aycock Elementary School and the STEM Early High School were both “B” schools for 2015-2016 for N.C. Performance Grades
- no local schools were judged as “F” schools for the 2015-2016 school year
- students in grades 5 and 8 increased their scores overall on the N.C. science end-of-grade test by more than 13 percent last year
- students in grades 3-5 improved their state end-of-grade scores in reading and math by: an increase of 15 percent in proficiency at New Hope Elementary; an increase of more than 10 percent in proficiency at Clarke Elementary; an increase of 8.4 percent in proficiency at Aycock Elementary; and an increase of 7 percent in proficiency at both Dabney Elementary and Pinkston Street Elementary
- student proficiency on state end-of-grade testing in reading and math increased by seven percent at the STEM Early High School and almost six percent each at Eaton-Johnson Middle and Henderson Middle last year.
“All of this took a lot of hard work,” Jackson said. “Our teachers and students should be commended for their accomplishments. This doesn’t happen overnight. We want to continue to increase our student achievements at a greater rate than students are growing across the state. We recognize we have a gap between our achievements and state achievements, but if we can continue to grow as we did last year we can eliminate the gap over the next few years.”
Jackson acknowledged continuing to make substantial student achievements and closing the gap between proficiency by local students and state proficiency will take more hard work. “But, I’m convinced we can get it done,” he said.
Jackson continued to stress the school system’s theme for 2016-2017 of “Excellence . . . Without Excuse!” He also repeated the increasingly popular slogan of “I’m Vance County Proud. Are you?”
(Editor’s Note – WIZS News attended the luncheon. The article above was written from our notes and includes excerpts written by Vance County Schools Public Information Officer Terri Hedrick as well. WIZS News encourages you to read the full VCS article written by Hedrick and posted on the VCS Web Page by clicking on the link below.)
Vance County School State of Schools Luncheon Article as written and posted by Terri Hedrick
IT certification courses offered at VGCC through new grant
Information technology training courses are set to be offered soon at Vance-Granville Community College, and grant funding from the new NC TechHire program can help eligible area residents pay for them. These courses are offered in a “hybrid” format, with some coursework online and some on VGCC’s Main Campus.
Three upcoming courses provide opportunities to earn certain certifications through CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association. The CompTIA certifications are internationally recognized and are required by most companies hiring information technology professionals. When students complete each course or module, they take the appropriate certification exams.
“CompTIA A+” covers the basic hardware of a personal computer, including the installation, operating systems, upgrading/maintenance of both equipment and software, as well as troubleshooting and repairing non-functioning personal computers. Upon completion of specific modules, the CompTIA 220-901 and 220-902 exams will be administered to students. The course will be taught by VGCC instructor Donna Gill.
“CompTIA Network+” will introduce students to the networking field and is also set to be taught by Gill. Upon completion, students should be able to perform tasks related to networking mathematics, terminology, models, media, Ethernet, sub-netting, and TCP/IP Protocols. Students will take the N10-006 exam at the end of this class.
“CompTIA Server+” covers the installation and administration of a Windows Server network operating system. VGCC instructor Gerald Young will teach students about managing and maintaining physical and logical devices, access to resources, the server environment, managing users, computers, and groups and managing/implementing disaster recovery. Students will take the SKO-004 exam at the end of this class.
These courses, which are being scheduled now and will be offered multiple times, are approved for funding through the NC TechHire grant that VGCC recently received as part of a consortium of four community colleges. Area residents between the ages of 17-29 who are not currently in school may qualify for grant funding, which can pay for registration fees, course fees, and certification fees.
For more information, contact Kenneth Wilson at (252) 738-3259 or wilsonk@vgcc.edu or Tiffani Polk at (252) 738-3291 or polkt@vgcc.edu.
Carver Elementary Celebrates Opening of Multipurpose Room
A ribbon cutting was held on Friday, September 30th for Carver Elementary School as they celebrated their new multipurpose room was officially dedicated in memory of Eddie Wright, the late Vance County Board of Commissioners’ member who proved to be the school’s biggest advocate in getting the facility constructed.
All of the 225 students in the school were joined by the entire school staff, parents, friends and local officials in dedicating the new multipurpose room and participating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Marion Perry, a valuable and outstanding supporter of Carver Elementary, presented the plaque, which will hang in the new facility, commemorating the amazing contributions of Wright. She presented the plaque to Wright’s widow, Maresa, and their two daughters, Sabrina and Ashley.
In making the presentation, Perry talked about Wright’s devotion to Carver Elementary School and all public schools in Vance County. She said they often shared conversations about the importance of education and their mutual passion for helping children.
Principal David Westbrook told the audience that the handsome, wooden plaque, with a color photo of Wright, will be placed at the front entrance of the new multipurpose room.
Several local dignitaries were on hand to offer comments of praise for Wright and his steadfast support of the school and local children. Those who spoke included: Gloria J. White, chairwoman of the Vance County Board of Education: Gordon Wilder, chairman of the Vance County Board of Commissioners; Henderson Mayor Eddie Ellington; John Barnes, president of the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce; and Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Vance County Schools.
Students and teachers from the school assisted with the ribbon-cutting, which was led by White. Mrs. Wright and her daughters also participated as did all of the local officials in attendance.
“This is a great day for our school,” Westbrook said. “We are so proud to have this wonderful facility for our students. We will always remember Mr. Wright for his amazing support in making this new facility possible.”
VGCC presents free seminar to help businesses prepare for holidays
The Vance-Granville Community College Small Business Center, in partnership with the Henderson-Vance Downtown Development Commission, is inviting local businesses to plan ahead for success in the upcoming holiday season.
A free workshop, entitled “Maximizing Sales During the Holidays,” will be held at the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce (414 S. Garnett Street, Henderson) on Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 8-10 a.m.
Mike McConchie of Creedmoor will serve as the instructor. The owner of M&M Consultants, Inc., McConchie is a Certified Business Coach and a Senior Business Consultant. He has over 36 years of retail management experience and is the past president of the Granville County Chamber of Commerce.
Topics for the workshop will include: the importance of different time periods, including November as a whole, Thanksgiving weekend in particular, and the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day; merchandising; pricing; staffing; marketing; how to capture customer information for use throughout the year and its relation to target marketing; decorating a store front; why holiday selling is different than the rest of the year; why gift cards are so important; and overcoming sold-out situations.
Breakfast will be provided at no charge to attendees who register in advance by Oct. 20.
Registration can be completed online at www.vgcc.edu/schedules/small-business-center.
For more information, contact Tanya Weary, director of the Small Business Center, at (252) 738-3240 or smallbusiness@vgcc.edu.
Biodiesel 4 Schools donates to Vance County Schools
The Biodiesel 4 Schools Program has donated $460 to Vance County Schools since June.
The school system entered a partnership with the program in January of 2015.
Dean Price of Green Circle N.C., administers the program that partners with public school systems across this region of North Carolina to turn used cooking oil from local businesses into biodiesel fuel used in certain motor vehicles. The program then provides the school system with a percentage of the funds collected each quarter when the fuel is sold to customers.
Price made the first donation in early June and the second donation in mid-September. He has also reported that the program is now using the old N.C. Biofuels Center in Oxford to produce the biodiesel from the used cooking oil.
Green Circle on a regular basis collects used cooking oil from 16 local restaurants and other businesses that donate their oil for the Biodiesel 4 Schools Program.
“These businesses are showing their support for local schools and we expect to get others involved in the program,” Price said.
Local businesses currently participating in the program include: Denny’s; Skipper Forsythe’s Bar-B-Q; George’s; Golden Corral; Ichibar Japanese; J.J. Fish and Chicken; Ma’s Country Kitchen; Pegram’s Dairy Bar; Randy’s Kitchen/Amerigas; Village Kitchen; Maria Parham Medical Center; Henderson Moose Lodge; New Hope Mini Mart; Drewry Fire Department; and Vance-Granville Community College.