Tag Archive for: #dranthonyjackson

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Town Talk 10/15/20: Jackson Discusses VCS’ Decision to Remain in Plan C

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Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent for Vance County Schools, appeared on WIZS Town Talk Thursday at 11 a.m.

Jackson discussed the Vance County Board of Education’s 5-2 vote at its October 12 meeting to remain in Plan C – fully remote learning – for the remainder of the first semester. The first semester for the 2020-2021 school year is set to end prior to the Christmas holiday.

In July, NC Governor Roy Cooper announced public and charter schools could begin the school year under Plan B – a hybrid of online and in-person learning – or could choose the more restrictive Plan C.

In September, Cooper announced public and charter elementary schools (K-5) had the option to operate under Plan A – in-person, socially distanced learning – beginning October 5.

At its July Board meeting, the Vance County Board of Education voted to begin the year under Plan C, revisit the decision in October and review again in December.

The Board will meet in December to determine if the second semester, starting in January, will begin fully remote under Plan C or move to Plan A or B.

“Our Board is looking at the data and trying to determine the safe integration of students into the school environment,” Jackson explained. “Based on what they understood and were presented with, they thought it would be safer to keep our kids on Plan C until we know a little more about [COVID-19] transmission and local data.”

According to Jackson, the Board also took recent news reports of spikes in COVID cases and hospitalizations into consideration when making the decision to remain in remote learning.

Working with Granville Vance Public Health and Duke University, Jackson said the school system receives daily local COVID updates and seeks guidance from healthcare experts.

“The decision of how to start the next semester will be based on the data available on infection rates, hospitalizations and transmission in the community at that time,” Jackson said. “Our goal is to be back to some form of face-to-face interaction by the second semester. We are still hopeful, but we have to go with what the metrics tell us. Ultimately, the liability rests with them as the Board of Education; they’ve taken that very seriously.”

While seeking improvements to areas such as students’ access to online connectivity, Jackson said the strives are evident. “The positive out of this is that we have set up a remote digital learning framework in this short period of time. We have distributed over 5,000 devices and hotspots to our kids, provided over a half-million meals to this community and supported our teachers with a small model of childcare.”

Acknowledging it’s not the school year anyone expected, Jackson said he is encouraged by the teamwork and dedication on all sides.

“I want to thank our teachers for the work they are doing every day to make sure our kids are okay and learning. I also thank our parents for trusting us. This is not what we had planned, but it is what we have, so we are going to make the best of it.”

To stay updated on VCS’ decisions and announcements, please visit the District’s website or Facebook page.

To hear the interview in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.

Vance Virtual Village TT

Town Talk 06/17/20: Vance Co. Schools Moves Forward With Fully Remote K-12 Academy

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THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PART BY DRAKE DENTISTRY

Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent for Vance County Schools, appeared on WIZS Town Talk Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Jackson announced the Vance Virtual Village Academy, or V3, as it is being called, will move forward with the Board of Education’s approval as a fully remote learning option for VCS students in grades K-12.

With COVID-19 restrictions still in place, the reopening structure of NC public schools still uncertain and the desire of some parents and students for a virtual learning model, Jackson emphasized the importance of offering VCS families a remote learning option.

VCS will open online V3 enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year on July 1. The online academy will follow the traditional school calendar with an August 17 start date.

According to Jackson, enrollment will be capped for the first year at 150-200 students.

Students enrolled in V3 are funded through the State of NC in the same manner as other public school students and will be required to meet the same standards as a student who attends a physical classroom, explained Jackson.

Dispelling the myth that V3 will involve “sitting in front of a device just clicking all day,” Jackson said there will be virtual interactions with teachers, a mixture of independent and group work and a “village” structure that will allow students to interact and socialize with their peers based on their academic needs and interests.

Required materials, including an electronic device and connectivity assistance, if needed, will be provided.

Students may also remain connected to a physical school by participating in athletics and extra-curricular activities and will have access to support services such as school counseling, said Jackson.

“We have to rethink school,” Jackson stated. “I’ve seen the COVID-19 situation as an opportunity to really rethink schools. This is an opportunity to say ‘let’s create one thing that’s different.’ For those parents who seek different and want different, let’s give them that.”

Please visit the VCS website for more information on V3. WIZS News will also provide more information as it becomes available.

To hear the interview with Jackson in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.

VCS Superintendent Jackson, Wife Establish Education Scholarship

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-Press Release, Vance County Schools

The Vance County Public School Foundation announced a new scholarship was established in honor of Mrs. Marvel F. Jackson and Mary H. Allen, the parents of Dr. Anthony Jackson and wife, Dr. Tawannah Allen Jackson, for their life-long passion for education.

VCPSF Treasurer Danny Wright (left) and VCPSF President Col. Archie Taylor, Jr (right) are pictured with Vance County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson (center), as he presents the check to the Vance County Public School Foundation. (VCS photo)

The Allen Jackson Scholarship will be awarded annually to a deserving junior in college pursuing a degree in education. The candidate should be a Vance County Schools graduate with the intention of returning to teach in our district upon completion of their degree.

Vance County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Anthony Jackson and wife, Dr. Tawannah Allen Jackson, are funding the scholarship through the Vance County Public School Foundation. Both have a passion for education themselves, giving their time and talents to enriching those in the profession and building others considering the field of education.

They have gifted $2,000 to begin the Allen Jackson Scholarship, with a commitment of $10,000 over the next 5 years. The foundation has established a committee to develop a process for awarding the scholarship beginning in 2021.

VCS’ Dr. Anthony Jackson Named NC Superintendent of the Year

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THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PART BY DRAKE DENTISTRY

-Press Release, Vance County Schools

Vance County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony D. Jackson was named the 2020 A. Craig Phillips North Carolina Superintendent of the Year on Tuesday, November 19, 2019, at the North Carolina School Board Association Conference.

The event was held at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro and the honor is given by the North Carolina Association of School Administrators, the North Carolina School Superintendents’ Association and the North Carolina School Boards Association.

Dr. Jackson has served as Superintendent for Vance County since 2015. Since being in Vance County, he has played a significant role in obtaining the Golden Leaf Grant, which helped the district implement the WeInspire Digital Transformation Initiative. Additionally, he has helped develop instructional programs including Youth Empowerment and Advance Academy, while student achievement is improving and graduation rates are increasing.

The NCSBA conference was filled with many other accolades for Vance County Schools as well. The Board of Education earned Master 2 certification, the only board in the state to earn such a distinction. Additionally, Vance County Middle School placed 2nd in the state-wide middle school video contest, while Vance County High School took the first place spot in the high school competition for the second year in a row.

There were several staff members from the district who presented at the conference as well, including Dr. Anthony Jackson, Superintendent, Mrs. Michelle Burton, Director of Human Resources, and Mrs. Kedecia Stewart Faines, Vance County Schools teacher and former District Teacher of the Year.

Our district is, without question, Vance County Proud!

Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson Talks School System, First Year of Consolidation

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Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Vance County Schools, was on Tuesday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk program to discuss what is currently happening in the local school system, including an update on the middle and high school consolidation process.

According to Jackson, the school system is now in the beginning stages of rewriting the district’s strategic plan for the next five academic years. The plan will have input from community stakeholders including parents, teachers, students, the Vance County Board of Education and local leaders.

The new plan is sure to include strategies for increasing student access to the latest technology, a goal that is currently being met with the recently opened “Vance Virtual Labs” or “V2” laboratories housed at Vance County Middle School and Vance County High School.

The laboratories, located in the schools’ media centers, feature approximately 24 digital learning stations for students to engage in interactive three-dimensional instruction using special computer software applications in subject areas including science, health and geography.

Jackson said teachers are participating in on-going lab training sessions; full implementation is expected in the next few months.

The current 2018-2019 school year marks the first year of a consolidation process that saw Eaton Johnson and Henderson middle schools combine to form Vance County Middle School and Northern Vance and Southern Vance high schools combine to form Vance County High School.

“We told the community that it was going to be a three-year process; the hardest phase is year one,” said Jackson. “Now that we are in the buildings, we are trying to figure out all the little quirks and small things that we need to do to make our programs work fully.”

While the first year of the process has presented some challenges, Jackson said he has been pleasantly surprised at just how smoothly things have progressed.

“We’ve had very few bumps in the road as we’ve pulled these things together. Our students deserve a good, supportive school in their community and I believe we’ve created two.”

Students winning a video competition, athletic teams performing well and outstanding teacher recognition – all at the state level – are tangible outcomes that point to the success of the consolidation, according to Jackson.

Areas that will play prominently into the second and third year of the consolidation process include maintaining facilities, focusing on additional safety measures, increasing student access to programming and addressing capital needs such as parking lot maintenance.

In addressing the talk of the “savings” created by the consolidation, Jackson clarified that money formerly used for heating, cooling and providing energy to areas not in use will now be better spent in programming and learning opportunities for students.

Jackson reported that the school system has already seen an estimated $40,000 – $50,000 savings in utility costs from the former Eaton Johnson and Henderson middle schools, and expects to see even more savings when the school system completely vacates those premises.

When asked about the future use of the buildings, including reports of the County’s interest in purchasing the Eaton Johnson building to house the Department of Social Services, Jackson said he was not currently at liberty to discuss such plans.

“I will say there is tremendous support to make sure the facilities are used to benefit the community.”

While a declining number of students attending Vance County public schools led, in part, to the consolidation decision, Jackson said enrollment numbers are now leveling out.

Explaining that the school system receives federal, state and local funding based on the number of pupils each year, Jackson said that a portion of that per-pupil amount goes with students when they attend a charter school.

“It’s always a moving target. If we gain kids, we get money; if we lose kids, we lose money.”

In this regard, Jackson said it is in the school system’s benefit to find ways to attract parents and families to select Vance County Schools as their educational partner.

“We are working to develop programs that parents want and a school system that we can be proud of. When parents make that choice, we want to be considered in the conversation.”

To hear the interview with Dr. Jackson in its entirety, please click here.

Dr. Anthony Jackson Talks School Consolidation Success, State of the Schools

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Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Vance County Schools, was on Thursday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk program to discuss the success of the school consolidation process and his recent State of the Schools address.

Jackson began the show by thanking the community for the support the school system received throughout the entire consolidation process for Vance County Middle School and Vance County High School.

“From the day the school board made the decision to consolidate the schools to the opening of school, we had approximately 120 days,” said Jackson. “I’m so proud of this community, our students, our parents and our staff for the work that they did during that period of time to get us to what we like to call ‘the launch.'”

According to Jackson, the launch of the newly consolidated schools in August went smoothly and was a great start to the 2018-19 school year.

“What we have seen since is what we hoped would come to fruition – a community coming together. I was at the football game a few nights ago and it was a joy to see the number of kids on our sidelines participating and the number of parents in the stands,” Jackson said.

State of the Schools Address

In Jackson’s recent address to the public, he announced that the majority of the system’s 15 schools showed marked improvement during the previous school year. “When I arrived in Vance County, nine schools were designated as low-performing. This year, I’m pleased to announce that 11 of our 15 schools met or exceeded growth and received a school performance grade of a C or better.”

Jackson credits this success to a number of factors including a shift towards focusing on the best way to reach and teach each individual student. “We focus on high student achievement by figuring out how best to teach every child – not just the low or high performers. Every single child deserves the best education,” said Jackson.

Other factors, according to Jackson, include making the environment as safe as possible so teaching and learning can take place, hiring and retaining high-quality educators and being efficient with resources.

“We change mindsets about what we can do in this community and if we work together, we can accomplish our goals.”

To listen to the interview in its entirety, click here.

Public Invited to Vance Co. ‘State of Our Schools’ Community Report

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-Press Release, Vance County Schools

The public is invited to attend the “State of Our Schools” report to our community, led by Superintendent Anthony Jackson, on Thursday, September 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Vance County High School at 925 Garrett Road, just south of Henderson.

Dr. Jackson will be making a presentation on the achievements and performances of our students and schools for the 2017-2018 school year and our expectations for the new school year.

Parents, students, school system employees, community leaders and local residents are urged to attend to receive valuable information about the progress of our public schools.

Administrators and teachers from our 15 Vance County Schools also will be on hand to provide detailed information about their schools, instructional services and programs, extra-curricular activities for students and more.

Dr. Jackson, Vance Co. Schools Superintendent, Discusses System’s Progress

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Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Vance County Schools, was on Wednesday’s edition of WIZS’ Town Talk program to discuss the current status of the school system and plans for the future.

Beginning his fourth year with the school system on August 1, Jackson said Vance County schools are “nowhere near where we can be, but we aren’t where we were.”

Jackson said his model has been, and continues to be, giving the community a choice when it comes to educational practices. Citing the Vance County Early College and the year-round E.M. Rollins Elementary School calendar, Jackson believes “choice” is the key to educational success. “A one-size-fits-all model no longer serves a community,” Jackson said. “We need to have discussions with the School Board about offering different choices moving forward.”

The Early College, located on Vance-Granville Community College’s Main Campus in Henderson, has served the community for 12 years and has the distinction of being one of the highest performing schools in the state.

“I would stack our Vance County Early College up against any school in this state,” said Jackson. “They were voted one of the top schools in our country by US News & World Report, as were several other early colleges in our area.”

Another “choice” school, E.M. Rollins Elementary has seen enrollment soar since adopting a year-round calendar. “Year-round at Rollins has been a tremendous success for our community and we’ve seen tremendous academic gains in the school. Enrollment has nearly doubled – from 200 students to now pushing 400 students,” Jackson said.

Also on Jackson’s plate has been the massive undertaking of consolidating the former Eaton Johnson Middle and Henderson Middle schools and Northern Vance High and Southern Vance High schools by the start of the 2018-19 school year on August 27.

The new Vance County Middle School will open in the former Northern Vance High School location this fall, while the new Vance County High School will be housed in the former Southern Vance High School building.

“Staff from all of the consolidated schools have come together beautifully and have been training together all summer,” said Jackson. “We are one community.”

According to Jackson, the sentiment of “one community” is echoed in the recent events of the new Vance County High School football team. The former Viking and Raider rivals have now combined to form the Vipers and will play, at least this year, in the 2-A Conference.

To ease that transition, a recent lock-in was held to build camaraderie and allow the players “to get to know one another better.”

The Vipers have also participated in a recent meet-and-greet at Chick-fil-A in Henderson and will play in a jamboree on Saturday, August 11 to demonstrate their skills to the community.

“I was so pleased to see so many community members and parents come out [to Chick-fil-A] and tell the players that we are behind you this year,” Jackson said. “Coach [Darry] Ragland has done an inspiring job of coaching these young men and taking the mantle.”

The progress of the athletic department, as well as additional information and specifics on academic progress and performance, will be discussed in Jackson’s “State of Our Schools” address in September.

“The ‘State of Our Schools’ address is part of my five-year plan,” said Jackson. “This year’s address will include information on improvements in graduation rates, programs offered to the community, improvement in teacher turnover rates and reduction in suspension and dropout rates.”

Jackson also expressed his appreciation to the school board and the community and said he hopes “one thing people will say about my tenure here is that we didn’t shy away from the hard stuff; we have those hard conversations.”

Vance County Schools Significantly Improves Dropout Rate

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The N.C. Department of Public Instruction has announced the 2015-2016 graduation rates and the 2015-2016 dropout rates for public school districts across the state.

Vance County Schools saw significant improvement over previous years in both areas.

With a four-year cohort graduation rate of 81.9 percent for the class of 2016, this is a record high for Vance County over the past five years. The class of 2015 had a four-year cohort graduation rate of 77.6 percent in Vance County.

Vance County Schools’ dropout rate for the 2015-2016 school year continues to improve as it has for the past six years. The dropout rate for the school system is 2.07 percent for the 2015-2016 school year, which is a 13-percent decrease from the 2014-2015 school year rate of 2.28 percent. This is a record low for Vance County over the past six years.

Improving the graduation rate and reducing dropouts are top priorities for Vance County Schools.  It is an ongoing and focused effort for the school system as we work to ensure that every student graduates prepared to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing local, regional and global economy.

Additionally, Vance County Schools currently provides students new and exciting opportunities for credit recovery through online and other non-traditional programs designed to help as many students as possible realize the goal of completion of high school with their peers.

The state data also reported that during the 2015-2016 school year our schools were among the safest in our region, with reportable incidents and student suspensions down or about the same as the previous year. We are pleased with these data and hope to see continued improvement.

As a school system, we will not be satisfied until all students, parents, staff members and community members feel safe coming into our schools; where all students are learning, expectations are high and students are graduating on time prepared to contribute positively to our community and be 21st Century global citizens.

We are excited to share this news with you and look forward to celebrating with our students and their parents in the future as we continue delivering on the promise that we will provide each student a high quality educational experience as we create a school system in which our community can be PROUD.  I am Vance County Proud … Are You?

Dr. Anthony D. Jackson, Superintendent

Vance County Public Schools