Tag Archive for: #VANCECoProud

Vance County Schools Schedule Changes and Snow Makeup

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Vance County Schools Schedule Changes and Snow Makeup

Changes have been made in the school year calendar for Vance County Schools in order to make up the three student days missed due to recent snowfall.

Friday, January 20, and Monday, January 23, are now full school days for students.

The first semester of the school year will end on Wednesday, January 25, except at Early College High School.

First semester exams are being administered at the high schools, except Early College High School, January 19-20 and January 23-25.

Thursday, January 26, will be a teacher workday, except at Early College High School, with no school for students.

The mid-year graduation at Western Vance High School will be held during the evening of Thursday, January 26.

The second semester will begin at all schools, except Early College, on Friday, January 27.

Report cards will be distributed on Wednesday, February 1.

Wednesday, February 15, will now be a full school day for students. It was originally scheduled as an early release day, except at Early College.

Friday, June 9, will now be the last day of classes for the school year at all schools, except Early College.

Vance County Schools

For Immediate Release

Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration begins for Vance County Schools

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Parents should begin now applying for their child to attend pre-kindergarten and registering their child for kindergarten classes for the 2017-2018 school year.

Parents should contact the elementary school in the area where they live to get registration information.

We urge parents also to watch out for more information soon on special events and activities at our elementary schools for children who will be eligible to attend pre-kindergarten and kindergarten next school year.

Any child who will be four years old by August 31 of this year is eligible for pre-kindergarten for the new year and any child who will be five years old by August 31 is eligible to attend kindergarten.

(Vance County Schools News Release)

Anderson and Reece lead the way in E.O. Young Angel Tree Project

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Nicole Anderson and Karen Reece have led a tremendous Angel Tree project at E.O. Young Jr. Elementary School that is helping to make the holidays a joyous time for over 75 students at the school.

Anderson, the school’s counselor, and Reece, the school’s social worker, have worked closely with school staff members, community supporters and church partners over the last two months to collect donations of toys, other gifts and food, for needy students and their families.

They have worked together to deliver the many bags of gifts and boxes of food donated to the students’ homes. In many cases, even younger siblings not yet in school have been given new clothing and gifts.

“Doing something like this makes you feel that you are doing the right thing,” Anderson said. “It fills your heart.”

Reece added that all of the hard work is worth it when you see the smiles on the students’ faces.

“When we gave them the letters to take home to their parents to let them know we wanted to help them, we had to tell the students that these were good letters and they weren’t in trouble,” Reece laughed. “It’s been a really rewarding experience and we so appreciate the support we’ve gotten from everyone.”

They said they want to especially thank the generous members of Flat Rock United Methodist Church and Guiding Star Holiness Church for their many donations to the students and their families.

“We’ve had wonderful donations from our school staff members, but without the help of these two great churches the success of the project wouldn’t have been possible,” Anderson said.

On the last day of school before the Christmas break on December 20, Anderson and Reece still had a few more gifts to deliver and they planned to do just that over the next couple of days.

“What a great thing for our students and their families,” Anderson added. “We are so fortunate to have such a caring school family.”

Anderson, left, and Reece, right, are shown in the accompanying photo with the last gifts scheduled for delivery.

Emeron Cash Honored by local Educators

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Members of the Vance County Board of Education were joined by people from throughout the school system and local community in honoring Emeron J. Cash Sr. on December 12 as he retired after 24 years of service on the board.

They attended a nice reception held in the Administrative Services Center prior to the board’s regular monthly meeting to pay tribute to the former teacher, coach and retiring board member. During the reception and at the beginning of the meeting, colleagues, educators and friends visited with Cash, his wife, Patricia, and their son, Chris. They all praised a man who has dedicated his life to helping youth across Vance County and beyond.

Gloria J. White, chairwoman of the board, presented Cash with a resolution by the board recognizing his many contributions. She also joined Superintendent Anthony Jackson with

giving him a handsome, framed collage featuring his many achievements over the years. He also received a wooden, rocking chair with the school system’s seal engraved on the headrest. Vance County Commissioner Dan Brummitt gave Cash a framed certificate of appreciation from his board.

White led comments shared with the audience at the meeting in praising Cash as a great colleague and someone who truly cares about children and education.

Cash thanked everyone for their support over the years and for the many gifts he was presented.

Chris Cash also spoke and thanked everyone for their great relationships and positive work with his father.

Oliver assists Vance County Schools Administrators through workshops

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Bruce Oliver, an education consultant with the Just ASK professional development organization, has just completed six sessions of intense educational workshops with local school administrators.

Oliver, shown in the accompanying photo during the final session,  came to Vance County for two days of workshops on six different occasions beginning on April 20 and ending on December 9. About half of the district’s school administrators each time attended one of the all-day sessions and the remaining administrators would attend the other day.

Oliver used his considerable knowledge and experience in education as a teacher, assistant principal and principal, prior to his retirement in Virginia to lead each of the sessions. He shared proven strategies with administrators on a variety of educational topics to assist them in being more effective as the instructional leaders in their schools.

Administrators also had access to a wide variety of educational publications and resource materials throughout all of the workshops. Resources were shared in both written form and through online publications.

One of many essential questions Oliver’s presentations focused on was, “What do schools and classrooms look like when they are organized around a commitment to the achievement of high standards by all students?”

Throughout the workshops, Oliver stressed strategies including: standards-based education; learning centered classrooms; project based learning; collegial collaboration; literacy leadership; and growth producing feedback for teachers.

Vance County Schools support staff to benefit from State’s Merit Bonus Pay

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The Vance County Board of Education approved their local plan for the distribution of the State’s Merit Bonus Pay for the 2016-17 school year last night at their December 12, 2016 meeting.

In the State budget for this fiscal year only, districts across the state received allocations to implement a district level merit bonus plan for non-educators. Vance County Schools received $106,000 to be used exclusively for this purpose.  Non-educators are those staff members who are not paid on the state certified salary schedules and are not school administrators (Teacher Assistants, Bus Drivers, Maintenance, IT Technicians, Child Nutrition, Custodial, Office Support, School Technical Support, and Central Services Support).  The law required each school district to develop a plan for the use of these funds meeting the minimum criteria for distribution set by the state.

The most restrictive requirement by the state was that the bonus could not be distributed across the board to eligible employees.

Vance County Schools (VCS) formed a task force comprised of staff that represented all the groups eligible for this merit bonus.  The task force worked to develop the district’s plan that would provide a meaningful and fair merit award to eligible employees, ranging from $750 to $1000, for the top 10% of the performers in each non-educator group.    With the Board of Education’s approval of the plan, staff will work in January to identify staff members eligible to receive the bonus based on the criteria in the plan.

A copy of the full plan can be found on the district’s website at www.vcs.k12.nc.us.   For questions please contact Jennifer Bennett, Assistant Superintendent for Business & Finance, jbennett@vcs.k12.nc.us.

Hunter to attend first Board of Education Meeting Tonight

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Clementine Hunter will attend her first meeting as a new member of the Vance County Board of Education on Monday, December 12, in the Vance County Schools’ Administrative Services Center.

Hunter was officially sworn in to office on December 5, by the Honorable Judge Henry Banks, who also administered the oath to Dorothy Gooche and Ed Wilson. Gooche and Wilson were re-elected in November to their seats on the board of education.

Hunter replaces Emeron J. Cash Sr. on the board. Cash chose not to seek re-election in the November 2016 election and is retiring from the board after 24 years of service to Vance County Schools’ students and educators.

A resident of Henderson, Hunter has experience as a teacher assistant and substitute teacher with the Morris School District in New Jersey. She also has worked as a substitute teacher with Vance, Granville and Warren county schools. Her volunteer work in this area includes: Free Clinic Board member; Area Christians Together in Service (ACTS); Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA); and participation in local theater.

She has a master’s degree in education and training and is continuing studies in pursuit of a doctorate degree in education.

Hunter says as a board of education member she wants to help maintain and develop quality education through programs of inclusivity, diversity and the challenges of global education readiness for present and future generations of learners in Vance County. She sees her role as a board member as a way to help advance the organization of education while partnering with learners, parents, educators, school staff, business leaders, civic leaders, religious leaders and law enforcement officials.

Vance County Students Receive Honorable Mentions from NC School Boards Association

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Students in Vance County Schools were recognized with Honorable Mention awards for work submitted in competitions at the 47th Annual N.C. School Boards Association Conference in Greensboro, November 16-18.

Southern Vance High School students, under the direction of Career and Technical Education teacher Angela Cusaac, earned Honorable Mention for their video entry “What’s Super About Public Schools” in the high school video competition.

The 30 to 45-second video depicted various scenes of students and staff members at Southern Vance and promoted the diversity and achievements of the school.

Daniela Gomez Gervacio, Elizabeth Black and Amelia Ramirez, all fourth graders at Aycock Elementary School, received Honorable Mention in the elementary poster competition. Each of their colorful posters followed the theme “What’s Super About Public Schools” and illustrated programs and activities in their school. They are shown from left in the accompanying photo holding their posters.

The Southern Vance and Aycock students will be recognized during the Vance County Board of Education meeting on Monday, December 12.

 

Vance County School Students Enjoy “Beauty and the Beast” at McGregor Hall

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Vance County Schools fourth graders and their teachers enjoyed a wonderful performance of the “Beauty and the Beast” ballet on Monday, December 5.

The performance was held at the McGregor Hall Performing Arts Center.

The ballet was performed by the New York City Ballet.

The free performance was provided to the students and teachers by McGregor Hall and the Henderson Community Concert Association.

Fourth-grade students from Granville County Schools also attended. Almost 1,000 students and teachers filled the auditorium.

Clementine “Tina” Hunter sworn in as member of the Vance County Board of Education

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Newly elected member of the Vance County Board of Education, Clementine “Tina” Hunter, joined fellow board members Dorothy Gooche and Ed Wilson in being administered the oath of office this morning by the Honorable Judge Henry Banks.

They took the oath of office in the Board Room of the Vance County Schools Administrative Services Center in Henderson.

Hunter has been elected to her first four-year term on the Board of Education. Both Gooche and Wilson were re-elected to their positions on the board.

Hunter is replacing Emeron J. Cash Sr. on the board. Cash is retiring from the board and did not seek re-election.

They will participate in their first board meeting of their new terms on Monday, December 12.

They were joined after the oath ceremony for a group photo by Superintendent Anthony Jackson and Board Chairwoman Gloria J. White, along with Judge Banks.