Tag Archive for: #vancecountyschools

Exams, State Tests: No Opt-outs For Students

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Vance County Schools students will begin taking exams, end-of-course (EOC) and end-of-grade (EOG) tests in less than two weeks, and school officials are working hard to make sure parents are informed about schedules and understanding the logistics  necessary to satisfy state requirements in a safe environment.

Exam schedules are posted on each school’s website, according to Aarika Sandlin, public information officer. High school students will kick off the testing season, taking  EOC and Career Technical Education (CTE) the week of May 17-21.

Testing continues through the end of May and into June for students on a year-round calendar.

“NCDPI has indicated all state exams must take place on campus,” Sandlin said in a written statement to WIZS News. “We have exam schedules for all of our schools posted on each school’s website and encourage families to contact their child’s school for specific concerns or questions,” she said.

The testing schedules provide details for students who have returned to in-person learning as well as those students who continue to learn remotely. Sandlin encouraged any parent to contact their child’s school if they have questions about the test schedule.

North Carolina students in grades 3-8 take EOGs in Reading/English Language Arts and Math. Students in grades 5 and 8 also take a Science EOG.

Students in grades 9-13 take EOC exams in Biology, English II, NC Math 1 and NC Math 3.

Exams count as a percentage of high school students’ final grades.  The state also uses this information to measure proficiency and to maintain metrics and data, Sandlin said.

There will be no school report card letter grades this year.

“There are no opt-outs for state assessments and we encourage all of our families to be present for all of their state testing,” Sandlin said.

For basic information and tips about preparing students for the standardized testing, parents can visit https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dOqA6dZ_3pShTaVc9ADOY2su2nvKn-B0/view.

Vance County Schools Arts Alive 2021

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— information courtesy of Vance County Schools and Public Information Officer Aarika Sandlin

Arts Alive 2021 was an amazing day this past Saturday, April 24 with Master Classes, the Virtual Art Gallery, along with the Talent Showcase! The district proudly presented our Champion of the Arts Awards to Dr. LaSaundra Booth and Mr. Andrew Markoch.

Dr. Booth, of the Wake Forest Community Youth Orchestra, has been instrumental in developing the Vance County Schools strings program. Her dedication and hard work has allowed the program to continue growing year after year, allowing our students to truly experience orchestra and strings at the elementary level.

Mr. Markoch serves as the VCS Director of Fine Arts and Innovation. He continues to raise the bar in our district for both visual and performing arts. As a fully staffed arts district, we ensure that every student experiences the arts at every grade level. Mr. Markoch oversees all of the arts programs within our schools.

Both of these individuals are indeed Champions of the Arts and make us all Vance County Schools Proud! The excitement doesn’t end until April 30th, as our virtual art gallery and master classes will be available until April 30 at http://bit.ly/ArtsAliveWebsite.

The Local Skinny! April 26, VCS Budget, Classified Staff

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Vance County Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson says the VCS budget will consider an increase in classified staff compensation.

Q: Middle and high schools were consolidated a few years back and it seems like there was about a $2 million per year savings that was talked about at that time. As we head into the 21-22 budget year, what’s affecting your upcoming budget the most right now and what does your budget look like in terms of savings that you’re realizing from past consolidation?

A: As you can see, we’ve been able to expand programs. Our goal was the savings would be poured back into programming and so since that time, we’ve been able to launch our center for innovation, we’ve been able to launch our V3 Academy, we’ve been able to expand our athletic programs, we’ve been able to expand our fine arts programs, we’ve been able to lower some class sizes at our secondary schools and things like that…the things we promised, we’ve been able to refresh our technology devices and add Z Space labs, so we’ve been able to do the things we said we were going to do while not asking for one additional dime from our county.

Our challenges this year are different. COVID has presented a huge challenge, and we’ve talked about it before, and it’s around the ‘people’ part of this work. The workforce has become far more competitive than it has been and that means that salaries are shifting and so our local…we’re challenged right now to keep up with salaries for our classified employees, particularly in our maintenance area. We’re in the middle of doing a salary study and we’ve found that our employees are significantly behind those in the region. We’ve always known that with our teachers and our professional staff. But our classified staff are equally challenged. So that’s our biggest budget challenge. You’ve got to find recurring dollars for that – you can’t just take savings from one place and move it over there for one year or you can’t just use COVID dollars to backfill. We’ve got to make an investment in our people and that’s our biggest challenge. And so we’ve made a modest request in our budget this year to help us at least begin that process. We can’t do it in one swoop, but that’s our goal to try to do that. Every single metric that we set with consolidation, in terms of reducing our footprint, in terms of expanding programs, in terms of increasing enrollment at our middle and high schools, and as well as offering more innovative programs to our students in our community.

We feel good about that and now we’ve got to go to the next steps of balancing all of that out and making sure we keep the right people in the right seats on the bus so we can keep moving forward.

Vance Board of Education Recognizes Athletes at April Meeting

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— courtesy of Vance County Schools and the latest Board Briefs Publication

The Board of Education recognized student athletes. Rosie Kanouff, senior at Early College High School, was recognized as an all-conference selection in Volleyball. Tra’On Lyons, a senior at Vance County High School, was recognized as an all-conference selection in Boys Basketball. Yumyah Hargrove, a senior at Early College High School was recognized as an all-conference selection in Girls Basketball. Blake Vick, a freshman at Early College High School, pitched a complete game no hitter in her first career varsity softball game on 3/17 in a 13-1 victory over Chapel Hill High School. She finished the game with 11 strikeouts in 5 innings pitched. We are extremely proud of our student’s athletic accomplishments.

Vance County Schools Logo

VCS Teachers Get Classroom Help From Online Tool

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In the old days, students could hide comic books or novels inside their thick Biology or English textbooks to fool the teacher into thinking they were on task; nowadays, however, teachers have an ally to help manage off-task behaviors as more and more classrooms have exchanged books for laptops: GoGuardian.

Vance County Schools is a 1:1 digital district, said Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent. “Every single child has a computer, whether they’re in school or not,” he said, drawing the distinction to in-person versus remote instruction. And the district has chosen GoGuardian to help teachers with classroom management.

“It’s not a teaching tool,” Jackson told WIZS News, “it’s a great tool to help our teachers manage while they teach.”

The school district piloted the program and, thanks to positive teacher feedback, Jackson said the decision is likely to be made to expand its use.

GoGuardian was launched in 2014 and is used to monitor student activity online.  Jackson said teachers can see students’ screens and can help to re-direct them if they are off-task or visiting sites that they shouldn’t. It also allows teachers to shut a computer down, he added.

VCS Names V3A Principal, EC Director

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Vance County Schools announced Thursday the appointment of two educators in leadership roles, one a VCS veteran and the other who is new to the school district.

Dr. Jessica Perry was named principal of Vance Virtual Village Academy after serving as interim principal of V3A since August 2020. Natashalyn Snipes was selected as director of exceptional children, effective July 1, 2021.

Perry is a familiar face to Vance County Schools. “With over 20 years of educational experience as a teacher, administrator and district leader, we are certain Dr. Perry will propel V3A into an innovative opportunity that personalizes education for every student,” according to a statement from Aarika Sandlin, VCS public information officer.  Perry graduated from N.C. State University with a degree in business and marketing education. She has a master’s degree in educational leadership from

Wheeling Jesuit University and a doctorate in education and educational leadership from Gardner-Webb University. In a written statement to WIZS News, Perry said, “I am looking forward to assisting students in gaining access and opportunities with anytime, anywhere teaching and learning.”

Snipes will take over upon the retirement of Dr. Gloria Jones. She has been a teacher, school leader, EC facilitator, and most recently, was the director of exceptional children, student services and preschool at Weldon City Schools, Sandlin said.

Snipes graduated from UNC-CH with a degree in psychology and got her master’s degree in arts and teaching in special education and a master’s in school administration from N.C. Central University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in education leadership at UNC-CH. “Snipes is a transformational leader committed to developing instructional programs that will meet the educational and behavioral needs of all students,” Sandlin said.

Vance County Schools Receiving Lifesaving Bike Helmets from State

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— Vance County Schools Press Release

Vance County Schools will be receiving 75 bike helmets as part of an ongoing program to reduce bicycle injuries and deaths in North Carolina. These helmets are being provided through NCDOT’s Bicycle Helmet Initiative.

The Bicycle Helmet Initiative began in 2007 and has distributed thousands of helmets since its inception. It is funded by the sale of “Share the Road” specialty license plates. Helmets will be awarded by April 30th.

We are excited to partner with Vance County Sheriff’s Office, Henderson Fire Dept and YMCA to distribute the helmets.  Distribution will take place in late spring and all participants who come by during distribution will be entered to win a bicycle.

For more information about this grant or distribution locations, contact J. Carraway at jcarraway@vcs.k12.nc.us.

For more information about the program, visit the NCDOT Bicycle Helmet Initiative webpage.

Vance County Schools Asynchronous Remote Learning Day Thurs, Mar 18 Due to Weather

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— courtesy of Vance County Schools

With the threat of inclement weather on Thursday, March 18, Vance County Schools will operate as an asynchronous remote learning day for all students and staff. Assignments will be posted to student’s learning platforms for completion. All buildings will be closed. Safety continues to be our priority. We encourage all of our families to keep a close eye on the weather tomorrow (Thursday) and stay safe.

Vance County Schools Pre-K and Kindergarten Registration 2021-2022

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According to the Vance County Schools motto, “The Wow Starts Now!”

Public Information Officer Aarika Sandlin wrote in a news release, “We are excited to kick off our registration for Pre-K and Kindergarten students!”

She indicated there will be virtual information sessions taking place on March 10 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.  This is “for EVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in our district,” she wrote.

In fact, each school will host its very own information session, and the links are available on the district website at www.vcs.k12.nc.us.

Sandlin said, “We are excited for the newest additions making their way to the VCS family!”

All Vance Co. School Staff Have Opportunity To Get Vaccine; Slight Shift for In-Person Learning

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— Courtesy of Vance County Schools

As we continue preparing for our return to face-to-face interactions with students, Vance County Schools is working diligently to ensure we are providing all of the necessary safety protocols for the health and wellness of our everyone, prior to student re-entry.

On Friday, March 5, all Vance County Schools staff will have the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Due to the vaccination schedule, VCS will delay the re-entry of students to the week of Monday, March 8. The only change to the re-entry is that students in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 1st grade, as well as all self-contained students will begin their re-entry the week of Monday, March 8 rather than March 4 and 5.

Thursday, March 4 will be a remote learning day as scheduled for all grades, with students logging in at their assigned times. Friday, March 5 will be an asynchronous learning day for all grades, allowing students to complete assignments in their online learning platform throughout the day.

We are grateful for this added layer of protection being afforded to our district and appreciate your understanding as we work to finish the 2020-2021 school year strong!