Tag Archive for: #vancecountyschools

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.

Attention Vance County Seniors and Juniors

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Attention Vance County Seniors and Juniors, if you have been asked to participate in a WorkKeys review session please take advantage of it. You have been identified as a CTE concentrator. Congrats! You have an opportunity to earn a nationally recognized certificate valued by employers, did I mention national?

During the review sessions you will learn strategies for answering questions related to applied math, locating information and reading for information. These strategies will help you do well on the assessment in February as well as in your coursework and beyond. If you miss the review session you may contact Ms. Stevens, Career Development Coordinator, to find out how you can get information. Email: mstevens@vcs.k12.nc.us

FGV Smart Start Announces New Executive Director

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FGV Smart Start, Inc., has announced that Dr. Tony Cozart will be the new executive director.

Dr. Cozart is a retired educator, with over 32 years in the local public school systems. He began his career as a teacher and assistant principal in Vance County, then served in Warren County as principal at Norlina Middle, South Warren Elementary and Warren County High schools, among other administrative positions. He is the pastor of Cooks Chapel Baptist Church in Warrenton, and also serves on the Granville County Board of Commissioners.

Cozart is married to the former Jacqueline Peace. They have three daughters: Kimberly, Kristal, and Karmen. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Saint Paul’s College, Master of Arts in School Administration from North Carolina Central University, and Doctor of Education from Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Cozart has been the Kindergarten Readiness coordinator at FGV Smart Start the last two years. He began his duties as the executive director on November 16.

Vance County Schools opens Family Resource Center

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A grand opening was held during the evening on November 14 to officially open the Vance County Schools Family Resource Center in the Administrative Services Center on Graham Avenue in Henderson.

Parents, students, school system officials and community residents attended the event.

Superintendent Anthony Jackson and Vance County Board of Education Chairwoman Gloria J. White led the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new center.

Cassandra Evans, director of Federal Programs and Parent Engagement for the school system, led a committee made up of parents representing several local schools in planning the Family Resource Center.

The center will now be available for parents and other family members of students in Vance County Schools to visit during school days to take advantage of educational written materials and a vast range of online educational resources. The Family Resource Center includes a large volume of materials detailing the services and programs available to students and their families in the local public school system, as well as information on future educational and career opportunities beyond high school.

Plans calls for additional resources to be added to the center on a regular basis.

Clark Elementary School – Active Shooter Exercise

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On Saturday November 19th, 2016 Vance County Public Safety agencies as well as emergency responders from our surrounding counties will be conducting a full scale active shooter exercise at Clarke Elementary School, located at 309 Mount Carmel Church Road, in Henderson.

Vance County received a grant in the amount of $20,000.00 through the Federal Homeland Security Exercise Program to conduct the training event, which has been in the planning stage for the past six (6) months.

It is our intent to make this exercise as realistic as possible while preserving the safety of all those involved. Simulated gun fire will be used as well as injury simulation (Moulage) to add realism.

The exercise will take place on Saturday rather than a regular school day due to the age of the students, however roughly 250 Vance County School’s personnel (many of them actual teachers) will be portraying students to further add realism to the scenario.

While we have conducted similar exercises to this in the past, each school is unique and offers its own unique challenges. Clarke Elementary was chosen as it is the newest school in the County and is probably not as well-known to our responders as some of the other school facilities.

Early preparation for the exercise will begin at 7:00 AM on that day with the exercise itself beginning later that morning. The exercise will conclude early in the afternoon on that same day. We would like to caution residents in the area that they may hear the simulated gunfire and would like to emphasize that they should not be alarmed by those sounds. Additionally, there will be a large public safety presence in and around the school for the duration of the event which will include law enforcement, EMS, fire and even helicopters, but again we would like to stress that this is all a part of the exercise.

Further, we will be closing off certain sections of the roads in and around the school to allow us to adequately test our perimeter control methods. Residents that live in the confined area will be contacted to make them aware of what is happening and they will be allowed to come and go if they should need to. Through traffic will be routed around the exercise venue until the event is over.

This exercise is NOT open to the public. Anyone not affiliated with one of the participating agencies who approaches the exercise area will be turned away. You do not have to get disheartened as you can easily navigate to this website and find easy ways to build yourself a relaxing time. It is unfortunate that we must prepare for such a horrible event but we owe it to our citizens and our communities to ensure that such public environments are as safe as possible. Through joint efforts such as this exercise we ensure that a coordinated response will occur during an actual event.

Contact: Brian K. Short

Phone: 252-438-8264