PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2004
PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2004JUNE 3, 2004
As schools across the state close out the 2003-04 school year, I want to congratulate you and your staff on a successful academic year. We feel confident that the progress made in 2003-04 will continue the trends that we have seen over the past few years. The progress that your schools have made is the result of careful analysis and planning. I know that much of that work occurs between now and the start of the new school year. Thank you for the focus you have brought to student achievement over the past decade.
Regards,
Mike Ward
State Board Meeting Highlights
The State Board of Education today approved a position statement opposing potential reductions to teacher workdays. The Board approved this unanimously and stressed the need for further study of all issues related to the school calendar, needs for teacher staff development and workdays and the organization of the instructional year. To read the full position statement, please go to http://www.ncpublicschools.org and look under In the News. In other business, the Board approved recommendations for suspended and expelled students, and heard presentations from students in the first class of Occupational Course of Study graduates. Complete SBE Highlights will be posted online by Wednesday morning at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbehighlights/
Greetings from 2004 Wachovia Principal of the Year
It is an honor to serve as the 2004 Wachovia Principal of the Year. I look forward to representing NC principals while serving on the State Board of Education. You will be hearing from me from time to time through this listserv where I'll give updates on State Board happenings as well as my thoughts on what's happening in education across our state. I hope to visit many of you this next year and see the wonderful things going on in your schools. Please call me if there is anything I can do for you. And try to find some time to relax this summer. I'll close with one of my favorite anonymous quotes, "Who I am is not necessarily who I will become." This is a great reminder for us to look deep into each child and see his or her wonderful potential. John Black, 2004 Wachovia Principal of the Year.
Summer Institute to Address Performance Assessments
DPI and Technical Outreach for Public Schools (TOPS) are sponsoring a 2004 Summer Institute for all performance assessments (i.e., computer skills, NCAAAI, NCAAP and Writing). Sessions will provide information, updates, and materials for LEA Test Coordinators, LEA Curriculum Specialists, Exceptional Children Coordinators, and teachers. The institutes will be held June 7-10 (coastal area); June 14-17 (western area); July 12-15 (central area); and Aug. 2-4 and Aug. 6, (make-up session) at NC State University, Raleigh. Please contact your LEA test coordinator or regional accountability coordinator for additional information or registration.
Middle and High School Summer Science Leadership Institutes
here is still limited space available in both the July 11-14 High School Summer Science Leadership Institute and the July 14-16 Middle School Summer Science Leadership Institute. These institutes will be held at Trinity Center, Salter Path. The focus this year is on the revised Science Standard Course of Study and drafts of the new support documents. Further information can be found on the Web at http://www.learnnc.org/ by clicking on Announcements and Calendar. The late registration fee will not be charged until after June 15. If you have further questions, please call Eleanor Enthoven Hasse, Science Consultant, NC DPI, 919.807.3845, or by email, eehasse@dpi.state.nc.us.
CMC Project Schedules 2004 Summer Institute and Conference
The Curriculum, Music and Community (CMC) project invites all third, fourth and fifth grade teachers, principals and arts coordinators to its 2004 Summer Institute and Conference, scheduled for July 11-14, at the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence, Chapel Hill. The CMC project is designed to support teachers in their efforts to incorporate the music and musical traditions of their communities into their regular classroom instruction. The CMC project is an educational initiative collaboratively designed and administered by UNC-Chapel Hill's Curriculum in Folklore and School of Education, and the Folklife and Arts in Education programs of the North Carolina Arts Council. Conference registration is limited and must be received by 5 p.m., June 16. For more information, please contact Molly Parsons, CMC Summer Institute Coordinator, 919.542.1858, or by email, aparsons@intrex.net.
The following article from the PEN Weekly NewsBlast may be of interest to principals. In "America After 3 p.m.: A Household Survey on Afterschool in America," the most in-depth study ever to explore how America's children spend their afternoons found that 14.3 million kindergarten through 12th graders take care of themselves after the school day ends, including almost four million middle school students in grades six to eight. The study also found that just 6.5 million children are in afterschool programs - but the parents of another 15.3 million children say their children would participate if an afterschool program were available. Need is especially high for middle school children, with just six percent of middle school students in afterschool programs; another 34 percent of America's middle school students are unsupervised in the afternoons. To read more, please go online to http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/america_3pm.cfm