PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2004

JULY 1, 2004

In your schools, you serve all children who come to your door each year. These include children who are ready for university level work by the 10th grade and those for whom graduating from high school is a life-long dream. At the June State Board of Education meeting, members honored a range of high school graduates including Amber Gaither, a 2004 graduate of Enloe High School (Wake County Schools) who was initially recognized at the African American Achievers Banquet sponsored by the Capital City Sertoma Club, who received $850,000 in scholarship offers. What really drove home the mission of public education, however, was the recognition of three representatives from the first class of students to complete the Occupational Course of Study. These students, who have significant cognitive disabilities, spoke movingly about the challenges of high school and of the hard work they had done to be prepared to graduate. I was proud of public education on that day because it was obvious that we serve all children to live up to their potential whatever that potential may be. There are few more noble callings.

Regards,
Mike Ward

In this Biweekly Principals' Message:

1. SBE Meeting Highlights
2. AYP Talking Points Available Online
3. State Education Leaders Praise Senate Inclusion of Funds
4. Input Requested on 2005-07 Biennial Budget Request
5. CECAS to be Offered to LEAs
6. Laney High is First Certified Senior Project School in Nation
7. Special Needs Training Offered
8. "Living in our World" on the Web

State Board Meeting Highlights

The State Board of Education approved an anti-harassment, anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policy this month that notes that "it is the policy of the State Board of Education to maintain a safe, orderly and caring learning environment in the public schools and public charter schools of North Carolina that is free from harassment, bullying, and discrimination and is inclusive of all students." This policy states that local boards shall develop and maintain policies and procedures to prevent, intervene, investigate, document and report all acts of harassment or bullying no later than January 2005. In other business, Board members approved amendments to the N.C. Accountability Workbook under No Child Left Behind and granted preliminary approval to two new charter schools. Complete SBE meeting highlights will be posted online by Tuesday, July 6, at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbehighlights/

AYP Talking Points Available Online

Talking points for school leaders to use in framing and communicating schools' Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status are on the Web at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/nclb/abcayp/ in anticipation of the 2004 LEA AYP Report release on July 19. Talking points are designed for school leaders to use in discussing AYP results with school staff, parents, community groups, and the media. A section on changes in the way AYP is determined at the school level may be a helpful reference in answering questions.

State Education Leaders Praise Senate Inclusion of Funds

State education leaders last week praised the Senate's inclusion of $12 million to fund the State Board of Education's Disadvantaged Student Supplemental Funding program. This year's expansion budget request from the State Board of Education to the General Assembly included $22 million to fund a Disadvantaged Student Supplemental Funding category. The funds will initially be used in 16 school systems across the state to fund such strategies as aggressive teacher recruitment and retention, stronger professional development, and the use of high quality Personal Education Plans for poor, low-achieving students. To find out more, including which school systems will be participating, please go to DPI's Web site at http://www.ncpublicschools.org and look under "In the News."

Input Requested on 2005-07 Biennial Budget Request

It is time to start thinking about budget needs for 2005-07, and we need your input. On July 1 you will be able to go to DPI's Web site at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/ and list your top three budget items and top three policy items for public schools. The agency and the State Board of Education will use this information to formulate its budget request for the 2005-07 biennium, which is due to the Office of State Budget and Management this fall. Your input on education policy and finance is most important to us as we all work together to continue to improve our schools, so please take a minute to visit our site and tell us your greatest needs. If you have any questions, please contact Becky McConkey, Office of Budget Management, DPI, at bmcconke@dpi.state.nc.us.

CECAS to be Offered to LEAs

By now, principals should have received information on the Comprehensive Exceptional Children Accountability System (CECAS), a new Web-based case management and data analysis system that will be offered to local school systems, charter schools and SOPs as a means to manage and analyze exceptional children data. The NC DPI CECAS Project Team will finalize their application pilot by the end of June and deploy CECAS statewide to exceptional children administrators and teachers on Sept. 13. Training will be held during July and August. A Web site also has been developed for project updates and can be accessed at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/cecas by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Laney High is First Certified Senior Project School in Nation

Congratulations to E.A. Laney High School, New Hanover County Schools, for becoming the first certified Senior Project school in the nation. In 2003, The Southeast Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) began a certification process to ensure that high schools' Senior Project programs meet certain standards for comprehensiveness, quality and rigor. Laney High School was one of four schools nationally to volunteer to pilot the process and the first to complete certification.

Special Needs Training Offered

East Carolina University's NC Principals' Leadership Center is offering free online training to public school and central office administrators on creating and sustaining schools that include children with significant developmental disabilities. The online training is available beginning July 12. Continuing education credit or graduate course credit is available. Participants will learn research-based strategies to help teachers and support staff provide students with disabilities access to the general education curriculum, create positive behavior climates and facilitate collaboration among special and general educators and the child's family. For more information, please contact Dr. Cheryl McFadden at 252.328.6179, or Dr. Sandra Warren, 252.328.2699.

"Living in Our World" on the Web

The newly revised Teacher's Edition of North Carolina State University's "Living in Our World" social studies textbook series for grades 4-7 is now available online, free of charge. The "Living in Our World" Web site located at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/livinginourworld/ offers units of the Teacher's Editions from grades 4-7, as well as maps, black line masters, chapter worksheets and assessments, ELL worksheets, and graphic organizers. Also included are guidelines for seminars, a comprehensive list of North Carolina cultural resources, and essays on geography and government. All materials are available for downloading and printing free of charge. The classroom activities offered on the Web site conform to the latest goals and objectives for the NC Standard Course of Study for social studies and feature character education, civics, and global connections. Most of the activities are integrated with language arts, math and science components. Many offer suggestions for adaptations in working with students learning English. North Carolina classroom teachers created all the activities. For more information, contact Regina Higgins (919.515.9063; regina_higgins@ncsu.edu); or James Clark (919.515.4145; jim_clark@ncsu.edu ).