PRINCIPALS' MESSAGES 2006

NOVEMBER 2, 2006

This week, the State Board of Education decided to hold its action on the 2005-06 ABCs of Public Education results. Because of public information requests, however, the report itself was placed online to comply with these requests. The Board is expected to meet and formally act on the ABCs results Nov. 9. At that time, assistance team assignments and school designations will be approved and finalized. The new formulas approved in 2005 and in combination with the higher mathematics standards represent the first time in a decade that student and school performance standards were raised. I know that it is always challenging when standards increase. Because of that, I remain committed to finding ways to providing staff development to support teachers statewide and to ensure that our schools are prepared to deliver 21st century instruction.

Regards,
June Atkinson

In this Biweekly Principals' Message:

1. State Board Meeting Highlights
2. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Recognized as a Global Communicators School District
3. Perquimans County School Bus Driver Receives National Recognition
4. Workshop Address Reading Literacy and Physical Activity
5. NCVPS Seeks Online Instructors
6. College Board Accepting Applications for Prestigious Awards

State Board Meeting Highlights

At this week's Board meeting, members approved proposed revisions of the Standards for the Evaluation of School Administrators and technology guidelines for new school construction. Members discussed a timeline to implement a default curriculum for high school students and received a preliminary report on the 2006 Teacher Working Conditions Survey. Complete Board highlights will be available online late next week at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/sbehighlights by clicking on the appropriate link.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Recognized as a Global Communicators School District

Congratulations to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools for recently being honored by the State Board of Education and North Carolina in the World as a "Global Communicators School District" for its K-12 language program, including outstanding dual language programs at the elementary level. The Mandarin Chinese-English Dual Language Program at Glenwood Elementary and the Spanish-English Dual Language Program at Carrboro Elementary are in their fifth year and enroll more than 200 students in kindergarten through fourth grades. Dual language learning provides both language and content area instruction in two target languages. Half the students in each class are native English speakers, and half are speakers of the other target language.

Perquimans County School Bus Driver Receives National Recognition

Congratulations to Perquimans County School bus driver Zita Ferebee for recently being selected as the national winner of the Blue Heroism Award by the National Association for Pupil Transportation. Ferebee is credited with safely evacuating her students following a horrific car accident with the bus in October 2005. On Oct. 30, 2005, the News and Observer recognized Ferebee as its Tar Heel of the Week.

Workshop Addresses Reading Literacy and Physical Activity

The North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (NCAAHPERD) is sponsoring a free workshop for teachers, administrators and parents regarding the link between movement and reading literacy. Jean Blaydes Madigan developed this workshop to help schools implement the Healthy Active Children policy, which mandates 30 minutes of physical activity daily in grades K-8. The workshop will be held Saturday, Nov. 18, beginning at 8 a.m., at the Koury Convention Center, Greensboro. Participants will receive .5 contact hours of credit toward reading strategies. Although the workshop is free, registration is limited to 200. Registration is available online at http://www.ncaahperd.org as well as additional details regarding the annual convention.

NCVPS Seeks Online Instructors

The North Carolina Virtual Public School is searching for highly qualified teachers to work part-time instructing students online across North Carolina. Teachers are needed as part of the collaboration among the NCDPI, the Cumberland County Web Academy and the North Carolina Virtual Public School. If interested, please visit http://www.ccswebacademy.net/Employment/Employment_Opportunities.htm to fill out the online application.

College Board Accepting Applications for Prestigious Awards

The College Board is accepting applications for two prestigious awards: the 2007 Inspiration Awards and the Bob Costas Grants for the Teaching of Writing. The Inspiration Awards, which are open to all secondary schools in which 40 percent or more of the students receive free or reduced-price lunches, celebrate America's most improved high schools by awarding three winning schools with $25,000 each. Additional information regarding this award is available online at www.collegeboard.com/inspirationawards. Award winners will be announced in April. The Bob Costas Grants recognize six exceptional teachers of grades 6 through 12 for the innovative methods they use to develop their students' writing skills. Grants of $2,000 are awarded to each winner. Additional information regarding this grant is available online at www.collegeboard.com/costasgrants. Grant winners will be announced in January. The application deadline for both programs is Nov. 17.