This is Heather's first report on the Craven County Board of Education using this medium. We are really pleased to begin this series of reports on the "school board."
Hal
January and February, 2013
Craven County Board of Education Meetings
Reported by Heather Puchalski
Once the preliminaries were out of the way the first topic of discussion was the curriculum. Board members were familiarized with changes being made to testing procedures, notably the End of Course (EOC) and End of Grade (EOG) tests which are in the process of changing to MSL (Measured Student Learning) and Common Core. (It was unclear to everyone what exactly was being changed other than program titles and "policies"; apparently, the common exams are to determine teacher effectiveness.) Allison Morris returned to this discussion in February stating that the spring MSLs would not be allowing exemptions for high school student who met the prior requirements (ie: B with 2 or less absences; A with 3 or less) for core classes such as Math, English, and Science but the student could earn exemptions for PE, Health, Art, and Music. (There was general agreement that all students should take all their exams.) Students enrolled in "Career and College Promise" will begin receiving dual credit for college courses taken while in high school, and upcoming regulations will be changing graduation requirements.
The next item on the agenda was finance. In the January meeting the fiscal year 2013 budget was discussed. Of the $6.87 million fund $4.3 million is unappropriated. This led to a presentation regarding a need for renovations at Creekside and what the best approach to the shortage of classrooms would be at that facility. A plea for funding for Child Nutrition Certification followed, as regulation requires each cafeteria to have a nutrition certified employee at all times. During the February meeting a bid tabulation was presented for replacement of the heat pump at New Bern High with an estimate of $268,000, and the ability to begin work as soon as school lets out for summer, taking the bid.
The 13-14 school year calendar was discussed in both meetings, firstly, to put out a letter to parent's (which was sent home with students), then in February feedback on public response from that which was overall positive. [My opinion is that the modified calendar is a sound idea, all 25 schools in the county should be on the same calendar, the county should have control over the calendar, and it benefits the kids that are also taking college classes. Compared to the traditional calendar summer holiday is 10 weeks vs. 11, starts at the beginning of August about 3 weeks earlier, adds 1 week break in October, the semester ends in line with the community colleges-before Christmas break, same spring break, and the school year ends before Memorial Day-about 2 weeks earlier than traditional. ] The school board must be granted a waiver to GS 115C-84.2 by the General Assembly by March 15 or Craven County will revert to 20 traditional, 3 year round, and 2 early high school colleges. [I suggest supporting the waiver and emailing Mr. Sanderson, Mr. Speciale, and Mr. Bell asap in favor of one calendar.]
January guest speakers were Janine Murphy and Christine Scheef with the North Carolina School Board Association. An hour was spent discussing "the process of revising the Craven County School Board of Education Policy Manual using the Policies to Lead the Schools (PLS) system published by the NCSBA" and their "custom policy services". It is anticipated that this process will take 2 years to complete.
In February Linda Staunch with "Less Means More" acknowledged a 5th grade student for her winning entry on water conservation and Dr.Mills touted Early College East's Engineering national contest win in PA, that group will go on to Germany in April!
Dr. Mills also brought up a desire for electronic upgrades for board members as well as designs for renovations to the board room.
Mr. Ipock complemented the security and safety procedures in the schools, saying that Craven County is well ahead of the majority of the district".
The Board meets every 3rd Tues at 8:30 am and every 3rd Thurs at 6:00 pm [It would be great if someone could attend the evening meetings as I cannot and some items are carried over.]
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