Brevard Middle School 2016 Track and Field
Facebook Joins Initiative to Provide Free Wi-Fi to Students in Rutherford County
last updated on December 8, 2016
Students in North Carolina's Rutherford County School District will be part of a pilot program aimed at bringing them free Wi-Fi as the result of a collaboration between Facebook, the Town of Forest City (where the social network has a data center), Rutherford County Schools, and PANGAEA Internet.
The partners announced in a press release that the first phase of their initiative will launch immediately, to 75 to 100 homes in the neighborhood surrounding the Rutherford Opportunity Center in Forest City, adding that the town was chosen due to its high concentration of students and a 2011 initiative by the school district to provide a personal laptop to every middle- and high-school student.
Officials of the school district found that nearly one-half of the students who received laptops did not have Internet access at home, prompting the initiative.
The Town of Forest City is providing the space and power for the Wi-Fi end points, while Facebook is providing the actual end points, and the network signal is coming from PANGAEA.
The parties said future phases will include expanding access to more students, as well as improving network performance.
Keven McCammon, site manager for Facebook's data center in Forest City, said in the release:
Connectivity can open up new opportunities for everyone, and we're excited to partner with Forest City, the Rutherford County School District, and PANGAEA Internet to help bring that access to more of Forest City's students. Facebook has called Forest City home for more than three years now, and we are proud to be able to help the community continue to invest in its future.
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Briarcliff Elementary Celebrates Blue Ribbon Award
Teachers and students at Briarcliff Elementary School danced and cheered when they found out the school had been named one of the best in the country, Principal Stephanie Raiford said.
The school is one of five North Carolina schools to be named a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School. Raleigh Charter School also received the award last week.
"I have a dedicated group of teachers," Briarcliff Principal Stephanie Raiford said. "Everything boils down to having good teachers in your building, who will work hard."
More than 300 schools of all levels around the country won Blue Ribbon awards. Of those, 48 – including Briarcliff – were recognized for achievement in closing achievement gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines.
The school's enrollment is more than 25 percent Hispanic and less than 50 percent white. Forty-three percent of the students are classified as economically disadvantaged.
The school was nominated for the award by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, and both DPI and the Blue Ribbon selection committee used a number of test scores and statistical measures to identify the best of the best.
In the 2013-14 school year, the school met its growth expectations, with 75 percent of students testing at grade level.
The year before, under more stringent state standards, 52 percent of students tested at grade level for reading and math – exceeding district and state averages by double digits.
The five-year trend at Briarcliff shows marked improvement, Raiford said.
Next month, she will travel to Washington, D.C., with teacher Robin Lane to accept the school's award.
"I just think that our teachers are dedicated and intent on making sure every child reaches their potential," Lane said. "They pour their heart and soul into everything."
Raiford said the award already has boosted morale. Even students are more enthusiastic about school, she said, even though they don't understand the magnitude of the award.
"They ask me what it means, and I say, 'It means you're doing a really good job, so keep it up,' " Raiford said.
"We know we still have a long way to get students where we want them," Raiford said.
"But this shows what can happen when you have a true community working together," she added, noting the school's partnerships with the Cary Rotary Club, the local YMCA and Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church, as well as heavy parent involvement.
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Schools Recognized for Healthier Environments
Some New Hanover County Schools were recently recognized with awards for creating and sustaining a healthy and safe environment for students.
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program is a national initiative founded by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation. The alliance's aim is to help schools improve physical education, health education and nutrition by providing a school health index in which staff can self-access their school's policies and programs for promoting health and safety.
According to the program's website, the guide is then used to develop an action plan on improving those policies and programs and is currently used at nearly 29,000 schools around the country — 788 in North Carolina. Resources offered by the alliance include national experts and online and printable guides to help take steps to develop healthier environments for kids to learn and grow — including creative ways to get them to eat their fruits and vegetables.
To earn a national award at the bronze, silver or gold levels, schools must meet best practice criteria established by the program's expert panel in all of the program's six modules: school safety; health education; physical education; nutrition services; health promotion for staff; and family and community involvement.
In New Hanover County, 11 schools currently participate in the program, and three schools were recognized at the most recent county Board of Education regular meeting for achieving national level status.
Read full article on Star News Online
Havelock High Teacher Wins State Award
On the day when teachers returned to school to begin preparations for the 2014-15 school year, Havelock High instructor Tommy Andrews was in for a big surprise.
Before Principal Jeff Murphy started his first faculty meeting of the new school year on Monday, he said he had a "special announcement." Andrews had been named the N.C. Trades and Industrial Education Teachers Association New Teacher of the Year.
"They kept it a pretty good secret," Andrews said. "It's a surprise for sure."
The award covers teachers throughout the state.
"I feel great. It's pretty awesome," Andrews said of the honor. "Anytime you get something like this and it's a surprise, it's pretty cool."
Andrews was hired as the new automotive technology and mechanics instructor in January. The award is for career and technical education teachers with less than five years of experience.
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Buncombe Schools Receive $1.19 Million Grant
The student services program for Buncombe County Schools has received a $1.19 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address "social, emotional and mental health issues" of students and the impact on school performance, according to David Thompson, director of student services for the county school system.
The grant, which will be allocated over three years, will allow county schools to hire five new counselors for county elementary schools, Thompson said.
"Right now, I have seven schools with only a part-time counselor," Thompson said. "As a result of this grant, there will be at least one full-time counselor in every elementary school."
Thompson hopes to have the additional counselors on board this fall.
The project is called "Schools with CLASS: Counselor Leaders Advancing School Safety." Thompson said school officials will be working with local physicians, mental health agencies and others in the community on this effort.
The program should help increase student access to mental health support. School officials hope to see less bullying and disciplinary action and better student performance.
The grant will allow the system to train staff and implement "trauma-focused strategies to address students who are at-risk due to adverse childhood experiences such as, homelessness, abuse, neglect, loss of a parent, etc." and to put in place a digital accountability system to track bullying reports, according to a news release.
Other aspects of the grant include "a research-based social-emotional curriculum that includes anti-bullying and academic learning strategies" and training counselors and social workers in Triple P Parenting, "a research-based parenting program utilized throughout the community," according to the release.
The program also provides support for students from military families who may be having issues because of deployment of a parent or family member.
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RSS Students Among State Bus Safety Poster Contest Winners
Two Rowan-Salisbury School System students were among four statewide who received top honors in North Carolina's 2014 National School Bus Safety Week Poster Contest.
Sydney Steelman, who is in fourth grade at Morgan Elementary School, won the grades 3-5 category, while Grissel Hernandez, a sixth-grader at Southeast Middle School, won the contest for grades 6-8. They join Sara Maw, of Franklinton Elementary in the Franklin County Schools, who won for grades K-2, and Leonard Johnson, of Liberty Middle School in the Burke County Schools, who won in the special education category.
Two other Rowan-Salisbury students also placed highly in the contest. Baydn Sweatt, a third-grader at Morgan Elementary, came in second in the grades 3-5 category, and Victoria Amaro, an eighth-grader at Southeast Middle, took second place in the grades 6-8 category.
The contest theme — "Be Smart — Be Seen, I Wait in a Safe Place!" — emphasizes that students should stay safe at their school bus stop — most importantly, waiting back from the roadway and preparing to board in a single file. If the bus stop is on the opposite side of the road, students should make eye contact with the bus driver before stepping into the roadway.
"The message to students, as reflected in this year's poster theme, is clear: stay safe by making sure you can be seen by the school bus driver and other motorists," Derek Graham, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction's Transportation Services Section chief, said in a news release.
"Because some motorists break the law and do not stop for the school bus stop sign," Graham continued, "students must be aware and take extra care at the bus stop and especially when crossing the street."
Graham added that students participating in this year's contest learned the importance of school bus safety rules as they worked on their posters.
Each of the first place winners will receive a plaque featuring his or her artwork and a school bus safety puzzle, also featuring the student's winning poster. Winning posters are featured on the state's School Bus Safety website, www.ncbussafety.org, under "New to Web Site." First place winners also will compete in the National School Bus Safety Poster Contest.
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Camp Invention a Success at MAMS
For the second year in a row Mount Airy City Schools offered Camp Invention as part of its science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) program.
Camp Invention, a 25-year-old program which began in Akron, Ohio, is a curriculum-based program which focuses on the development of "creative, inventive-thinking skills," according to the city school system.
"At Camp Invention, there is no right or wrong answer. Many of the projects focus on process. Children learn through trial and error," said Shelia Chase, STEAM instructor at Mount Airy High School. She was in charge of overseeing the staff and program at Camp Invention.
All totaled, the Mount Airy summer program hosted 34 participants attended this week, along with the director, two instructors, four leadership interns, two counselors-in-training, a camp parent and a parent volunteer. The program's goal is to keep the student-to-adult ratio no higher than 8-to-1.
During the camp children rotated through a schedule that included four modules each day and incorporated a variety of hands-on activities ranging from creating an invention from a discarded household appliance to brainstorming their way home from a strange planet.
This week children used gears and gadgets from dissected machines and other materials to create prototypes of inventions that they believed will help improve the world.
There is not a lot of emphasis placed on inventing a working device in five days; rather, emphasis is placed on fostering inventive-thinking and creative problem-solving skills through immersion that will serve children throughout their lives, according to Chase.
"Of course, there are children who leave the program with a working invention. Recent inventions include insect catchers, ball-throwing robots, arm extenders made out of PVC pipes and other innovations," she said.
Each leadership intern is assigned to one group of children and up to two counselors-in-training for the week.
"The leadership interns mentored their CITs, set a tone of excitement and team spirit for the week; facilitated activities as needed, helped all participants engage in the experience, supported participants in problem solving and assisted in providing a safe environment," said Chase.
Read full article on The Mount Airy News
Reaching for the Stars: Top Students in Gaston County Honor Their Influential Teachers
From learning how to read to getting into college, Gaston County public school's brightest students had educators who stood out along the way.
On Thursday, the top students from 11 high schools honored those current or retired Gaston teachers during the Star Teacher-Student Awards at the Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia.
Forestview High's Kaelan Forbes said she was terrified of her history teacher, Cathy Love, on the first day of her junior year. Forbes quickly changed her mind when Love became a friend and source of inspiration in her life.
"She's always putting her students before herself," Forbes said. "She pushes me to go above and beyond in all endeavors."
North Gaston High brothers Adam and Andrew Phillips attended the same school but found inspiration from two different teachers whom they chose to honor. Cherryville High's Caitlin Hay honored her mother, Darcy Hay, a kindergarten teacher at Cherryville Elementary.
Hunter Huss High's Yelisa Leiva extended her appreciation to school counselor Lisa Brooks, who she credits for helping her get accepted to Syracuse University. Leiva said she was having a tough time in calculus this year and was considering dropping the class. That's when Brooks stepped in to help.
"She insisted that I stay," Leiva said. "By listening to this advice I was accepted to Syracuse's architecture program, the third best in the country."
Each Star teacher and student received a plaque at the ceremony. Teachers also took home framed copies of essays their students wrote to praise their favorite educators.
Read full article on the Gaston Gazette
Second grade: What your child should know
No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it. The lesson is, never try. Oh, so they have Internet on computers now.
The purpose of this segment is to help connect what is known about students' cognitive development with what you want them to understand about science concepts and the nature of science. Use this brief description, combined with your knowledge of your students, to guide you in making instructional decisions appropriate for your grade level.
The Art of Managing Middle School Students
Good news, everyone! There's a report on TV with some very bad news! Actually, that's still true. We'll need to have a look inside you with this camera.
Squirrels. That is what they remind me of. We were all that age once and we were all just like squirrels! Have you ever watched a squirrel? Zoom, freeze for two seconds, flick tail, and repeat. The trick for being a successful middle school teacher is holding their attention for more than just those few seconds. Believing that that is possible requires a huge leap of faith and trust.
North Carolina School Boards Association The Art of Managing Middle School StudentsBrevard Middle School 2016 Track and Field
Source: https://www.ncsba.org/page/41/?src=calendar&srctype=tag&m&y&v5_tagname=events_calendar
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