CCS Families in the Know For You-December 21, 2020

CCS Families In the Know

Dear Families:

The Board of Education would like to take this time to express our gratitude to each of you for your support and grace this year. You have truly risen to the occasion during these times of uncertainty by being so involved with your child and their teacher(s).

We understand, along with our educators and students, that you too have had to learn new ways to help your child work remotely. Many of you have been thrust into a world of remote learning which requires all of us to learn unfamiliar ways of conducting school. All of this was extremely sudden and unexpected, yet you have managed to work your hardest to assist your child(ren) through this journey. We cannot thank you enough for being a wonderful example of our mission and vision in action. Your dedication is a constant reminder to all of our staff of the importance of relationships and connections with our families.

In closing, the Board of Education extends a safe, healthy, and joyous holiday season to you and your loved ones. Please take this time to rest and relax as we say goodbye to 2020 and welcome the new year. We are happy you are part of the Craven County Schools Family and look forward to serving you and your family in the new year.

Sincerely,

The Craven County Schools Board of Education

Frances Boomer-Chairman

Kim R. Smith-VIce Chairman

Naomi Clark

Carr Ipock

Stefanie King

Kelli Muse

Beatrice Smith

Dr. Meghan S. Doyle, Superintendent

Myra Flowers, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent

On behalf of the Board of Education, it is with great pleasure that we extend our congratulations to Justice Williams, 7th-grade student at HJ MacDonald Middles School for her beautiful artwork being selected as the image for the 2020 Craven County Schools Holiday Card. There were 41 very worthy images submitted for the holiday card contest so it was not an easy decision for the Board of Education to select just one winner. Many of the other images will be used throughout the holidays to showcase our students' talents. Thank you to our art teachers for taking the time to submit the amazing entries from the first semester.

Please take a minute to enjoy all of the holiday images submitted for consideration for this year's Craven County Schools Holiday Card

This year due to the pandemic, our students in Havelock were unable to participate in the Traditional City of Havelock Christmas Celebration. We are thankful that our Havelock City Leaders were creative and extended an invitation for our students at Arthur W. Edwards Elementary School to perform safely at their school. This was captured on video and shared by the City at this year's event. Thank you for spreading some Christmas Joy for our students, staff, parents, and community.

Oaks Road Academy

Virtual Holiday Concert

This year the Mighty Owls from Oaks Road Academy participated in a Virtual Holiday Concert. Sit back and enjoy the sounds of the s

🎄Spreading Holiday Cheer🎄

Mr. Tabari Wallace, former State Principal of the Year and current West Craven High Principal, along with staff from the school delivered Christmas presents this weekend to students in need in the western part of Craven County. This special parade left West Craven High School on Saturday morning proceed to designated areas representing our elementary, middle, and high school students.

The funds generated by the West Craven High School Dugout Club, the West Craven High Volleyball Club (with their new name the Spikes and Strikes Club), and other generous contributors made this Christmas Miracle possible. Together they raised over $7,200.

School leaders and the school counselor from James W. Smith Elementary, Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary, Bridgeton Elementary, Oaks Road Academy, West Craven Middle, and West Craven High School helped identify families in need this holiday season. This special delivery will be a warm surprise and will definitely help spread some holiday cheer along the way with special guests Santa Claus and many other community leaders including Sheriff Hughes.

Wishing all Happy Holidays this Season!

Trent Park Elementary Leads the Way with Continuous Improvement

By: Ashley Faulkenberry, Principal

Trent Park Tigers are paving the way for gaining more academic success with Continuous Classroom Improvement. As of September 2020, 100 percent of teachers at Trent Park Elementary have been trained to implement a systems approach to continuous improvement in their classrooms. This systems approach is a way to make sure we are paying close attention to our important classroom learning parts such as state standards, instructional strategies, assessments, and instructional resources. We look closely at how each of these parts works together to produce learning. You could say it’s our “blueprint for making sure we get good results on purpose, and not by accident!” And, most importantly, we are teaching our students “how to learn how to learn!”

Our teachers set and communicate clear direction for their class by making sure students understand the learning requirements for their grade level, know where they need to be by the end of the year, check on learning results all along the way, and create classroom mission statements to foster a sense of partnership and classroom learning community.

Students are actively involved in partnering with teachers to evaluate and improve their classroom learning system. They begin to understand how to use and apply a real-world improvement process called the PLAN, DO STUDY, ACT cycle. It’s what teachers are already doing, we’re just involving students in part of the process in order to teach them how to learn how to learn, and give them some voice and choice in how learning occurs in the classroom. Over time, our goal at Trent Park Elementary is for each and every student to understand how they learn best. In other words, understand their own learning system!

What do our teachers and students say about developing classroom learning systems? Michelle McGowan, 2nd-grade teacher states, “My kids have learned to reflect on their own learning and are finding ways to improve.” Kirsty Clay, 1st-grade teacher states, “I have increased student responsibility in my classroom and it helps to promote an awareness of both their individual and whole class successes. Riley Uselton, 4th-grade student states, “I know the strategies that work to help me with my learning.”

2020 First Semester Virtual Art Show

Our art teachers would like to share with you work submitted by their students this semester. Since the district will be unable to host art shows this year please enjoy this video proudly displaying our selected artists.

2020-2021 Traditional School Calendar Update

At the December Board of Education Meeting, the Board of Education approved a revision to the traditional school calendar for the 2nd semester. The Remote Learning day designation has been removed from February 15 (Presidents' Day) and March 15 since every Wednesday in the remainder of the 2020-21 school calendar is designated for remote learning.

February 15 will remain an Optional Workday for staff.
March 15 will remain a Required Workday for staff

The updated calendar is available on the district website.

On September 15, 2020, the Board of Education approved an update to the communication process for positive COVID-19 cases. In an effort to be as transparent as possible with families and community members, this communication process was established with the following, multiple steps to include:

The School Nurse will personally notify all close contacts to make them aware of their status as a close contact and share the next steps.
The principal will notify staff and parents via text and email that a student and/or staff member has tested positive.
The District Lead Nurse will work with Public Relations to share the number of new positive cases so the district dashboard can be updated three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).
Public Relations will issue a press release to inform the media of the number of positive cases.

Currently, due to the increase in the number of positive students and employees, multiple letters are being distributed by our school principals on a daily basis. Based on continued study of this process as well as feedback from our principals, this communication process is no longer effective. Families have become immune to the notifications and are not always reading the information sent home by the school leader. We are receiving reports from some families that the rate of sharing of new positive case(s) as soon as the school is aware is also adding to fears which are not warranted since many of the positive cases are by individuals who have already been quarantined because of a positive family member or because of community contact.

For these reasons, it is was approved by the Board of Education that our school leaders will send staff and parents one letter, if necessary, on Friday afternoon to report the number of positive cases on campus. Close contacts (staff and parents of students) will continue to be contacted personally by the school nurse if they happen to be impacted. This revision will reduce the number of letters being sent home on a daily basis and staff/parents will become accustomed to receiving this information once a week.