All in Education
North Carolina graduates this year posted an average score of 1,089, a decline of two points from 2019 graduates’ average score of 1,091. The two-point difference was less pronounced than a 9-point drop in the national average, which fell from 1,039 in 2019 to 1,030 in 2020.
The NC State College of Education is recruiting strong and diverse applicants for Teacher Education Programs. Here are some of the opportunities available for those interested.
Set aside the blame game and partisan theatrics surrounding the issue, and simply ask parents and kids about their experiences. You’ll get mostly frowns, grimaces, complaints, even tears. Although there are certainly exceptions — children particularly well-suited to online learning, technically savvy parents who are superb educators in their own right — most will tell you that their 2020-21 school year is off to a poor and frustrating start.
Lenoir County School Board Write-In candidates Michelle Cash and Nancy Gilmore held an education town hall meeting at The Exchange in Kinston on Tuesday evening. The forum provided parents and teachers the opportunity to meet the candidates, ask questions, and voice concerns about the current state of Lenoir County Public Schools.
The four-year graduation rate for Lenoir County Public Schools climbed to a new high with the Class of 2020, continuing its steady rise over the past five years and improving more rapidly that the state average over the last decade and a half.
The LCPS Board’s Governing Principles include “providing every student with the opportunity to receive a sound basic education as defined by the North Carolina Supreme court in Leandro v. State” as the 1st “most significant duty” of the Board.
Yesterday, the North Carolina Senate passed legislation to protect school funding and hold local school districts harmless for potential reductions in funding due to lower student enrollment. This is especially welcome news in rural North Carolina, where Tier One, economically distressed counties are already struggling.
On Monday, over 200 high school students returned to Parrott Academy classrooms for in-person instruction. This brought a full student body back to the independent school’s campus, as lower and middle school students returned the previous week.
The Lenoir Community College Truck Driver Training Program recently recognized its graduates.
Beginning Tuesday, Lenoir County Public Schools will provide meals to its students and their siblings through a combination of curbside-pickup sites and bus delivery locations throughout the county.
Lenoir County Public Schools is partnering with the Lenoir County Health Department to offer walk-in immunization clinics to ensure LCPS students meet state vaccination requirements for beginning the new school year. The clinics are scheduled for Aug. 31 in the Kinston High School gym lobby, Sept. 14 in the front lobby at South Lenoir High School and Sept. 21 in the front lobby at North Lenoir High School. All clinic hours are 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Only 12 public schools in North Carolina made the cut when the state recently awarded $17.6 million in grant funds to bolster instruction and student achievement. Two of them are in Lenoir County.
The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected everyone in 2020 and will affect us for years to come. I will leave some of the national debate about the economic stress, masks, hydroxychloroquine, or other issues to the pundits. On a local level, the recent potential 18-week decision by the Lenoir County School Board exposed a servant leadership deficit catching parents, teachers and even administrators by surprise.
East Carolina University will move undergraduate courses online for the remainder of the fall semester, beginning Wednesday, Aug. 26, Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson announced today.
LCPS Child Nutrition and Transportation departments are teaming up on a plan to begin delivery of meals by school bus to all public school students in Lenoir County on Sept. 1. Child Nutrition is currently operating grab-and-go curbside meal pickup sites for students and their siblings at eight schools throughout the county from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. weekdays. That program, provided under the district’s Summer Feeding Program, will continue through Aug. 31 at Northeast, Contentnea-Savannah, Moss Hill, EB Frink, Southeast, Kinston High, South Lenoir High and North Lenoir High. Curbside pickup is scheduled to end Aug. 31.
Senior year is what most kids look forward to their whole lives. The year when you finally feel on top, but it’s also the time you look back and take in everything you've been taught for the past 13 years. It is a bit overwhelming already - now add a global pandemic. I don't know what I was expecting but I am almost positive this was not it.
August 17 marked the first day of school for most students in North Carolina. Public school systems across the state have implemented remote learning, with some planning to rely on it for longer than others. The transition from face to face education to remote learning has some asking about the impact of remote learning to school funding which can be based on attendance.
Inside cars queued on public school campuses across Lenoir County this week, parents and students waited patiently while teachers worked like carhops during a lunch-hour rush, serving up iPads, collecting forms and answering questions through face coverings that, like everything else in these scenes, said health and safety considerations will shape the school year that begins Monday.
Parents are scrambling to find other options for kids to be in front of teachers and with other students, not dismissing COVID-19 risks, but acknowledging the comprehensive needs of students. Our neighboring Pitt County experienced a 60/40% in-person to remote learning sign-up, which organically provides additional space for meeting social distancing requirements. The same result would likely occur in Lenoir County, if given the option.
Free online classes are available to area high school students this fall at Lenoir Community College through the innovative Career & College Promise (CCP) dual enrollment program. Senior Vice President of Instruction and Student Services Dr. Deborah Grimes said that transfer courses are weighted the same as Advanced Placement for grade point averages on high school transcripts. “Many of our CCP students earn enough credits for a degree or credential by the time they graduate from high school. Tuition is free for all students enrolled in the pathway programs.”
