news-record.com

GREENSBORO — This summer, Guilford County Schools celebrated the fact that none of its schools ended up on the state’s low-performing list for the 2010-11 academic year.

But 10 schools had low enough rates of student achievement to warrant another round of locally mandated improvement plans.

The targeted schools were: Brightwood, Cone, Fairview, Parkview, Peck, Union Hill and Wiley elementary schools; Hairston and Jackson middle schools, and Smith High.

On Thursday, members of the Board of Education heard the schools’ plans for raising student achievement.

Board member Sandra Alexander thanked administrators for developing them without a mandate from the state.

“When I tell my friends in other districts that out of 120 schools we have none that are low-performing, they are simply fascinated by that,” she said. “And we could, with a record like that, sit back on our laurels.”

State education officials designate schools as low-performing if they fail to meet their growth standard for student achievement and less than half of the students perform at grade level on state exams. None of the schools fell into that category. But they all had test passing rates of less than 60 percent. The rates ranged from a low of 40.8 percent at Parkview to a high of 56.7 percent at Jackson. 

Administrators plan to take several steps this year to boost those numbers, including expanding a science lab at Fairview; offering a five-week Saturday Academy to Hairston students before state testing; and teaching reading for two hours a day at Union Hill.

Board members questioned principals about using data, handling student misbehavior, training teachers and improving student attendance.

“What is the situation in the home that prevents the child from being in school?” asked board member Nancy Routh. “What are you doing to address that?”

Hairston’s social worker checks in with truancy-prone students, said principal Rydell Harrison. And staff at Smith conduct home visits and even pursue truancy charges against students’ parents, said principal Noah Rogers.

“Teachers are so in tune with attendance that they will send me reports of students who missed three, five and seven days,” Rogers said.

In other business, the board learned that the district expects to receive $25.4 million this year to pay for school repairs, renovations and other capital expenses. Of that, $16.8 million will come from special, interest-free loans called Qualified School Construction Bonds.

The rest — $8.6 million — will come from county allocations, and state and local capital funds saved over the past three years. The district also expects influxes of dollars from the sale of a parking lot and other surplus property.

The board voted to submit additional maps to the public for comment regarding proposed attendance lines for the new Ronald E. McNair Elementary School on North Yanceyville Road. The maps would draw more students from an area south of a future urban loop.

Members also voted to submit a map that would shift a portion of Shadybrook Elementary’s feeder area. 

The map would shift students from Ferndale Middle and High Point Central High to Southwest Middle and Southwest High.

Residents can comment on the maps at two meetings: 7 p.m. Monday at Andrews High and 7 p.m. Oct. 13 at Page High.  

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com