Friday Feature - March 3
March 3, 2023
School Board Wrap Up - March 3 meeting
During their regular meeting on Thursday, the Danville School Board made the following recognitions:
Music in our Schools Month, March 2023
Social Work Month, March 2023
The board took the following actions:
Approved personnel recommendations brought forward by Chief Human Resources Officer Dr. Natalie Halloran
During a work session following the regular meeting, the board discussed the following:
7 Period Day at George Washington High School: Dr. Hairston presented the student achievement data for GWHS before and after the 4 X 4 Block schedule was implemented. Principal Deskins presented the 7-Period Day, with a zero period option for an 8th period, as well as give an overview of the Freshman Academy. The Freshman Academy would involve freshmen taking their four core classes in the same area of the school to assist with the transition from middle to high school. An optional zero period, or “sunshine” period, would allow for students to take certain classes before the official start of the school day. .
School Climate Results for GW, Galileo, and I.W. Taylor Virtual Academy: The Virginia Department of Education School Climate Survey begins in January of each year and concludes in February. However, results are not sent to the districts until May of each year. The VDOE survey was conducted in middle school ONLY this year. Last year, the VDOE conducted the survey in high schools. Annually, we administer the same survey to the other levels that are not addressed by the VDOE (ES, HS). Dr. Melissa Newton will provide the results for our local survey.
DPS Corrective Action Plan with the VDOE: The Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is a document that describes the steps and actions that are taken by the local school division to correct findings of noncompliance delineated in the Report of Findings (ROF) that is sent to programs as a result of a monitoring site visit. Technical assistance in developing, implementing, or evaluating a CAP is through the Office of School Quality in the VDOE.
2023-2024 Budget Review: The board reviewed the Fiscal Year ‘24 budget.
The board recognized March as Music in our Schools Month. Pictured with the board are DPS music educators Carl Scales, Frenita Griffin, and Grant Poole.
The board recognized March as Social Work Month. Pictured with the board are Social Worker Sheree Walker and Director of Student Support Services Deborah Harris.
Ruby B. Archie Passport to Reading Challenge
We announced a brand new reading challenge today and we're calling on EVERYONE to participate! We've challenged the Danville community to read one million books by the end of this year through the Ruby B. Archie Passport to Reading Challenge.
Participating is easy: just read a book and log it! Danville Public Schools students are able to access our logging software Beanstack through their Single Sign On portals. The community can log their books at readdanvilleva.beanstack.org.
Student Instructions for using Beanstack
Community Instructions for using Beanstack
After registering, be sure to join the Rubie B. Archie Passport to Reading Challenge and start entering those books. Ready, set, read!
Read Across America
Yesterday, we had guest readers in every elementary classroom in honor of Read Across America Day! DPS employees, school board members, city council members, and community members read in our schools, and we thank them for their time!
Important Upcoming Dates
March 4 - DPS Division Spelling Bee Competition at 11 a.m. in Bonner's Auditorium
March 8 - Virtual Activ8 STEM Academy interest meeting at 10 a.m. Google Meet Link
March 9 & 10 - Galileo Magnet High School Spring Play "The Mousetrap" at 7 p.m. in the Langston Auditorium
March 10 - Early Release Day for students & Parent Conference Day
March 13 - Holiday for all
March 14 - 17 - Student Holidays
View the district calendar here, and remember to keep up with school-based events by regularly checking their websites and social media.
Galileo wins at state championships
This week, Galileo indoor track students competed in the State Championship. Galileo runners performed extremely well, earning state titles and crushing records.
- The boys 4x800 meter relay team (Jackson Herndon, Jackson Easley, Jalyn Jones, and Alex Gomez) picked up their third straight state championship.
- The girls 4x800 meter relay team (Camila Rodriguez, Rowan Kirk, Carol-Anne Garrett) conquered the school record by 18 seconds with their time of 10:35 to finish in 4th place.
- Alex Gomez won the state championship in the 1000m race and set a state championship record with a time of 2:35.
- Carol-Anne Garrett set a new school record in the 3200m with her 3rd place time of 11:59, after finishing 4th in the 1000m just minutes before.
- Jackson Herndon finished 4th in the mile run.
- Neil Shroff, Jackson Herndon, Jalyn Jones, and Alex Gomez finished 4th in the 4x400m relay.
- The boys team finished 7th out of 34 scoring schools, and the girls team finished 13th out of 38 scoring schools.
Forest Hills Art Show
Forest Hills Elementary students and teachers put together a beautiful art show at the Ruby B. Archie library in celebration of youth art month! The show featured a glow in the dark room, painting featuring “Starry Night over Danville," sculptures, and more.
Math Fluency Competition
On March 3, our middle school students took part in a Math Fluency Competition at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. Our sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students from Bonner and Westwood competed against each other in mental math, word problems, math jeopardy, and more to see which school would earn the most points.
O.T. Bonner Middle emerged as the overall winner for Friday's competition. Here's the breakdown by competition and grade:
Problem Solving Winners
6th Grade - Westwood
7th Grade - Bonner
8th Grade - Bonner
Jeopardy Winners
6th Grade - Westwood
7th Grade - Bonner
8th Grade - Bonner
6th Grade
Math Sprinter Winner - Dominick Cruz (Westwood)
Math Sprinter Winner Runner Up - Leonel Rodriguez (Bonner)
7th Grade
Math Sprinter Winner - Trenton Reynolds (Bonner)
Math Sprinter Runner Up - Mariah Norman (Bonner)
8th Grade
Math Sprinter Winner - Samantha Lintag (Westwood)
Math Sprinter Runner Up - Barrett Eisner (Bonner)
Biome boxes at Westwood
Mr. Smith's class made biome boxes in science class at Westwood.
First graders at Gibson plant potatoes
Scientific thinking at Schoolfield: How can we conserve energy?
Fifth grade Jaguars at Schoolfield completing projects to describe ways energy could be conserved at school. The students had great ideas and used their Scientific thinking to make hypotheses. Students made creative posters, newsletters, and brochures to advertise their ideas.
Kickball at Westwood
Coach Perdue and Ms. Ellis use Line Ball to teach Kick Ball skills at Westwood
Park Avenue Science Symposium Judging
On Friday, March 3, 2023, Park Avenue had their Science Symposium in-house judging to see who will move on to the district competition. Students spoke about their hypothesis, project process, outcomes, and answered any questions from our panel judges to explain their theme of Science will Change the World. There were seven different projects that included: Casein Plastic, Compost Pile, Dinosaur Bones, Indoor Planting, Lasers, Robots, and Robotics. Thank you to Mr. Hood, Mrs. Patterson, Ms. Pyles, and Mrs. Scott for being their amazing judges.
Gibson first graders create book
Mrs. Bryan's first grade class at Gibson had the chance to write a book about their favorite first grade memories and got it published from Studentreasures, a book publishing company. They wrote out their ideas on graphic organizers, then turned their ideas into sentences, and finally wrote them out and drew pictures to go with them. The class was very excited to follow along when the company got the book pages, how they turn the pages into a book and to hear when they had mailed our books back.
Glow Party at Schoolfield
Jaguars were invited to a PBIS Glow Party celebration to celebrate academic growth and positive behavior at Schoolfield. Each grade level enjoyed dancing, glow activities, and playing in the gym with their peers. Even the teachers and staff enjoyed themselves!! Go, Schoolfield. We LOVE to celebrate our Jaguars' accomplishments!
I.W. Taylor's Black History Month Projects
Surgery in English at Westwood
Ms. Ragsdale's class at Westwood performed "surgery" on a text by cutting out its features.
Read Across America Spirit Week at Schoolfield
Schoolfield Jaguars celebrated Read Across America with a fun-filled spirit week. Students had FUN in the SUN reading, dressed in animal prints, wore shirts that could be READ, and wore book character costumes. The Jaguars loved being read to by very special guests, including their proud administration, Ms. LaTonya Simmons (Proud Principal) and Mrs. Kelsie Hubbard (Proud Assistant Principal). Our Jaguars LOVE to read.
GW nurse aide students learn how to stop the spread of infections
GWHS Junior Nurse Aide I students had an opportunity this week to learn about the spread of infection and what measures health care providers take to help stop the the spread. This included full PPE Protection, mask, gown, goggles and gloves. They also learned how to remove dirty gloves.