Superintendent Weekly Update
from the desk of Kathy Amos
December 3, 2021
Our Why in YCS - Student Success!!
We appreciate our teachers and parents partnering together to help us meet our future reading goals in YCS. We want all students to be reading on grade level by the end of first and second grade.
Elementary teachers will be trained in the spring and next fall on The Science of Reading. Teachers will be mastering the fundamentals of reading instruction in the following areas: phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, writing and language.
Parents and Grandparents can assist us with making reading a focus at home:
Read 30 minutes a night
Purchase books and magazines for the home
Read alouds
Bed time story time
Word and Letter games while riding in the car on trips
We thank you all for attending our family reading nights at our schools!
Link to NC “Literacy At Home” Reading Initiative:
YCS Middle and High School Students Shine in Regional "Future Business Leaders of America" Competitions!
East Yancey Middle School FBLA Team!
1st Place~Keely Taylor~Financial Literacy
2nd Place~Cheyenne Blevins~FBLA Mission & Pledge
2nd Place~Lacie Weatherman~Public Speaking
3rd Place~Wendy Tapia~Financial Literacy
3rd Place~Emmet Oesch~Career Exploration
2nd Place Team~Callie Capps, Lily Buchanan, Amelia Huckabee~Spirit Cheer Slogan
3rd Place Team~Malachi Huskins, Cason Jones, B.Tyner~Web Banner
Cane River Middle School FBLA Team!
Abigail Denny- 1st Place, Public Speaking
Brianna Burleson - 1st Place, Career Exploration
Brinley Fox - 1st Place, Mission/Pledge Chloe Deyton - 1st Place, Elevator Speech Brinley Fox & Chloe Deyton - 1st Place, Web Design/Theme Addison Turner, Alyssa Turner, and Morgan Warren - 1st place, T-shirt Design Alexa Turner - 3rd Place, Mission/Pledge Carlie Ball and Aubrey Laws - 3rd Place, Cheer/Chant/Slogan Chyan Capalupo- 2nd Place, Financial Literacy Jennifer Rojas - 3rd Place, Elevator Speech Abriona McGee - Competed in Career Exploration
MHHS Students Compete in FBLA Regionals
Every Mountain Heritage student that entered a competitive event at Regionals held November 30, 2021, placed and will advance to the FBLA State Competition in March!
3rd place winner:
Public Speaking- Keanna Edwards
2nd place winners:
T-shirt design- (group) Leilani Stella, Keanna Edwards, & Halie Gouge
Theme & Web banner- (group) Carson Street, Gabe Boone, & Aidan Silvers
Intro to Business Procedures- Jaxon Simpson
Intro to Public Speaking- Layla Wilson
1st place winners:
Business Calculations- Kennedy Huskins
Business Communications- Brooke Hensley
Cheer/Chant/Slogan- (group) Cami Jo Ray, Sydney McCurry, & Riley Gouge
Spreadsheet applications- Lynlee Johnson
Word Processing- AJ Silvers
Computer Applications- Connor Fender
Intro to Parliamentary Procedures- Alex Shelton
AIM Conference brings educators together to begin ‘a new season’ of education in N.C.
For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) hosted a statewide conference for district leaders and teachers, with almost every district represented, as well as many charter schools and every lab school. Roughly 1,000 attendees spent three days at the Raleigh Convention Center for the AIM Conference, which stands for accelerate, invigorate, and motivate.
For many educators, this was their first time getting together — in-person, face-to-face — with colleagues across the state and from neighboring districts. There were hugs and handshakes, fist and elbow bumps. There was laughter amidst learning, but above all, there was collaboration.
DPI invited teams from every district that included cross-functional leaders in central office, principals, and teachers. The idea was to allow them to split up across the 93 sessions that took place Monday through Wednesday, share what they learned, and work on plans to implement new ideas or tweak current practices.
The sessions were organized along six tracks that match the two central components of DPI’s Operation Polaris (learning recovery and district and school transformation) and its four satellite foci (literacy, student support services, accountability and testing, and human capital).
“I’m hearing empathy, and I’m hearing solutions,” Truitt said. “And that, really, is the shot in the arm I know I needed and that I think my colleagues here today needed as well.”
Everywhere, it seemed, eyes smiled above people’s masks in gratitude of convening in person after so long. For Julie Pittman, lead organizer for the conference and Truitt’s teacher advisor, it finally felt like the reset that hadn’t happened when the calendar turned to 2021 amidst pandemic uncertainty.
“This conference can really be the catalyst into the next season of education,” Pittman said. “That’s really where this conference idea came from, because it doesn’t need to be about what are we doing to recover anymore? It’s what are we doing next to really reimagine what it means to be an educator in North Carolina right now.”
Each morning, attendees met with representatives from other districts from their regions in eight large rooms, seated at round tables for working sessions. Much of that time was spent setting goals and brainstorming performance metrics to measure progress on goals. A blown-up copy of the State Board of Education’s strategic plan laid on the table, and educators sat in district teams to discuss alignment of their own plans with the state’s — using sticky notes to mark overlaps and gaps.
These morning sessions, each led by one of DPI’s eight regional directors, also provided opportunities for cross-district sharing and collaboration. Educators shared what they learned the day before and how any of that information could be useful in their own districts, and then they made actionable plans to implement those practices when they returned home.
“The collaborations have been great,” said Linda Cooper, principal of Enfield Middle S.T.E.A.M. Academy in Halifax County Schools. “I’ve learned a lot. Each district, we’re all having the same issues. That networking and sharing piece, and just hearing that you’re not alone in what you’re doing, has been powerful.”
While several sessions focused on mental health and social emotional learning, literacy and implementation of the recent reading law, and teacher recruitment and retention, one of the most discussed offerings was about accountability and testing. Two sessions, entitled “Portrait of a Graduate,” offered an introduction to a statewide initiative by DPI to determine what districts believe students need to know by high school graduation to prepare them for the postsecondary plans of their choice.
The sessions came on the heels of a luncheon where six students presented to the full conference. The students spoke with courage, poise, and insight. They provoked contemplation and moved several attendees to tears.
As Deputy Superintendent David Stegall kicked off the first session of Portrait of a Graduate, he said, “I’d hire any one of those students today. And you know what I don’t know about them? I don’t know their SAT score, and I don’t know what level math they were in when they finished school.”
There was a session pressing attendees to think beyond grades and testing as measures for assessing either students or schools.
“That’s the first time in my entire career that I ever heard the State Board’s and DPI’s goals align with my own,” said Wayne Price, a 23-year veteran who is principal of Washington County Early College High School.
Superintendent Truitt called the need for accountability and assessment reform her biggest takeaway from the conference.
“All of the changes that we want to make and innovate with for kids so that school is better — [they] cannot be made until we change our testing and accountability,” she said.
Like the work sessions for the conference, DPI’s listening tours will be organized by region. Pittman said the regional approach is important for the goal of encouraging and maintaining cross-district collaboration and support.
Two years ago, these districts were sometimes competitors. They competed for resources, talent, and even students. But that was before COVID forced school systems into silos.
Going forward, maintaining cross-district collaboration is going to be essential, said former state superintendent Mike Ward, who attended on Tuesday.
“It’s been wonderful seeing folks reconvene,” Ward said. “There’s plenty to be learned online and in Zoom meetings, and that venue is going to be a terrific place for ongoing skill building and relationship building. But there’s just nothing like being face-to-face with colleagues. Aside from the fundamental new learning that takes place, the relational dimension of all of this — you can’t overstate it.”
Yancey County Schools
Email: kathyamos@yanceync.net
Website: www.yanceync.net
Location: 100 School Circle, Burnsville, NC, USA
Phone: (828) 682-6101