KCS Board Update
March 2016
Good News!
A BIG congrats to Emily Wolcott and Janet Hill! Emily and Janet applied for and received the 2016 Jonathan Foundation community grant. The board of directors were excited to learn about the amazing things FLW is doing with children and outdoor learning. The grant will fund us $840.00 to help with materials AL Brown high school students will need to build our outdoor storage building to be used for garden tools. We are super proud of Emily and Janet for their hard work and dedication to our school gardens and outdoor classroom. They were recognized on Monday, March 21st at the 6th annual Jonathan Foundation Gold Tournament.
KCS District-wide Professional Development Day
We hosted professional development for 402 KCS employees at over 15 sites throughout the district on March 15th. Teachers were able to select from a variety sessions including Understanding Your Standards, Teaching with Essential Questions, Formative Assessments, Standards-Based Grading and Introduction to Understanding by Design. We have begun planning our valuable district-wide professional development for the 2016-17 school year. Thank you KCS School Board for allowing us to protect time for professional development!
Mrs. Newell recognized at NCAGT
Sara Newel was recognized as a finalist for the 2016 NCAGT Outstanding Teacher of the Gifted Award.
Spring It on 5K
Hundreds of people turned out in the rain for a very successful 5K. The 5K raised funds for the Kannapolis Education Foundation.
Positive Feedback from PD
The vast majority of teachers found the professional development offered on March 15th to be beneficial.
Diversity Training
We have reached out to several diversity experts in our area. We will be meeting with them in the coming weeks to learn about how they can help KCS to celebrate diversity. Our goals include: improving relationships and communication with our stakeholders, eliminating the achievement gap, reducing the number of discipline referrals and increasing student engagement, specifically for minority students. We have begun sharing resources and information about best practices at our Principal and Curriculum meetings. This document is one that we found to be helpful.
Planning for a Busy Summer Full of Learning
We will have several important programs this summer:
- Summer feeding program at Forest Park, Kannapolis Intermediate School and the Kannapolis YMCA
- KCS Curriculum Writing and Review- June 14th-17th
- Summer School program for 4th graders- June 20th-24th
- Blended Summer School for high school students- June 20th-24th
- Kannapolis Leadership Team Retreat- June 22nd-23rd
- Summer Reading Camp for Kindergarten-3rd grade students- July 11th- August 4th
Upcoming Events District Events
Data Guru Meeting at Central Office from 9:00-12:00 on April 5th
STEM Committee at Central Office at 3:30 on April 5th
KEF Breakfast at Kannapolis Town Hall at 7:30 on April 8th
Parent Meeting regarding Magnet Programs at Central Office at 6:00 on April 12th
Principal Meeting at Central Office at 10:00 on April 20th
AIG Family Game Night at KIS from 5:30-7:30 on April 21st
Curriculum & Instruction Meeting at Forest Park from 9:00-12:00 on April 27th
KCS Leaders Serve as Experts on Panel
Josh Sain (Curriculum Coordinator at SB) and Rebecca Merriman (teacher at JP) were invited by NCDPI to serve as experts on a panel about the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) at a state conference on March 22nd. Mr. Sain spoke extensively about our KEA implementation and integration of the KEA into the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) program. Mrs. Merriman shared specific examples from her classroom about how the KEA has benefited her students. They represented KCS very well!