Around’Our’Schools’Shout’Outs ......Around’Our’Schools’Shout’Outs’ ’...

Around Our Schools Shout Outs September 2012 Volume IV

Grove Park Elementary Scott Lewis, P. E. Teacher and MSA Intern

On September 14th, Grove Park had our annual PBIS Assembly. Suzanne Hunt organized the event and invited the taekwondo members of Kim's White Tiger from Burlington to demonstrate the different aspects of our CHAMP motto: Caring, Honest, Accountable, Motivated, and Positive. The taekwondo performers put on quite a show and the students/staff really enjoyed our PBIS kick-‐off event. Thanks to Kim's White Tiger for assisting our students in being CHAMPS!!


Southern High Lynn Bare, English and Yearbook Advisor

As part of Homecoming week, the Student Council sponsored powder puff football on Monday night. The cheerleaders in this picture are al E.M. Holt alumni. From left to right, Jonathan Hester, Nathan Barham, Austin Greeson, Eric Foster, Conner Murray and Drew Hanford. Nathan, Austin, Eric, Conner and Drew are all seniors and taught Jonathan how to cheer so he can keep the tradition going. Conner, SHS Student Body President, served as “head cheerleader”. They delighted the crowd with their cheers, dances and stunts. In addition to the lovely “ladies” in the pictures, At right, Blake Oakley, a former Garret Gator, also cheered.

The Junior Class girls (below) were the winners!


Williams High Congratulations to Curry Bryan, WWHS Teacher of the Year!

News release provided by AT&T North Carolina: Local Burlington Teacher Helps Develop State-‐Wide Lesson Plans

North Carolina has a rich tradition of celebrating diversity, promoting unique educational experiences and recognizing heroes that have played an invaluable and unforgettable role in our state’s wonderful history. AT&T is launching “The Heritage Calendar: Celebrating The North Carolina African-‐American Experience” to honor men and women of all races who have contributed considerably to the lives and experiences of African-‐Americans in North Carolina. The 12 individuals featured in the 2013 Inaugural Edition of The Heritage Calendar all serve as role models and have all made a lasting impression in their fields and their communities. The NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is responsible for developing the lesson plans to be put in the internal system for elementary, middle and high school students to learn about each honoree and their tremendous impact on our state. The lesson plans will be part of the North Carolina State Board of Education’s 2013 curriculum. DPI is currently writing four lesson plans in four different areas of study for each honoree. These lesson plans, formed by leaders of DPI and 24 teachers from all across the state, will be implemented statewide and will be extremely valuable to student’s educational experience. Mr. Curry Bryan, Civics, Economics and U.S. Government teacher at Walter Williams High School, is representing teachers of Alamance County in developing these essential lesson plans. Congratulations and thanks, Curry!

Western High Congratulations, Kacie Anderson!

Congratulations to Kacie Anderson of Western High! Principal Todd Stephan let me know that Kacie has been named a 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student! Kacie ranks in the top 5 percent of over 1.5 million students across the nation taking the PSAT! Congratulations Kacie!


Alamance-‐Burlington Special Education PTA Join Now! ABSS SEPTA is open to everyone who has an interest in or a passion for the lives of the children who have special needs in the community. ABSS SEPTA meets during the school year on the 4th Thursday of August, October, February and May at 6pm at Central Office, 1712 Vaughn Road, in Burlington. The Exceptional Children Parent Advisory Council (ECPAC) meeting follows the end of

the SEPTA meeting at 7pm. You are invited!

On Saturday on October 6th, the Special Education PTA will hold their 2nd Annual Kick-‐Off picnic on the campus of Elon University from 11am -‐ 2 pm. Please mark your calendar and come out for an enjoyable time of fun for the children as well as an informative and connecting time for parents and families of children with special needs. Food and fun is free! There will also be some representatives of various resources present. We very much appreciate Elon University for their generosity for allowing SEPTA to use the Koury Center.

You can visit the SEPTA webpage at absssepta.org for a link to the flyer or at the ABSS SEPTA Facebook Page. We hope to see you there! Alexander Wilson Elementary Melissa Harrelson, Technology Teacher Our AWE Running Club began September 14th and meets each Tuesday and Friday. Students meet after school until 3:25 on our newly-‐paved track courtesy of our wonderful PTO! We have 55 very excited 4th and 5th graders. Everyone is welcome to come join in and you don't even have to run!


It is OK to come out and just walk. The goal is to get students and staff to be healthy and active. Those interested in following the Couch Potato to 5K Plan, the workout for the first week is to do a brisk 5 minute warm-‐up walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Our AWE Running Club was started and headed by Barb Taylor, TA. Students are excited about getting fit and earning their feet tokens to show off on their necklaces. SHOUT OUT to running club for

choosing to be active, PTO for the newly paved track and Barb Taylor for heading this up at our school!!!!


Graham High Advisory Program Chameeka Smith, AP Graham High School has started a weekly advisory program designed to promote character education, college access, academic monitoring and building relationships among students and staff. On this year, Graham High School will be hosting a monthly guest speaker for our at-‐promise 9th grade students. On this month, Mr. William Gattis, Director of Mayco Bigelow Community Center,

spoke with our students. Mr. Gattis highlighted the importance of education, provided personal reflections, displayed his personal artwork and answered students’ questions. Through our advisory program and monthly motivational guest speakers, we hope to have these students promoted to the 10th grade by the end of the year. Pictured at left is Mr. Gattis with one of his pieces of original art.


Sylvan Elementary Christine Harris, Academic Coach

The Man View: Sylvan Elementary had special guests at our recent staff meeting mini-‐sessions! Since our school is working to close the gap between our male and female students, our own male teachers shared their thoughts about how they learn best, what their favorite classroom activities were, and how their favorite teacher helped them to learn. It was a wonderful session that recapped the findings in several research articles the staff has reviewed to help us think more deeply about reaching our male students in different ways. Special thanks to our male learning experts Jamie East, Ryan Johnson, Pat Nulty, and Randy Sodano.

Alexander Wilson, A. O. and Sylvan Walking Classroom News Wayne Beam, interim principal at AW, shared this news: The Walking Classroom, a pilot program with 5th grade classrooms at 3 of our elementary schools last year, was named one of three winners in the statewide Health Innovation Challenge sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield North Carolina! Here is a link to the press release: http://mediacenter.bcbsnc.com/pr/bluecross/health-‐innovation-‐challenge-‐winners-‐239054.aspx


B .Everett Jordan Elementary Eva Sodano, Academic Coach

During the month of September, our students at B. Everett Jordan Elementary have been learning about First Responders. Each grade level adopted a different agency: Swepsonville Fire Department, Eli Whitney Fire Department, Graham Police Department, Alamance County Sherriff’s Department , Alamance County Emergency Medical Service.

Over the past few weeks, these fabulous First Responders have visited to talk with each grade level about what they do and how they impact our community. Today we held our second annual “First Responder’s Parade”

to culminate our learning experiences. Students were able to see firsthand the vehicles and people that do these important jobs. Thank you First Responders!


Eastlawn Elementary Dan McInnis, AP

Eastlawn has some exciting events coming up in October:

Friday, October 12th, Crumley-‐Roberts Law Firm will be hosting a bike safety rodeo for our students who have opted to participate in our InterSession Remediation Week. This presentation will be a part of our celebration for students who chose to come to InterSession Instruction. C-‐R will lead the presentation, provide all students with a bike helmet, and they have also agreed to donate two bikes that we can raffle off as part our of InterSession Celebration!

Tuesday, October 16th, Eastlawn will be hosting a Business Open House. The UNCG Principal Fellows and Eastlawn have partnered together to host our first community day. The Fellows’ role is to invite local businesses and organizations into the building who will observe, participate, and volunteer in classrooms. Our expectation is that visitors will be floating in and out of classrooms from 9-‐2pm. All visitors will receive a list of protocols so they do not disrupt the flow of lessons/scheduled activities.

Our goals are threefold: to expose our students to positive role models outside of the school walls; to form community partnerships; and, to promote student achievement at Eastlawn. Watch for more news in upcoming Shout Outs about our events!

Pleasant Grove Elementary Grace Cole, Media Coordinator, Technology Teacher

Pleasant Grove was excited to host a Grandparents Breakfast Friday, September 14, 2012. Grandparents were encouraged to come eat a special breakfast, provided by the PTO, with their grandchild. Then, all were invited to visit the book fair with proceeds going to the school library. There were smiles all around!


North Graham Elementary Superintendent’s Shout Out

Tiffany Cheshire, NGE AP reported: North Graham Elementary students got a terrific parting gift as they left for intersession. Thanks to generous donations from Fifth Street Books in Mebane, May Memorial Library in Burlington, and countless families in the community, every student received at least 3 books to take home with them forever! Many books were collected from various resources for a few weeks. These books were organized by staff members and displayed in the cafeteria for students to browse. There were lots of choices for the students, and everyone was able to leave with something they were excited about reading. Over intersession, students will read and complete their reading logs for our Books Over Break initiative. All students who meet the reading goal will be invited to our Reading Celebration at the end of October. After receiving new books, all of our students were looking forward to starting on their reading logs. Keep an eye on the Shout Outs to see pictures of our Reading Celebration in a few weeks!


Check out photos that Dr. Cox snapped while she visited:


Cummings High and Broadview Middle Superintendent’s Shout Out

What a week! When Cummings Football Coach Steve Johnson discovered water running down the sidewalk at Cummings on Sunday, a rescue and repair mission was quickly underway. A City of Burlington water main line under Cummings High ruptured and leaked an estimated 300,000 gallons of water into the sub-‐basement of the school, covering the heating and air conditioning units for both Broadview and Cummings with 5 feet of water in some areas. The ABSS Maintenance Department jumped on the problem, and with a huge amount of assistance and dedication from the City of Burlington and Duke Energy, managed the situation with lots of long hours and expertise. Some outside contractors were called in to assist with pumping out the tremendous amount of water first before an assessment of the damage to the HVAC units could get started. Energy experts figured out how to separate the two schools’ systems so that the BMS campus could have services and have class.

On Monday, a plan was devised to have classes for both schools on the Broadview campus since electricity and water were shut down at Cummings for an unknown length of time. The BMS and CHS administration and staff did a tremendous job of managing with the resources available to have early release for BMS students and late arrival for CHS students on the BMS campus on Tuesday through Friday, missing only one day of classes on Monday. Students will make up for Monday’s classes on Saturday with a 2-‐hour early dismissal.


Child Nutrition and Transportation were heavily involved in managing to feed and transport children in a very tight window of time each day, so hats off to all colleagues who made things look smooth on the surface as they were scrambling behind the scenes to get the job done!

Staff members from BMS and CHS worked at central office to get their lesson plans ready, run copies, etc. when they weren’t in class with their students on Tuesday through Thursday.

Shout Out to everyone for their roles in turning this situation into a success!


Deborah Sasser North Carolina School Nurse of the Year

Congratulations to Deborah Sasser, School Nurse for Southern Middle, Alamance-‐Burlington School Nurse of the Year, and now……..drum roll please…….. 2012 North Carolina School Nurse of the Year! It’s official…..Deborah was announced as the winner last night at the Thursday, September 27th state meeting. Lucy Kernodle had the pleasure of presenting Deborah with the prestigious award. Thanks, Deborah, for what you do for our students every day. We are so proud of you! CONGRATULATIONS!

Here’s the story and photo that ran in the Times-‐News back in May when Deborah was named the 2012 Alamance-‐Burlington School Nurse of the Year: http://abss.schoolwires.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=5222&ViewID=7b97f7ed-‐8e5e-‐4120-‐848f-‐a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=2942&PageID=2252

Photo courtesy of Scott Muthersbaugh/Times-‐News

Around’Our’Schools’Shout’Outs ......Around’Our’Schools’Shout’Outs’ ’...

Documents

Transcript of Around’Our’Schools’Shout’Outs ......Around’Our’Schools’Shout’Outs’ ’...