The Lamplighter

Vance County Schools/Employee Newsletter/September 2014

Ethel Hunter is VCS Teacher of the Year

Ethel J. Hunter of Eaton-Johnson Middle School

Ethel J. Hunter, a veteran member of the faculty at Eaton-Johnson Middle School has been named for the second time in her career as the Teacher of the Year for Vance County Schools. She was selected for the honor in late August by a special selection committee to represent the school district as its Teacher of the Year for 2014- 2015. She also received the honor for 2006-2007. Hunter is in her 14th year of teaching with Vance County Schools. For most of her career, she has been a teacher at Eaton-Johnson. However, prior to joining the Eaton-Johnson staff she was a teacher at Northern Vance High School for a few years. She currently teaches eighth-grade language arts. She will represent the school system soon in district competition for the N.C. Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015. She was selected as the district’s Teacher of the Year from an outstanding group of teachers who each were named their school’s Teacher of the Year for the new school year. Other honored school Teachers of the Year are Casey Hall of Early College; Shelia Brockers-White of Western Vance; Jennifer Howard of Southern Vance; Connie Johnson of Northern Vance; Marguerite Alston of Aycock Elementary; Deris Mora of Henderson Middle; Wendy Short of E.O. Young Jr. Elementary; Anaiza Maghanoy of L.B. Yancey Elementary; Pat Hughes of E.M. Rollins Elementary; Wilonda Gillespie of Pinkston Street Elementary; Kelvin Henderson of New Hope Elementary; Kristy Harp of Dabney Elementary; Jenny Waite of Zeb Vance Elementary; Shelia Henderson-Wormley of Clarke Elementary and Patricia Harris of Carver Elementary. A selection panel interviewed all 16 school Teachers of the Year in late August and narrowed the nominees for VCS Teacher of the Year to six finalists. Hunter was among the finalists interviewed by a second panel a few weeks later. She was joined in the field of finalists by Harris, Johnson, Mora, Short and Waite. Hunter and her fellow nominees will be honored, along with the yet to be named VCS Principal of the Year and Assistant Principal of the Year, at a banquet in November.

VCS associates

welcome new finance officer

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Vance County Schools hosted a reception for Joey Fuqua, the district’s new finance officer, on September 17. School system associates welcomed Fuqua during the afternoon event which included good food and fellowship in the break room of the Administrative Services Center. Fuqua is shown in the photo at right, standing at left, as he enjoys a laugh with Eric Pierce, principal of Western Vance High School. School administrators, counselors, teachers and school office staff members attended the reception. Members of the Vance County Board of Education also were in attendance, as were members of the Vance County Board of Commissioners and administrators from Vance County’s administrative offices.

VCS Photo

Dabney Photo

Principal Michael Putney of Dabney Elementary School, receives donated school supplies for needy students from the Verizon location in Henderson in late August. He is shown accepting the donations from Verizon associates, Andrelle Willis, left, and Heather Rouse, right.

Donations at Dabney

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E.M. Rollins Elementary School representatives recently honored the outstanding partnership First Baptist Church of Henderson has with the school. Church members shown at left accepting a plaque from Veronica Young, counselor at E.M. Rollins, center, are from left, Lois Murphy, Carol Franklin, Nancy Strickland and Becky Faulkner. The church members assist the school through the ARK after school tutoring program, Backpack Buddies, Lunch Buddies, volunteering as mentors and tutors and much more.

Appreciated support

VCS Photo

VCS Photo

Vance County Schools hosted a regional meeting to assess the N.C. Read to Achieve Program’s effectiveness for the 2013-2014 school year and continued implementation for the new school year on August 29 in the Administrative Services Center. Claudia Sykes, the Region 3 consultant for the N.C. Department of Public Instruc- tion is shown standing at far right in the photo at right as she leads the session. Carolyn Guthrie, section chief of K-3 literacy with N.C. DPI, also attended the session to offer additional information and answer questions. There were about eight different school systems represented at the meeting, which was planned and attended by Sharon Hopper, the school system’s literacy specialist, along with Laura Rigsbee, director of Testing and Records. The Region 3 cohort meets quarterly to clarify Read to Achieve requirements, discuss best practices, track student progress and offer opportunities for questions and answers.

Vance County hosts N.C. Read to Achieve

Region 3 meeting

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Reading RODEO challenges L.B. Yancey students

Principal Clarence Hicks bends over to milk a fully operational milking cow model as he gets help from Assistant Principal Lanisha Daye during the reading RODEO kick-off event at L.B. Yancey Elementary School. Below, school staff members wear their cowboy

and cowgirl hats as they lead cheers during the rally.

VCS Photos

Administrators, teachers and school staff members at L.B. Yancey Elementary School have challenged all of their students to read a total of 25,340 books by the end of the school year. The challenge was issued during the school-wide reading RODEO kickoff held in the school’s multipurpose room on September 5. Assistant Principal Lanisha Daye led the kick-off event and is coordinating the school’s reading program throughout the school year. L.B. Yancey’s reading RODEO stands for Reading On (grade level) Demonstrating Efficiency Objectives. The kick-off event featured the western “cowboy and cowgirl” theme that will be carried out throughout the school year. The event even included an actual cow milking challenge for Daye and Principal Clarence Hicks. To the delight of the students, they milked a wooden milking cow model provided by Burgess Farms in Vance County. Daye led lively cheers and raps for the students and staff and talked about the many reading events that will be held during the year. But, her focus was on challenging the students to read as much as possible and become good readers. “We want you to read every day and develop a love for reading,” Daye said.

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VCS Photo

Henderson Middle School has received a $1,000 grant from the Walmart Distribution Center. Monika Evans, the social worker at the school, shown standing at right, and Becky Burns, the school’s nurse, left, accepted the check. Evans and Burns have combined the grant funding with a $100 grant received from the Walmart Supercenter and will use it to purchase school supplies and clothing items, especially coats, for needy students.

Walmart Distribution awards grant to HMS

VCS Photo

Michelle Goggins, a chef and instructor at The Art Institute in Durham, is shown at right as she prepares a Mexican food dish for students of Julie Sokol in the introduction to culinary arts class at Northern Vance High School on September 19. Goggins visited with three culinary arts classes at Northern Vance during the day to let students know about post-secondary education opportunities at The Art Institute and to share her cooking talents.

Art Institute instructor

leads culinary classes

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VCS Photos

Short coordinates media center facelift at E.O. Young Wendy Short, who became the media specialist this year after being a classroom teacher at E.O. Young Jr. Elementary School, coordinated a major facelift for the school’s media center prior to the beginning of the school year. Short noted that old aluminum bookshelves were removed and replaced with wooden

bookshelves. Comfortable reading areas were created for students with beanbag chairs, cushioned chairs, couches and rugs. The area behind the book checkout desk was decorated with large “ROAR” lettering to promote the school’s tiger mascot. Walls are adorned with colorful images, like palm trees, and a large, tiger face on canvass.

Wendy Short checks out a book for Kendall Sizemore, at left, and reads to Sizemore and Shamaria Zackery.

The school system hosted the first Collaborative to Support Initially Licensed Professionals meeting of the school year in early September. Ralph Evans, director of the collaborative, is shown standing at left, as he leads the session held in the Administrative Services Center computer lab. Alfreda Murphy, Tamala Anderson, Laura Richardson and Yvonne Campbell lead local efforts to support new teachers.

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Collaborative meeting

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VCS Photos

Special events start school year on positive note

The 2014-2015 school year started on a positive note for students and teachers with special events held at the 17 local public schools. The open house sessions held at each school drew large turn- outs. School partnerships began on a solid foundation for the new year with businesses, churches and community organizations again pledging their support to work with a particular school or schools. Volunteers steadily signed up to serve as mentors, tutors, Lunch Buddies for students and members of school PTAs and PTOs. Two schools enjoyed special partnerships that included nice meals and events for staff mem- bers. Cotton Memorial Presby- terian Church and City Road United Methodist Church pro- vided meals for the staff at Eaton- Johnson Middle School (shown at top right). Three churches in the Middleburg area again spon- sored a “Welcome Back to School” luncheon for all staff members at E.O. Young Jr. Ele- mentary. The event was held in the fellowship hall at Middleburg Baptist Church on August 20 (shown at bottom right). It featured a Paris theme and was highlighted by great food, fellowship and the donation of $2,500 to support the technology needs of the school. Staff members also were awarded gifts from members of the churches, along with school supplies donated for needy students.

The Lamplighter is published monthly by the Public Information Office of Vance County Schools. School news and story ideas are welcome and may be sent to:

Terri Hedrick, Public Information Officer, 492-2127, thedrick@vcs.k12.nc.us.

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First graders, teachers honor first responders

VCS Photos

Aycock Elementary School hosted a “First Responders Day” on September 11, to honor firefighters, emergency services personnel and law enforcement personnel on the 13th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Sharonda Bullock, a first-grade teacher at Aycock Elementary, led efforts to plan and coordinate the event. All first-grade students at Aycock and Clarke elementary schools attended. The students viewed three fire trucks from the Vance County Fire Department and the Cokesbury Volunteer Fire Department, as shown at top right. They also listened to presentations by firefighters about how they battle fires and by representatives of the Vance County Sheriff’s Department who talked with students about crime control and making the right decisions to be good citizens. Major Joey Ferguson of the Vance County Sheriff’s Department, is shown at bottom right, as he gives students stickers, key chains and pencils. Ambulance and police personnel were unable to attend due to emergencies. Students also made “thank you” banners to give to the firefighters and deputies who made presentations during the “First Responders Day.”