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National School Counselors Week
February 3rd-7th
Happy National School Counseling Week to all of our school counselors. We appreciate all you do for our students and also the support you provide our staff. Your dedication and commitment does not go unnoticed and we truly value you as part of the Craven County Schools Family!
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Arthur W. Edwards Board Spotlight
On January 29, 2020, the Craven County Board of Education and Arthur W. Edwards Elementary School spotlighted Ms. Courtney Merkel, 5th grade teacher for being a true l
eader. She continuously motivates her students, families and colleagues so they know they have the ability to succeed. Parents have stated that she is the reason their child is successful in school. Teachers have said that she has the natural gift of teaching. She is an inspiration to beginning and veteran teachers.
Ms. Merkel
takes new ideas that will influence the way her students learn and incorporates them into the working systems of her classroom. She then takes her discoveries and shares them with others in the building. She pulls from her own experiences, the experiences of her colleagues, and many educational resources, to design a well-oiled machine that we call a learning environment.
She uses classroom and individual data to monitor student progress. She has a way of making the classroom data come to life for her students. You can walk in her room and see the students analyzing their own data or conferencing with her to discover how they learn best. They can see their strengths and where they need to improve. This teacher can adjust her instruction on a dime to help a student understand the content.
This is what a few of her colleagues had to say about her:
“She is very helpful and always willing to lend a hand. She is currently furthering her education; however, she always makes time to share or help when you need it.”
“She does well under pressure. When faced with a problem, she attacks it head on and makes sure she completes the task in the correct manner. She is always willing to help fellow co-workers and put her students’ learning first. She strives to learn and practice newer and better strategies for teaching in order to see her students grow!
“She has given much time and energy to second grade and fifth grade this year. She was a true professional when asked to move up to fifth. She has never taught the upper grades, but I am sure she will spend many hours diving into the standards to teach her students to the best of her abilities. She has only been at our school a short amount of time and has strived to grow in leadership, content knowledge, and form positive peer relationships. She does her homework and research to find appropriate solutions/answers when called upon to do so. For these reasons, I admire her ability and have been grateful for her support.”
Ms. Merkel was selected by her colleagues to represent them on the School Improvement Team where she serves as our Math Goal Manager. She rises to new heights when opportunities come her way and is always willing to step out of her comfort zone and try new things. Days prior to the start of school, this teacher left the comforts of teaching 2nd grade to take on the adventures of teaching 5th grade and learning all new curriculum. Recently, she even presented to the district cabinet and is scheduled to present at the next principals meeting
It is evident that Courtney Merkel strives to meet the educational needs of the students of Arthur W. Edwards Elementary. The spotlight should definitely be on honoring Mrs. Merkel for her devotion to students, staff, and parents.
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NOMINATE A TRANSPORTATION
AND
A BUS DRIVER EMPLOYEE BY FEBRUARY 19, 2020
(
P
roudly
R
ecognizing
I
ndividuals
D
emonstrating
E
xcellence).
It is the belief of the Craven County Board of Education the employees are worthy of and deserve recognition. The employee recognition program was created to create a culture of appreciation and honor district employees for the exemplary work they do. The PRIDE Employee Recognition Program is to support the goal work of the board in keeping all employees engaged and passionate about their work that supports the academic excellence for every child in Craven County Schools. The purpose of the program is to compliment other recognition programs/opportunities we have in place and to assist in fostering a culture of appreciation within Craven County Schools that honors and acknowledges district employees as an
“essential piece”
of the important work we do.
The PRIDE Employee Recognition Program recognizes classified employees who go far beyond the call of duty, doing more than others expect and demonstrating excellence in everything they do. The board of education is seeking to spotlight those employees that maintain the high standards, pay attention to the smallest details, and
go the extra mile. Excellence means caring -- it means making effort to do more. Celebrating excellence is an important part of the Board of Education's recognition of the contribution made by the employees of Craven County Schools.
We will be selecting an employee of the month from a classified employee group each month.
Selecting a PRIDE Employee of the Month is intended to provide frequent and ongoing recognition of exemplary staff members throughout Craven County Schools. It is important to honor and recognize those who exhibit a commitment to exemplary performance, have an inherent tendency to serve beyond the call of duty, and who foster a positive learning and working environment for our staff and students.
DURING FEBRUARY WE WILL RECOGNIZE A
TRANSPORTATION EMPLOYEE AND A BUS DRIVER
.
TO NOMINATE A TRANSPORTATION AND/OR A BUS DRIVER, PLEASE GO TO THE FOLLOWING LINK:
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Requirement to Report Violent and Sexual Offenses against Children
November 7, 2019, Governor Cooper signed into law Senate Bill 199, An Act to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and to Strengthen and Modernize Sexual Assault Laws. Effective December 1, 2019, any adult who knows or should have reasonably known of certain forms of child victimization must report that information to law enforcement. SB 199 requires that “any person 18 years of age or older who knows or should have reasonably known that a juvenile has been or is the victim of a violent offense, sexual offense, or misdemeanor child abuse [must] immediately report the case of that juvenile to the appropriate local law enforcement agency.” Please review this
memo
for specific information about reporting requirements for school employees.
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Technology Updates
Technician School Assignment and Schedules:
The school based technician schedule is still a work in progress. Just a reminder that the techs are assigned to your school in the mornings. While there, they are expected to pop into the office or to the media center to let someone know that they are on campus. They are expected to work on open tech requests and to build a rapport with the staff and students. We encourage all tech requests to be submitted but we will do our best to support teachers for “impromptu” requests. We just ask that a tech request be submitted soon afterwards.
Once the technician is finished with tech requests they do have “flex time” where they can travel to support their other schools or assist other technicians. Before they leave your campus they should inform the front office or media center that they are leaving. If anything changes in their schedule (as emergencies come up) they are to make the front office staff aware.
Josh White:
Mon:
BDQ,
Tues:
NBH,
Wed:
AHB,
Thurs
: CS/CEC
Dale Monroe:
Mon:
TPE,
Tues:
GCF,
Wed:
JTB,
Thurs:
ORA
Sandy Murphy:
Mon:
BES,
Tues:
HJM,
Wed:
BME,
Thurs:
CES
Rob Eskew:
Mon:
GAB,
Tues:
TCM,
Wed
: AWE,
Thurs:
WJG
Michelle Sirmans:
Mon:
HES,
Tues:
HHS,
Wed:
HMS (ECE),
Thurs:
RBA
Barbara Dixon:
Mon:
JWS,
Tues
: WCHS,
Wed:
WCM,
Thurs:
VFL
Antuan Wallace: Help Desk, 252-514-6393 Ext 1
Thank you for supporting our efforts to provide you with the best technical support that we can.
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The Speak Up Survey is coming to CCS on Feb 24!
Have your voice heard! Share your thoughts on technology and learning and be part of the conversation (at the local and national level) through Speak Up!
Speak Up provides an easy way for students, parents and educators to participate in your local decisions about technology, as well as contribute to the state and national dialogue about digital learning through a free data collection process for your school or district.
The Speak Up survey takes about 20 minutes to complete and will be open from Feb 24 to May 22. All schools are encouraged to participate. Survey links will be pushed to iPads. Also, a URL will be provided for parents, community members, and group (Grades 3-5) participation. Flyers advertising the survey will be arriving at your school soon. To learn more visit
https://tomorrow.org/speakup/
.
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DropBox Update
On March 2, staff and students will no longer be able to access DropBox while connected to the Craven County Schools network. Dropbox provides unsecure file sharing between students and can not be safely monitored by CCS. Also, staff files stored in DropBox can not be retrieved in cases of emergencies. Staff and students have secure access to Microsoft OneDrive (Office365) and Google Drive (both are provisioned by CCS) where files should be stored and backed up regularly.
Between now and March please communicate with your school technician if you need assistance using Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or moving your files from Dropbox. We are sorry for the inconvenience but we feel this will make you, our students, and our network even safer.
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IT Help Desk is Ready!
We are excited to launch our IT Help Desk. The IT Help Desk is open from 7am to 4pm every day and is run by Antuan Wallace. When you call the Tech Center at 514-6393 wait for the prompt and press #1 to reach Antuan. If he doesn't answer, he may be helping another customer. You can leave him a message and he will get in touch with you as soon as he can. The IT Help Desk is designed to provide quick solutions for basic troubleshooting, help with Mosyle, Google (Admin Center and Email Groups), Office365, and Rapid Identity, (If you haven't downloaded the Microsoft Teams application, please do so. Soon we will be using Microsoft Teams to chat and screen share to better support you.)
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MacBook/Wi-Fi Issue:
We are aware of an issue where MacBooks are dropping wifi connection. We believe that this is only impacting MacBooks and are working on a solution with our access point provider. We hope to have the issue resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience
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Are you Up to Date?
As of 01/21/2020, here are the Operating Systems your devices should be running:
iPad: iPadOS 13.3
MacBook: macOS Catalina 10.15.2 (If you have not upgraded to Catalina yet, it is ok to wait).
AppleTV: tvOS 13.3
Please contact your school level Tech if you need help checking or updating your devices.
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Spring Literacy Symposium
I AM HUMAN: A Retrospection of 75 Years
NCETA is proud to announce the eighth annual Bob Alexander Spring Literacy Symposium on April 4, 2020. This year's symposium will be hosted at Currituck County High School in Barco, North Carolina.
Contact ncenglishteacherweb@gmail.com for more information
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Secondary
Good day math educators!
The NC Mathematics Graduation Requirements Options Charts for the 2020-21 is now available on the NC DPI Mathematics Google Site.
In the menu on the top right, go to Resources and select HS Mathematics.
The new Math Options Charts can be found in the grey bar at the top of the page.
The first link will take you to the math chart for the current school year.
The second link will take you to the Math Options Charts for the 2020-21 school year.
The new charts highlight several changes coming next year.
Some of these changes include:
·
new and revised 4th level math courses,
·
new CCRG math course
·
new CTE course options,
·
the removal of some CTE course options, and
·
a change to the OCS pathway math courses
Many of these changes are dependent on the year the student entered high school.
If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Ashe (
lisa.ashe@dpi.nc.gov
) or Joe Reaper (
joseph.reaper@dpi.nc.gov
)
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Writing Contests
The North Carolina English Teachers Association is pleased to announce the opening of The North Carolina Poet Laureate Awards and The Amy Charles Writing Competition for 2020. Deadline for entries is June 1, 2020.
The contests are open to all North Carolina students in grades 6-12. Student writers must have a staff sponsor from his or her school to enter the contest. Staff sponsors must be members of NCETA.
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Exceptional Children
EC Corner:
1. The February EC Divisional Trainings are scheduled as follows:
Elementary Training - February 18 rescheduled from February 10. This meeting will be face to face. You may attend other sessions within your region if this presents a conflict.
Location: Brinson Media Center from 3:45-5:00
Middle School Training - February 11, 2020 from 4:00-5:15 virtual
Locations: New Bern area - HJ MacDonald
Western area - West Craven Middle Room 709
Havelock area - Havelock Middle School Media Center
High School Training - February 13, 2020 from 3:00-4:15 virtual
Locations: New Bern area - New Bern High School Media Center
Western area - West Craven High School Room 401
Havelock area - Havelock High School Room 218
2. Reminder that Winter Caseloads were due on February 5, 2020 to the EC Dept.
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Michelle Keen Scholarship
NC Beta Gamma Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa
Guidelines for awarding annual Michelle Keen Scholarship
Eligibility-The Scholarship will be designed for course work leading to a degree in the field of education or for graduate work for the purpose of upgrading professional skills. Funding may also be used for National Board fees or Praxis fees. Consideration is also given to an employee of Craven County Schools who is studying college-level courses to become Highly Qualified.
In considering scholarship applications, priority will be given to persons who are past graduates of Craven County Schools or educators (teachers, administrators, or paraprofessionals) employed by a school in the Craven County School District. Special consideration will be given to those suffering unforeseen financial need due to situations (for example)such as medical needs of a close family member, job loss of spouse or loss of self-employed business income, weather events, etc. Please make this clear in the NEED section.
The Scholarship Amount is $300
A copy of the application is linked
here
with the
directions
. Please submit all applications by March 1st to Kathy Goforth at kathygo@suddenlink.net
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Nominations for the 2020 Community Fabric Awards through the Craven Community College Foundation are now open. The Foundation will be accepting nominations for all three of the awards through the nomination deadline of Thursday, February 20, 2020, at 5 p.m.
Nominations are open for all 3 Categories:
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