Rock Hill School News for June 4

Teacher Supply Reimbursement 

The proposed allocation from the S.C. Dept. of Ed. for teacher supply reimbursement for the 2008-09 school year will be $275.  The allocation will be for all certified public school or special school classroom teachers, media specialists, and guidance counselors.

 

Graduations 2008

High school graduations will take place as follows in the Winthrop Coliseum:

     Rock Hill High, 3:00 p.m. Friday, June 6

     Northwestern, 7:00 p.m., Friday, June 6

     South Pointe, 2:00 p.m., Saturday, June 7

Each graduation will be telecast "live" on Cable 18 and replayed on June 17 or June 19 along with graduations from other high schools in York County.

 

Public Forum on Operating Budget 2008-09

A public forum will be held at 6:00 p.m. Mon., June 9, in the Board Room in the administrative office of Rock Hill Schools. The forum will be taped and televised on Cable 18 at 6:00 p.m. on June 10, 12, 17, and 19. In addition, there will be a link on the district's website to show what occurred at the forum.  

 

Rock Hill Schools' Blood Drive

Date: Thursday, June 26

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Location: Administrative Office for Rock Hill Schools, 660 N. Anderson Road

Appointments: Contact Ana Glosson at 980-2005.

 

Awards and Honors

...The Rawlinson Road Seventh Grade Chorus, under the direction of first-year teacher Colleen Rice, received a rating of superior at the Carowinds Music Festival on May 30. 

...South Pointe English teacher, Joe Koon, has been named by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation as a 2008 Joseph B. Whitehead Educator of Distinction for exemplary dedication to the field of education.

...Rebecca Partlow, Exec. Director of Personnel, was a finalist last week for the 2008 Human Resources Professional of the Year in the category for organizations of 750 employees and over, sponsored by the York County Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management and the York County Regional Chamber. 

 

Late Start Dates

Late start dates for 2008-09  school year will be Sept. 10, Oct. 8, Nov. 12, Feb. 11, Mar. 11, and Apr. 8...all on the second Wednesday of the specified month.

Education Week is Free For One Week

Summer is here and what better way to kick it off than with an all new Diplomas Count special report! From Wednesday, June 4^th through Tuesday, June 10^th edweek.org will be hosting an open house for an entire week so you can check out the new issue. Diplomas Count and everything else on edweek.org will be FREE online at edweek.org.

This year’s issue focuses on how state P-16 councils, which help guide students' progress from preschool through college, are seeking to better align educational institutions to create a more seamless transition for students from one level of education to the next.

So visit on Wednesday, June 4^th to read the report, map your school and congressional districts’ progress, and much more!

While you’re waiting for the Open House to begin, be sure to check out last year’s Diplomas Count report, free for registered guests. Just sign in and peruse the articles and State Highlight Reports. Or buy an extra copy in print to keep for your personal reference. Here are some of the more popular articles from the 2007 Diplomas Count report:

• Teachers Say NCLB Has Changed Classroom Practice – by Debra Viadero

A new study tracking the impact of the NCLB Act suggests that teachers are adjusting their practices in response to the law—but not always in ways educators and policymakers might want.

• Learning and Earning – by Christopher B. Swanson

                        An analysis showing the relationship between personal education and pay.

• ‘Soft Skills’ in Big Demand – by Catherine Gewertz

                        Interest in teaching students habits of mind for success in life is on the rise.

  So come take a look around -- and pass along the invitation to your colleagues! 

 

Best regards,

Virginia B. Edwards
Editor and Publisher

Emerson Quotes for Graduates

http://lucassdocblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/recognizing-high-honor-graduates.html
Oconee County's school superintendent Michael Lucas writes a blog. He reported on their district's academic awards banquet and two Waldo Emerson quotes he told the honor graduates. I'm including those quotes below and suggest you follow some of his blog discussions.

· “The things taught in schools are not an education, but the means of education.”

· “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

U.S. Education the Envy of the World

http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2008/06/02/us-education-the-envy-of-the-world-really/
An interesting comment from the Core Knowledge Blog:

U.S. Education the Envy of the World. Really.

Published by Robert Pondiscio on June 2, 2008 in Book Excerpt and Higher Education.

While the United States marvels at Asia’s test-taking skills, Asian governments come to the United States to figure out how to get their children to think.  So says Fareed Zakaria, a Newsweek editor.  His new book, The Post-American World, is excerpted in Foreign Affairs.  Zakaria believes the U.S. can continue shaping the world, but only if it can overcome its political dysfunction and reorient U.S. policy for a world defined by the rise of other powers.

Zakaria’s thesis is broad, naturally, but his observations on education are worth noting.  He describes higher education as the United States’ best industry, and notes “in no other field is the United States’ advantage so overwhelming….Depending on which study you look at, the United States, with five percent of the world’s population, has either seven or eight of the world’s top ten universities and either 48 percent or 68 percent of the top 50.”

Few people believe that U.S. primary and secondary schools deserve similar praise. The school system, the line goes, is in crisis, with its students performing particularly badly in science and math, year after year, in international rankings. But the statistics here, although not wrong, reveal something slightly different. The real problem is one not of excellence but of access. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the standard for comparing educational programs across nations, puts the United States squarely in the middle of the pack. The media reported the news with a predictable penchant for direness: “Economic Time Bomb: U.S. Teens Are Among Worst at Math,” declared The Wall Street Journal.

Poor and minority students score well below the U.S. average, Zakaria notes.  “This will, over time, translate into a competitiveness problem, because if the United States cannot educate and train a third of the working population to compete in a knowledge economy, this will drag down the country. But it does know what works.”

The U.S. system may be too lax when it comes to rigor and memorization, but it is very good at developing the critical faculties of the mind. It is surely this quality that goes some way in explaining why the United States produces so many entrepreneurs, inventors, and risk takers. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, until recently Singapore’s minister of education, explains the difference between his country’s system and that of the United States: “We both have meritocracies,” Shanmugaratnam says. “Yours is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy. We know how to train people to take exams. You know how to use people’s talents to the fullest. Both are important, but there are some parts of the intellect that we are not able to test well — like creativity, curiosity, a sense of adventure, ambition. Most of all, America has a culture of learning that challenges conventional wisdom, even if it means challenging authority.” This is one reason that Singaporean officials recently visited U.S. schools to learn how to create a system that nurtures and rewards ingenuity, quick thinking, and problem solving.

Letter Concerning Foreign Language in Elementary School

One of the areas that was not  going to be funded in the 08-09 budget was the expansion of foreign language in 3rd - 5th grade. We received many suggestions to find a way to get foreign language in the rest of the schools - The administration took that to task and has now found a way to make it happen. With the authors permission, below is an example of a letter the Board received on this topic. I believe in what the author has written and am thankful they took the time to write. I'm also thankful the administration worked hard to find a way to make it happen next year.

Rock Hill School District #3 Board Member
660 N. Anderson Road
Rock Hill,  SC  29731

 
Dear School Board Member:

            We are writing to express our concern for the possible budget cuts in the area of Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools.  As you are aware, the Rock Hill School District has been phasing in the Foreign Language Program in the Elementary Schools over the past several years.   The program is expected to be phased in at Ebinport, York Road, Mt. Holly, Lesslie, and Olde Point Elementary Schools for the 2008- 2009 school year.   

            While we are thankful for the quality of education our children are receiving at Ebinport Elementary School, there are opportunities they have missed due to timing of district implementations.  Foreign Language is one of those missed opportunities.  While we recognize the need to make budget cuts in certain areas of education due to lack of funding, Foreign Language is not one of those areas.   To not implement Foreign Language in the above mentioned phase in schools in the Fall would be depriving the children who attend those schools of an equal education, thus depriving them of the tools necessary to enter Middle School on a level playing field.

            We believe that if you look at this situation from various aspects an equitable solution could be found to save this program, thus enabling all elementary students in the district the same opportunity to learn a Foreign Language.   While it would be nice to not cut the funding for this program at all, we would like to offer other possible solutions.  One possible solution could be equally distributing current funding for the Foreign Language Program to all the schools, allowing the individual schools to determine where the additional funding should come from.  Another solution would be to use the current foreign language teachers on staff, dividing their hours equally among all the elementary schools.  While I am certain there are other solutions, these are just a few possible suggestions for solving this problem.

            We thank you for considering other options for the Foreign Language Program in the Elementary Schools.  We hope that an equitable solution can be found, affording all children in the Rock Hill School district equal opportunities.  We trust that you will explore all options in order to keep the commitment of phasing in the Foreign Language Program in ALL of the District’s elementary schools by the 2008 – 2009 school year.

Sincerely,

 

Rock Hill Schools Information For May 28

Compiled by Elaine Baker, Rock Hill Schools District Office

Schools Plan Fundraisers to Save Lives

Sunset Park Elementary will hold a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Friday, June 6, from 12:30-1:40 to raise money to support Zac Holford's ride across America. Zac, a friend of program teacher Cassie Cagle, is riding his bicycle 4,167 miles from S.C. to Oregon to raise awareness for the Society. Fourth-graders have planned fundraising efforts for all students at the school, and a number of faculty members have committed to riding their bikes to school on June 6.

Rock Hill High's "Bearcats 4 Life" is inviting district employees to participate in this year's Relay for Life, scheduled from 7:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. May 30-31 at Winthrop's Belk Track. Employees can walk around the track in support of cancer survivors or they can help through donations to the American Cancer Society. There are many ways to pay tribute to a loved one or friend who's waging war with cancer or is a survivor, and Mary Page, team leader of Bearcats 4 Life, can provide that information.

Saluda Trail Middle School will have its spring festival, "IB Jammin'" from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 29. Great artwork will be on display, and performances by the bands, chorus, dance group, orchestra, and drama classes will certainly please the audience. Academic classes at all grade levels will display student work, and eighth-graders will have an open microphone poetry session.

Dominic Wren, head coach for the boys' soccer team at Northwestern, which won the 4A state championship on May 17,  has been named as the S.C. Soccer Coach of the Year.

Northside Elementary School of the Arts ranks No. 2 in the state, with students in grades 1, 2, and 3 placing first in math.

India Hook Elementary will have "Art Night" from 6:30-8:00 on Monday, June 2.

Rock Hill High will hold a baseball camp June 16-19 for boys and girls ages 9-13. The cost will be $60 for the first child and $55 for the second. For full details, contact Eddie Hill by calling 981-1300/329-5419. 

Curwood Chappell, a member of the York County Council,  made a $1,500+ personal contribution to buy safety patrol equipment for Mount Holly Elementary.

Rock Hill High's Theatre Department, under the direction of Stephanie Daniel, will present the one-act play, Artistic Inspiration by Don Solidis, at 7:30 p.m. June 5. General admission will be $5 and tickets can be purchased at the door. This play was chosen at the Palmetto Dramatic Assn./S.C. Thespian Festival in February to represent S.C. at the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, NE, June 23-29.

Mark Yost, associate director of bands at Northwestern, reports that the Jazz Discovery Music Festival and Rock Hill Schools have been awarded $2,500+ from the Southern Arts Federation (SAF) for the 2009 jazz festival at Northwestern. This is the second year the festival has received funding from the SAF.

May 27 Rock Hill Schools Business Meeting Notes

Action Items:
Approved Susan Cobb as a new assistant principal at Dutchman Creek Middle School, effective July 1.  Vote was 7-0

Approved the Consent agenda items (minutes of the April 28 and May 12 meetings of the board; personnel recommendations;  overnight field trip requests from Rock Hill High and the Applied Technology Center; the administration's recommendation that the board send a letter to the S.C. Department of Education to request that the district's work on curriculum mapping serve as corrective action for the district's failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) ratings for the past five years.) Vote was 7-0

Approved a student transfer request. Vote was 4-3 (Douglas, Reid, & Rentschler were against)

Superintendent's Report:
recognized Rebound Director Hank Hammond on his recent induction into the S.C. Chapter of the National Wresting Hall of Fame;

recognized the coaches, staff, and members of the Northwestern Boys' Soccer Team on their May 17 4A state championship.

congratulated  Saluda Trail Middle School and Sullivan Middle School on being approved to offer an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program.

Announced a public forum on the proposed operating budget for the 2008-09 school year will be held at 6:00 p.m. Monday, June 9, in the Board Room in the district office.

the board will hold its next work session on Monday, June 9, in the district office

the school year will end for sixth-graders on June 4 and for all other grades on Thursday, June 5.  Friday, June 6, will be a teacher workday.

High school graduations have been scheduled in the Winthrop Coliseum as follows:
                Rock Hill High – 3 p.m. Friday, June 6
                Northwestern – 7 p.m. Friday, June 6
                South Pointe (its very first graduating class) – 2 p.m. Saturday, June 7
tickets are required for admission to any graduation.  

the Retirement Banquet will be held at 7:00 o'clock on Friday evening, May 30, in The City Club. We expect 35 retirees.

gave a presentation on the proposed operating budget for school year 2008-09. Projected expenditures exceed the projected revenue by more than $3 million. The Board  will discuss the proposed budget at its work session on June 9.  

Communications:
Stephen R. Duell address the board concerning the proposed expansion of the runway at the Rock Hill Airport to accommodate large jets. Mr. Duell expressed his concern over the safety of our schools near the airport and the effect on education from the increased sound from the jets.