The Orange County Schools Board of Education met on Monday to discuss its 2023-24 performance metrics, the OCS Strategic Plan and its updated website.
What's new?
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Director of Student Engagement and Support Services Jessica Dreher recognized national attendance awareness month.
- “The 2024 national theme is Be Present, Be Powerful,” she said. “This powerful message reminds us of the vital connection between showing up for school and realizing our students' hopes and dreams.”
- During the public comment period, Polly Dornette, a community member, said that despite the strides Gravelly Hill Middle School has made, there is still an ongoing issue about a lack of staffing and Academically or Intellectually Gifted student support.
- During the board comment period, board member Wendy Padilla said North Carolina House Bill 10, which provides more funding for school vouchers, is a harmful bill that will negatively impact public schools and the immigrant community.
- “Devastating as it might be to many of our families and our student community, I have faith in our staff,” she said. “I trust that our district leadership, educators, counselors and social workers will do everything they can to provide support to impacted families or potential impacted families.”
What's changed?
- Chief Equity and Student Achievement Officer Sheldon Lanier gave an update on the goals and performance metrics from the 2023-24 school year.
- Schools are given a letter grade each year based on its overall school achievement and the growth students make over an academic school year as required by North Carolina General Statute, Lanier said.
- No OCS in the past two years have received an “F” grade. Additionally, OCS has reduced the number of schools that received a “D” grade from three to five, he said.
- According to the presentation, OCS saw a decrease in math and reading proficiency test scores compared to the previous year.
- “Fifth grade is not necessarily a transition year, so we’re looking closely into the data to try and figure out what may have gone wrong,” Lanier said.
- There was an increase in the number of schools meeting or exceeding test score growth, he said.
- OCS also has the highest percentage of schools achieving or meeting growth compared among surrounding districts, he said.
- 92 percent of OCS schools achieved or met growth.
- Cedar Ridge High School and New Hope Elementary School were ranked in the top 100 out of 2,593 schools, he said, at 35th and 78th respectively.
- Schools are given a letter grade each year based on its overall school achievement and the growth students make over an academic school year as required by North Carolina General Statute, Lanier said.
- Chief Academic Officer Julie Pack gave a presentation about Priority One of the OCS Strategic Plan, which is called “Teaching Tomorrow’s Learners.”
- The specific goals of Priority One include increasing the percentage of all OCS students demonstrating grade level proficiency, the percentage of schools meeting or exceeding growth and the graduation rate from 90.2% to at least 92% by 2026, she said.
- After getting the data from 2023-24 performance results, Pack proposed two addendums to Priority One: focusing resources on strengthening fifth/sixth grade and HS Math One performance, and creating common planning times for teachers in middle and high schools.
- “The power of a professional learning community is to expand the collective efficacy of the instructors in the building,” she said. “So we take strong teachers and we pair them with teachers who are learning, and grow everyone together.”
- Pack also proposed an update on the language of the goals to make them specific and measurable.
- The board unanimously approved the updated Priority One of the 2024 State Accountability Results Strategic Plan.
- OCS Executive Director of Elementary Education Ambra Wilson gave an update on the district’s 2024 summer programs.
- Some of the programs offered were focused on academics and credit recovery, while others were focused on exploration and internships, she said.
- The district hosted CTE summer internships and STEAM camps, Shannon Braxton, OCS director of career and technical education and cultural arts, said.
- These programs provide students from underrepresented communities opportunities to engage in science, technology, engineering, arts and math activities, she said.
- Next steps for the district’s future summer programs include beginning to plan for summer 2025, considering incorporating STEAM into all programs and continuing to look at data from summer 2024’s programs to determine their impacts, Wilson said.
- OCS Chief Public Information Officer Kevin Smith gave an update on the launch of the district’s new website.
- “The new website is going to help us focus more and more attention on the people who make things happen every day at our schools,” Smith said. “Students smiling, teachers hard at work, community activity and engagement — we’re going to try to make sure these are the things that you see upfront when you’re looking at the website.”
What's next?
- The board will meet next on Sept. 23 at the Whitted Human Services Building in Hillsborough.
