By Superintendent Lynn Moody

It has been a fast year since the state board of education officially approved Rowan Salisbury Schools to be The Renewal School System for North Carolina. It has been a year of laying a strong foundation with guidance for schools to spring forward in doing the work to create their individual Renewal School Plans through the leadership of teachers.

This is a major step forward in truly personalizing learning for each child that will guide them into discovering their unique interests and goals while becoming successful and contributing citizens. It is all about doing what is best for children. We are excited to be leaders in transforming how education is created and implemented for students.

Renewal Flexibilities – School Renewal Plans

Renewal gives us more local control on how we operate our schools. This is granted through the charter-like flexibilities of:

• Calendar and scheduling
• Curriculum
• Budget
• Personnel

Through these flexibilities each school in our district is working through their Teacher-Led Design teams to create individual renewal school plans that reflect a focus on inspiring education for children. As our board of education reviews and approves these plans, we are beginning this new school year with many of our schools implementing their new renewal plans while the remaining schools will soon be brought to the board for approval.

New Calendar – Early Start for Students on Aug. 7

This has been an intense, busy, fast and short summer as we move into implementing a new calendar with an earlier start date this year.  We welcome students back on Aug. 7. This earlier start date allows our high schools to complete exams prior to the Christmas holiday break and return after the New Year to begin a brand-new semester. Our last day for students will be May 21, allowing for a longer summer break in 2020 that most families are accustomed to enjoying.

Even though our summer is shorter this year, we still provided summer enrichment programs and camps along with school nutritional programs for our children. In many ways we truly have year-round school when it comes to giving our children learning opportunities as well as meeting their essential needs throughout the year. I have been inspired at how our teachers and staff have stepped forward and worked hard to make this happen.

Renewal Directional System

We believe the best educational environment and experience to guide our children from kindergarten through graduation is through our Renewal Directional System. Three major components create a structure to lead our children to:

1. Master fundamental standards in English, math, science and social studies
2. Discover and set goals based on their unique smartness, career aspirations and personal passions,  and
3. Develop their interpersonal skills for interacting with other people in order to thrive as a productive citizen.

Our renewal work aligns with this directional system. Each of the three focus areas blend to help our children grow to be well-rounded, contributing citizens in our community and in the world. We want our children to deeply understand the things that are important in life.

Core Values

Engaging along with our directional system, we believe the following core values are essential connectors to fully provide a cohesive value system. Through personalization, we will work towards the following values:

1. Include – embracing each person’s unique gifts by collaborating, listening and respecting differences;
2. Honor – doing the right thing by demonstrating responsibility through ethics, honesty and accountability;
3. Innovate – fostering creativity by thinking differently and thinking deeply, taking risks and being original;
4. Execute – getting things done with a sense of passion and urgency by high expectations, discipline and work ethics;
5. Serve – serving our customers and understanding their unique needs by being student-centered, customer-focused and putting others first.

So, after a year of preparations, we have our direction and values, and are beginning to implement our school plans reflecting our Renewal School System. We are excited about this new school year and look forward to welcoming our students back on Aug. 7 as we work together in making this the best school year for our children.

Be sure to check our website to learn more about Renewal:  www.rssed.org/renewal