By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
EAST SPENCER – Members of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education opted to table the decision to approve the district improvement plan in order to give teachers a chance to provide feedback.
Alesia Burnette, the school system’s director of school improvement and Title I, presented the two-year plan during Monday’s regular board meeting.
She said a group of 50 people from throughout the school system and community have been working on the plan since June.
The plan outlines five goals:
• Provide an inviting, nurturing and safe learning environment for all students and staff.
• Provide rigorous, relevant curriculum designed to prepare students for a globally competitive world.
• Recruit, train and retain highly-qualified professionals.
• Develop and maintain strong communication and partnerships with all stakeholders.
• And align system operations for all program areas to provide efficient use of resources.
Burnette said the goals, along with 12 focus areas, have stayed the same since the plan was originally drafted in 2006.
But the strategies that fall under those goals are revised every two years.
Burnette said through the plan, the district will seek information from various stakeholders include parents, students and staff.
The plan includes updating the code of conduct on an annual basis and providing additional services for at-risk students and those dealing with issues such as bullying, depression, gangs, drug abuse and poverty.
Burnette said the plan focuses on the implementation of the state’s new common core and essential standards curriculum that is replacing the standard course of study this year.
She said literacy will continue to be one of the school system’s top priorities.
The district will also focus on providing teachers with more formative assessments.
“We need to find out exactly where students are and use that information to adjust teaching strategies,” Burnette said.
The school system wants to continue to focus its efforts in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math curriculum and provide awareness of future careers.
District officials will also look to improve communication both internally and within the community by working with local media to expand and developing a comprehensive social media and marketing plan.
Following Burnette’s presentation, school board member Mike Caskey said in the future he’d like to see the school board appoint community members to the committee that drafts the plan.
Burnette agreed with the idea.
“I think the more representatives we have and the more discussions we have around the table the better,” she said. “I think that has a lot of value.”
School board member Dr. Richard Miller then asked if teachers had seen a copy of the plan.
Burnette said the plan was shared with principals, but not every teacher.
“Is there any reason why we didn’t disseminate the plan to our 3,000 employees before it was brought to the board?” he asked. “We want it to be open for people to participate in because it’s something they’re all going to be held acceptable for.”
The board voted unanimously to hold off on approving the plan until employes have a chance to review it. They’ll discuss it again at the Oct. 3 work session, about a month before the plan must be submitted to the state education department.
Burnette told the board she’d email the plan to all accounts Monday and solicit feedback via email.
The entire plan can be found online at www.rss.k12.nc.us
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.
Twitter: twitter.com/posteducation
Facebook: facebook.com/Sarah.SalisburyPost