GREENSBORO, NC -- Guilford County School board members talked about several topics at Thursday night's meeting.
TABLET DECISION
The district will now use Lenovo devices in all Guilford County Schools middle schools as a tool to personalize learning for each student next year. The district says they were selected from proposals submitted by four different companies, and went through a careful selection process that included input and device testing from GCS teachers, staff and students.
“We selected the Lenovo device because it’s durable, affordable and received great feedback,” said Robin Britt, director of instructional technology.
Britt clarified that only the devices are changing, not the curriculum or other factors that are key to success in classrooms.
“Most of what makes teaching and learning effective and inspiring are the invisible things in classrooms like relationships, culture and expectations,” said Britt. "The device is just an important tool, and its value depends on what students and teachers learn with it."
GCS staff will now negotiate the final contract with Lenovo and plan to stagger the re-start in middle schools this coming fall.
Called Personalized Achievement Curriculum and Environment (PACE), the initiative is part of a $35 million grant GCS received from the U.S. Department of Education in 2013 following a national competition in 2012.
GCS and Amplify, Inc., agreed to part ways in December. The agreement saved GCS about $3.8 million in federal grant expenditures, and allowed the district to purchase the new devices.
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SELLING PROPERTY
The board also announced plans to sell the Immaculate Heart of Mary property, located at 605 and 614 Barbee Avenue in High Point, to High Point University.
The property was originally planned as a new home for the Academy at Central, but current budget constraints have not allowed the board to move forward with the plan. The board plans to sell the property for $1,862,000. The board purchased the property for $1.75 million.
The sale is pending required legal actions. At its meeting Thursday, the board took the first step by declaring the property surplus. The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has the first option to buy the property at fair market value. If it rejects the option, the school board will publicly advertise its offer to purchase and invite upset bids. Bidders will have 10 days to submit upset bids following the state prescribed process.
The board says it will continue to review options for the Academy at Central which is currently located on High Point Central’s campus.
SCHOOL CALENDAR INPUT
The public is invited to comment on calendar options for Guilford County Schools’ non-traditional schools for the next 15 days.
The proposed calendars would be for the upcoming 2016-17 school year and were developed in alignment (where possible) with the 2016-17 traditional academic calendar, which was approved by the board of education in December.
Click on the school to see the proposed calendar:
• Greensboro College Middle College
• The Middle College at UNCG
• The Early College at Guilford
• 10-Day Extended Year (Allen Middle, Fairview Elementary, Hampton Elementary University Partnership, Oak Hill Elementary, Parkview Village Elementary and Wiley Elementary)
• Middle Colleges and Academies (The Academy at Central, The Academy at Smith, The Middle College at Bennett, The Middle College at N.C. A&T, The STEM Early College at N.C. A&T, The Middle College at GTCC-High Point, The Middle College at GTCC-Greensboro, The Middle College at GTCC-Jamestown)
• Extended Year * (Brooks Global Studies, Johnson Street Global Studies, Washington Montessori, Allen Jay Middle)
On the 20-day extended-year calendar, five inclement weather makeup days are numbered as six through 12, because the first five days missed due to inclement weather will be waived.
In the event that more school days are missed because of inclement weather than have been identified, additional makeup days will need to be determined for all GCS calendars.
Input may be shared for the next 15 days by emailing gcscomments@gcsnc.com. Feedback may also be sent by U.S. mail to Calendar Comments, Guilford County Schools, 712 N. Eugene St., Greensboro, NC 27401.
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