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Catawba County SchoolsCatawba County Schools
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Catawba County schools could start Aug. 7 for 2012-13 year
Catawba County Schools will have about two weeks less of summer this year, after the school board approved a new school calendar for the 2012-13 year on Monday. Under the new calendar, unanimously approved at the board meeting, students will go back to school on Aug. 7. In a previously approved calendar, they were scheduled to begin school on Aug. 27. Under the new version, students will have 67 days of vacation this summer, or just over two months, compared with the 79 days under the old calendar. Students will get out of school on May 23, 2013.
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School systems' top earners change little from 2010 to 2011
Little has changed in the salaries of the employees of Catawba County’s three school systems since the Hickory Daily Record requested the information a year ago. This is due primarily to a freeze placed on pay raises by the state, which has been in place since 2009.
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Catawba County Schools begins search for new superintendent
The search for a new superintendent for Catawba County Schools has begun. In early December, current Superintendent Glenn Barger announced he was stepping down from the position on July 1. The school system entered into a $10,500 contract with the North Carolina School Boards Association to help them find a successful candidate. The association will help the school system advertise for the position, line up interviews, check references and help with surveys.
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No charges in Foard High noose incident
The material a student used to create a noose at Fred T. Foard High School on Monday was the string from a hoodie sweatshirt, according to the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office. “A student pulled it out in a classroom and made it into a noose,” said Coy Reid, Catawba County sheriff. “The teacher didn’t see it.”
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Catawba County school districts to each get a new elementary school
The three school systems in Catawba County will each receive $11 million from the county for a new elementary school in this funding cycle. The cycle runs from 2011-15. Catawba County Schools plans to build its new school in the Banoak area, close to Propst Crossroads in the Foard area, said Superintendent Glenn Barger.
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St. Stephens' JROTC cadets exhibit precision, polish
St. Stephens High School’s JROTC military inspection had several firsts this year. It was the first time the program was led by Commander Kevin Nash, who is a first-year teacher. It is the first time there was a full exhibition drill team demonstrating their skills. And it was the first time history played so prominently, with the inspection held on the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The school’s JROTC program showed off what it had learned this semester, dressed in their pressed uniforms and shined shoes. The highlight of the program was the exhibition drill team, who kicked, twirled and flipped their rifles in the air, all with a simple double tap signal from Chief Cadet Nicholas Robinson.
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Future Forward Workforce Alliance targets adult learners
Under a new arrangement, Champions will assist Education Matters with business and industry outreach.
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Barger to resign as Catawba County Schools' superintendent
Catawba County Schools must begin its search for a new superintendent, less than a year after it hired its current one. Superintendent Glenn Barger announced to the board of education Monday night that he intends to step down from the position on July 1. “I told them when I was hired that I was not a permanent solution,” he said.
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CVCC renames complex after major donor
Catawba Valley Community College is renaming its multipurpose athletic and event venue The Tarlton Complex in his honor James V. Tarlton Jr., who has given the largest single private gift in the college’s 53-year history.
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Bomb threat forces Fred T. Foard to be locked down
Authorities at Fred T. Foard High School were alerted to a bomb threat at the school around the time school began Monday, forcing the school to go into lockdown. The message was written on the wall of a boy’s bathroom, said Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid.
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Buses side-swipe, two students treated
Two students were treated at the scene after two school buses sideswiped each other on West Bandys Crossroad on Monday. A bus with students from Bandys High School and Mill Creek Middle School and a bus carrying students from the exceptional children’s program were traveling in opposite directions on the road when the mirrors from the buses hit, said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper Brent Hipp.
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Students use horror films to learn about classic literature
Students learned about irony, theme, allusion and motifs while watching horror films at St. Stephens High on Monday. An annual tradition in Hollis Whalen’s English classes, students are broken up into groups and select a literary work and turn it into a film. Students have about two weeks to work on it, and must incorporate several literary devices that their classmates can understand in their movies.
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Career conference preps seniors for working world
Hickory High senior Dametrius Lewis learned how to be confident in an interview, how to improve his resume and what to look for in a job at the career prep conference on Tuesday. High school seniors at the three school systems in Catawba County participated in the conference, which was hosted by Education Matters. The conference was designed to give the seniors a taste of what the professional world is like and how they should prepare for landing a job. “Their first impression is made in less than 10 seconds,” Lewis said of employers. “You need to speak out and make eye contact.”
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School districts rank in top 10 in state for graduation rates
Catawba County Schools was named one of the top school districts in the state for students who graduated with their four-year cohort, according to data collected by the NC Department of Public Instruction. The school district was ninth in the state, with 86.2 percent of students who entered high school in ninth grade remaining with their class and graduating four years later, in the 2010-11 school year. Catawba County Schools was about 5 percent behind the No. 1 school system, Elkin City Schools, with 91.7 percent of its students graduating.
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Leaders told more focus needed on early childhood education
Early childhood education is one of the most important investments a community can make in its future and one of the things getting underfunded by the state legislature, said Bill Millett. Millett is the president of the Charlotte-based Scope View Strategic Advantage and an advisor on the economic benefits of early childhood education. He spoke to Catawba County education and business leaders Wednesday about how critical it was that something be done to educate children at a young age.
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School aims to curb fights, bullying with new approach
Blackburn Elementary is creating a playground that no longer breeds angry words or hurt feelings. Assistant Principal Sandy Post said the school has seen problems on the playground where fights break out or with students who can’t participate in group games, like kickball or basketball.
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New mentoring program designed to help middle-schoolers
About 100 students in Catawba County will have someone to help build their self-esteem and become positive role models this year, with a pilot program launching in three middle schools this fall. Mentors will meet once a week at Grandview, Newton-Conover and River Bend middle schools, with students who are selected for the new Lunch Buddy program. The superintendents for each school system selected the school and grade level, said Lamar Mitchell, executive director for Champions of Education. “Volunteers are needed now more than ever with budget cuts,” Mitchell said. “We want to have a manageable level of students and mentors with each school.”
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Lawsuit against Catawba County Schools dismissed
A lawsuit against Catawba County Schools that was filed in federal court over a service dog has been dismissed. Four-year-old Ayden Silva suffers from symptoms from fetal alcohol syndrome. Ayden was adopted by the Silvas when he was 8 months old, according to the initial lawsuit. It said his symptoms include hyperactivity, lack of impulse control, insomnia, sensory integration difficulties, obsessive-compulsive disorder and a development disorder. His service dog, Chatham, helps Ayden with his self-injurious behavior, impulse control problems, prevents him from wandering away and other dangerous behaviors, according to the lawsuit. The dog had been trained specifically for Ayden for 11 months for distraction/redirection, retrieval of a running child, deep pressure therapy, scent and search tracking and more.
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Claremont Elementary takes leadership cues from ASU
When students walk into Claremont Elementary on Thursday, they’ll learn how to be understated leaders from the staff at the school. Principal Chris Gibbs said with the district experiencing budget cuts like every other, he wanted to do something to help his school improve. “During tough times, leadership comes out,” Gibbs said. “With the budget, we’re facing cuts in staff and personnel. On Aug. 25, we’ll have 450 kids showing up regardless of what the state does. Our leadership will need to come out.”
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School bus routes released
Bus schedules for Catawba County Schools, Hickory Public Schools and Newton-Conover City Schools.
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Mistrial declared in stalking case
The trial of a former high school teacher accused of stalking a student resulted in a hung jury early Monday afternoon. John Donadio, 60, was charged in May 2009 with one count of stalking Josh Pruitt, who was then 17 and a junior at Fred T. Foard High where Donadio was an occupational teacher. Pruitt said Donadio had called and texted him repeatedly, given him unwanted gifts, clothes, jewelry and boxers, and visited Pruitt at work almost daily in April and May. On Friday, the jury began deliberations just before 3 p.m., and continued for 90 minutes without a verdict. They came back at 10 a.m. Monday, sending a note to the judge at 11 a.m.
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Schools not charging for driver's education this year
The three school systems in Catawba County will provide driver’s education for their students at no additional cost this fall, despite cuts from the NC legislature. Catawba County Schools will no longer employ its own teachers and use its own cars for its driver’s education program, instead choosing to contract with the NC Driving School, said Steve Demiter, assistant superintendent of operations for the school system. That is the same private driving school Hickory Public Schools has contracted with for several years.
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Schools improve in state testing, but achievement gap remains
Although the schools in Catawba County improved in state testing, there is still work to be done. The biggest achievement gap is between white and minority students, and the districts in the county acknowledged that is something to improve upon. The test scores were officially released Thursday by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. The state ABCs of Accountability are usually preferred over the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) test results, because school officials believe they give a more accurate representation of how a school is doing.
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Hickory High students create murals to inspire reading at Snow Creek
The white walls of the Snow Creek Elementary media center have been empty for the two years the school has been open. When students come back next month, they’ll have something to inspire them to open their minds and perhaps a book. “I didn’t just want to put posters up,” said Ellen Sigmon, media coordinator. “At first I thought about getting big windows and putting stuff in them, but I thought painting them would be a whole lot easier. I thought we could do different genres of literature.” When Sigmon’s daughter, Caroline, heard that Sigmon wanted to paint windows at Snow Creek’s media center, Caroline wanted to paint one, Sigmon said.
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Fewer Catawba schools make yearly progress under higher standards
The state released the annual adequate yearly progress (AYP) scores Thursday for the 2010-11 school year. The tests are part of the federal No Child Left Behind program, now in its 10th year, to measure proficiency in reading and math. Only nine of 44 schools in Catawba County’s school districts made AYP, in part because of the sharp increase in the proficiency goals, the superintendents said. In 2009-10, for North Carolina public schools to make AYP in third through eighth grade, 43 were to be proficient in reading and 77 percent in math. For sophomores, 39 percent were to be proficient in reading and 68 proficient in math.
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