School Days Spring 2016

henricoschools.us

SCHOOLHenrico County Public Schools

What you need to knowPages 4-5

Page 7

Graduations and holidaysSave the dates

SCHOOLOGY IS COMING

Learn and earn credits this

SUMMERPage 3

2 MARCH 2016 SCHOOL DAYS

Hello, and welcome to spring! It’s a time of optimism and new beginnings, and I’m

delighted to share an update on a few important items within Henrico County Public Schools.

Our 2016-17 budget proposal was approved by the School Board in February. This proposal totals $448,771,628 and represents an in-crease of 1.7 percent over the cur-rent year. As is customary, we have engaged our stakeholders in the budget process, including school teams, parent groups, teachers, School Board members and county staff. We also had stakeholder meet-ings in each of our five magiste-rial districts. I’m happy to announce that the budget includes funds to lower class sizes and adds $10.8 million in funds to start planning the renovation of some of our older schools.

I’m pleased to share that the budget proposal also includes a 2.4 percent raise for HCPS employees, as well as for employees of Henrico County General Government. That

increase, pending approval by the Board of Supervisors, is expected to take effect July 1, 2016. Employ-ee raises is one topic that comes up regularly during the budget pro-cess. In Henrico County, we also have what’s known as a “unified pay plan.” That means any pay raises for school staff – such as this one – must be part of a compensation increase for all Henrico County employees.

Our budget proposal now moves up to the Board of Super-visors for further review later this year. I would like to express my appreciation to County Manager John Vithoulkas and his staff. We greatly value our partnership and the generous support of HCPS by the Henrico taxpayers, the Hen-rico Board of Supervisors, and the county manager.

Our Teacher Hiring Event in February was an enormous success! More than a thousand prospective teachers joined us at Glen Allen High School for an exciting net-working opportunity. From here,

our schools will have a head start on filling positions for the fall of 2016. Thank you to everyone who expressed an interest in becoming part of the Henrico family.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for the great care you took to keep our students safe during the inclement weather we experienced in January and February. Student safety is our highest priority, and that’s why we continuously evaluate road conditions as well as the con-ditions at all 70+ schools and offices in Henrico County when deciding whether to open or close.

Before you know it graduation season will be upon us. It’s such a pleasure to help form a foundation for the future success of our stu-dents, and we are fortunate to do it in such a caring, supportive com-munity.

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Welcome to spring!Dr. Patrick C. Kinlaw

HCPS Superintendent of Schools

ABCDAWARDS

The ABCD and Helping Hand awards recognize people who give a great deal to Henrico Schools, yet often aren’t publicly recognized.

These award-winners help make HCPS great

The ABCD Award recognizes HCPS support staff mem-bers who go “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty.” That means making a significant contribution to Henrico Schools, including: improving job efficiency; quality of services or safety; conserving resources; performing a humanitarian or heroic act; or responding proactively by anticipating needs and solving problems without specific direction. The Henrico Education Foundation and Henrico Federal Credit Union help recognize the winners by providing a check to each recipient.

January’s winner was Susan Brooks, who volunteers her time with the HCPS Department of Career and Technical Education.

January’s ABCD winners were bus driver Yenita McKie-Thomas of the GRAD/PLC Center and Melissa Howell, Ridge Elemen-tary School cafeteria manager.

Helping Hand Award

February’s winner was Melisa Perry of HCPS Pupil Transportation.

February’s Helping Hand winner was Melvin Peyton, who is a fixture at Harvie Elementary School. He also volun-teers with the Henrico Man-Up fatherhood initiative.

The Helping Hand Award is presented to volunteers who make extraordinary contributions to Henrico Schools.

Join the Henrico Education Foundation for two opportunities to celebrate and strengthen Henrico Schools:

This special evening celebrating the life of former HCPSSuperintendent William Bosherwill include remarks by former Gov. George Allen and the announcement of the WilliamBosher Memorial Endowment Fund.

Reception honoring the life of Dr. William C. Bosher Jr. (1946-2014)

An evening withHENRY WINKLER

henricofoundation.org

RSVP is required by March 30. Please call 804-652-3568.

NOV. 3, 2016

SAVE THE DATES!

APRIL 6, 2016 • 7-8 p.m.

More information to come at

ON THE COVER:

Rivers Edge Elementary School third-grade teacher Jenna Lebling shares a laugh with student Keer-tana Chinta. The Glen Allen school is in the Three Chopt District and first opened its doors for the 1994-95 school year. The Chickahominy River flowing behind the property gives Rivers Edge its name.

SCHOOL DAYS MARCH 2016 3

The Henrico School Board voted unanimously March 10 to change the name of Harry Flood Byrd

Middle School. In accordance with School Board policy, the vote initiated a period of public commentary on pro-posals for a new name for the school in western Henrico County.

A new name is expected to be in place for the start of the 2016-17 school year.

The vote came after the Board con-sidered public comments regarding a proposal by community members to rename the school. The Board held two public input sessions on the proposal, one at the middle school and one at the New Bridge Learning Center. Members

of the public also submitted opinions via an online form and by completing writ-ten comment cards.

The Board asked HCPS Superin-tendent Pat Kinlaw and division staff to identify only those expenses deemed most essential to renaming the school. Other items will be purchased over time according to their normal replacement cycles.

When it opened in 1971, the school was named for Harry Flood Byrd, a state senator, governor and U.S. senator, and the dominant figure in Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. Besides a fiscally conservative “pay-as-you-go” policy of public funding, Byrd is often regarded as the architect of Massive Re-

Board votes to change name of Harry F. Byrd Middle School

In January, the Henrico School Board elected new officers for 2016. Micky Ogburn, Three Chopt District rep-

resentative, was elected to serve as the Board’s chair. Beverly Cocke, Brook-

School Board elects new chair, vice chair

land District representative, was elected vice chair.

January also saw the addition of Roscoe Cooper III to the Board as the newly-elect-ed representative of the Fairfield District.

Ogburn, Cocke and Cooper

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SUMMER OPTIONSThink you might enjoy veterinary science or graphic arts? HCPS Career and Technical Education’s Summer PolyTech program is a great way for

students entering grades 6-12 in the fall to dip their toes into a program that intrigues them. Students take four-week mini-courses at HCPS’ Advanced Career Education Centers at Highland Springs

and Hermitage high schools. Upon completion, high school students get a half-credit for

completing the course, as well as a more information about an area of interest.

HCPS Career and Technical Education also

HCPS Summer Academy gives elementary, middle and high school students an

opportunity for enrichment, credit-recovery and remediation. Registration begins in April and deadlines vary, depending on the program.

For more information, go to henricocte.com/career-classes/summer-programs/

For more information, go to henricoschools.us/summer-academy/

Henrico Schools offers plenty of summer options to learn new skills or improve on old ones.

offers summer building trades courses for rising 10th-graders, in areas such as masonry and carpentry.

sistance. The term refers to Virginia’s strategy of opposition to federally man-dated racial integration of public schools

in the 1950s and 1960s, which resulted in some schools closing. Byrd died in 1966.


MODERN INTERFACE A K-12 friendly environment with drag and drop functionality.

NEW FEATURE !

SchoologyEVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

PowerSchool IntegrationTurning student data into action through instant feedback and seamless gradebook connection.

NEW FEATURE !

Portfolios For LearningCapture learning experiences over time.

NEW FEATURE !

IntegratedCalendar Consolidate multiple calendars into a single location.

NEW FEATURE !

Connected LearningCommunityCommunicate with students, teachers and parents, instantly.

NEW FEATURE !

BADGING RECOGNITION Easily offer incentivesfor learners.

NEW FEATURE !

App Center for LearningSeamlessly connect digital learning tools into a single location.

NEW FEATURE !

Mobile Access Learning can happen anytime, anywhere, from any device.

NEW FEATURE !

NEW FEATURES!

For more information visit:

http://blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/it/ select “Learning Platform”


Schoology may be tricky to pro-nounce (it’s skoo-luh-jee), but HCPS students, parents and teachers will become familiar with it soon. We asked Kourtney Bostain of the HCPS Instructional Technology Depart-ment to fill us in.

What is Schoology? Schoology is an integrated platform that will connect our entire learning com-munity: students, teachers and parents, in a safe, secure collaborative environ-ment. It lets teachers connect a variety of digital resources into a single location, which gives students easy access.

Will it replace School Space? Yes, Schoology will be the replacement for School Space and it will be used in all secondary schools next year. Schoology is a cloud-based solution, which School Space was not. Not only will our stu-dents and teachers have access, but we’re excited to be able to provide parent ac-counts. This was something we couldn’t do in School Space: if parents wanted access, they had to log in as the student.

Will there be a Schoology app?There is an app and it’s very powerful. In talking with students when we were pre-paring to replace School Space, they said, “Hey, we don’t always have our laptops with us, but we always have our phones.” So that was a big thing with the kids. But it’s also really powerful for teachers: they can grade, but they can also add small videos with remarks, or record feed-back, all from the mobile app. So if I’m a teacher, I can be sitting at a soccer game and I can give feedback on a paper while my kid’s team is warming up. We all now have access to the learning environment 24/7.

In School Space, you couldn’t interact with fellow students, right?With School Space you could interact with students in your course or academ-ic groups. Schoology has better commu-nication tools that are easier to use and more integrated.

It does look like social media – even down to the “likes.” So teachers can post and then students can then come in and comment and ask questions?Yes. The ease of communication and collaboration in Schoology was one of the things we really liked about it. Users not only have access to all of their aca-demic courses, but they also have access to academic groups, so if I’m a mem-ber of say, band or an honor society, those groups will have their own space.

There’s a three-column layout. If you’re enrolled in a course or a member of a group, you’ll see information about that in your recent activity feed and be able to stay up-to-date.

It’s also integrated with PowerSchool. If students have a course listed in Pow-erSchool, they’ll automatically see that course in Schoology. Teachers have the ability with one click to send grades out to PowerSchool. PowerSchool will still be the grade book of record, the master grade book for students and parents to see cumulative grades.

Is there any reason then to still use PowerSchool?Yes. PowerSchool and Schoology are dif-ferent systems that serve different pur-poses. Schoology is a platform that we use to deliver instruction and support learning. PowerSchool is the system of record that contains all of the users and course information as well as grades – cumulative grades across resources. Not everything that students do is digital, so those assignments will be entered directly into PowerSchool. The assignments com-pleted in Schoology can be automatically pushed out to PowerSchool.

A lot of teachers don’t seem to be using School Space anymore. That’s what we found. School Space as a resource is at the end of its life and the product hasn’t been updated in a couple of years. It’s clunky and dated – a lot of clicks to execute tasks. So we knew it

was time to make a transition. When we started looking around, we were looking for something with minimal clicks and a more updated interface and user experi-ence.

There are modern alternatives that work better than School Space, so many teach-ers have left that system. We hear students saying, “Well, in first period I’m in School Space, in second I’m in Google Class-room, in third I’m in a combo of things.”

We really look at Schoology as the op-portunity to get back to a common plat-form. We’re still going to use things like Google Classroom; we’ll use the best tool for whatever the need is. Now we’ll have this home base so students, parents and teachers all have a universal loca-tion that connects the digital tools and resources we use.

What were the features that set Scho-ology apart from the others options?The mobile app was a big one. The in-tegration with PowerSchool. The fact that the communication and collaboration tools are an integrated experience. They’ve also showed us plans for their updat-ed interface, which will be even sleeker and more modern. Another nice thing is that it will be branded by school: if you at-tend Godwin, Schoology will have Godwin colors and feel very “Godwin.” Schoology also has a video conferencing tool – the “big, blue button” – with elements where we could use it to provide online courses.

We really did our homework. We went to the stakeholder groups that would be impacted – primarily the students, teachers and curriculum teams – to see what they liked about School Space and what they wanted to see changed. We used that to write the RFP – request for proposals – and Schoology was the best proposal. We also had students serve on the RFP committee, which was new, in order to have that student perspective as we went through the process.

What grades will this be for? K-12 or just secondary grades?It’s a two-year implementation: The first day of 2016-17 will be the start for grades 6 through 12. The following year we’re planning

to bring elementary schools on board.

How will the timeline work?We’ll be training all secondary teachers starting April 4. We’re in the pilot phase now at Holman and Hermitage. All their students and staff are using it, and even-tually all parents. Then at all other sec-ondary schools we have pods of staff that are doing a mini-pilot in their schools.

The lights go out on School Space June 30, so we want to ensure that we’re pro-viding enough time to verify that teach-ers have everything they need from School Space before they don’t have ac-cess anymore.

Students will have their teachers and help desks to consult with, but par-ents might need more training. How can parents get up to speed?We’re developing a program for parents, and we’ll use that at the pilot schools and get feedback from parents. It will show them how to access their PowerSchool account, get the information they need to access Schoology, and then educate them on what to use and when. We’ll have all the training materials online, so parents can access what they need, and

couple that with some live training options.

I’m sure you don’t want to go through this again in a few years, so will Schoology be more adaptable?

Yes, we want it to stay around, but the nature of

technology is that you never know. We know that no matter

what, technology will change. We’re really looking at this as an opportunity to connect resources from diverse loca-tions, so that as technologies evolve, we have an easier transition.

We also like Schoology’s approach to modifying the system in that they take small steps over time. As a company, they are committed to staying current and modifying the system to best meet the needs of students and teachers, but they release updates over time. That’s something we felt like our learning com-munity would appreciate as it lessens the learning curve while keeping current.

Why do people have such a hard time pronouncing Schoology?Hah! I don’t know – they have a fun-ny video about that. Most people say “School-o-logy.” We even have some people on our team who call it that.

Schoology /skoo-luh-jee/


adjust all photos (cmyk, levels etc)

Two HCPS educators achieved certification from the National Board for Profes-sional Teaching Standards in 2015, the profession’s highest mark of accomplishment. Two others renewed their certification.

The educators were recognized in a pinning ceremony Jan. 7 at VCU’s Vlahcevic Concert Hall, along with teachers from the city of Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield and Hanover. The Henrico teachers were also recognized at the January meeting of the Henrico School Board.

Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is achieved through a rigorous, performance-based peer review process.

The newly certified HCPS educators are: • Margaret E. Marquis, librarian (Tuckahoe Middle School). • Janet Lynn Nowlin, talented and gifted program teacher (L. Douglas Wilder Middle School and Henrico, Tucker, Hermitage, Freeman and Godwin high schools).

The two renewing their certifications are: • Natalie Randolph, critical response teacher (Elko Middle School). • Carrie Cicuto, assistant principal (Glen Allen Elementary School).

Eight metro-Richmond teachers were certified in 2015. The number of teachers attaining certification was lower than in years past because of changes to the program. Certification will now take teachers longer and require more frequent renewal.

Henrico educators earn, renew National Board certification

For the third year in a row, Moody Middle School seventh-grader Tejas Muthusamy won the HCPS and re-

gional spelling bee titles and will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 22-27 at National Harbor near Washington.

Muthusamy won the HCPS bee Jan. 19. The annual bee brings together spell-ing champions from each of HCPS’ 45 el-ementary schools and 12 middle schools to determine who will represent Henrico County Public Schools at the regional com-petition. It was his fourth year as a finalist. Brookland Middle School eighth-grader

Eugene Agyapong was runner-up.Muthusamy then won the Rich-

mond Times-Dispatch Regional Spell-ing Bee March 12 at the Library of Vir-ginia. That contest features more than 30 champions representing school divi-sions from the Northern Neck to South-side Virginia, as well as private-school champions.

In 2014 and 2015, he finished in the top 10 in the national bee, out of more than 280 Scripps contestants. The Scripps bee is televised by ESPN.

The Henrico School Board has approved name changes for specialty centers at Hermitage,

Highland Springs, Mills Godwin, Va-rina and J.R. Tucker high schools. Cen-ters are schools-within-schools that provide a concentrated education in a particular area.

The division’s technical centers have new names: Highland Springs Technical Center is now the Advanced Career Edu-cation Center at Highland Springs. Hermit-age Technical Center is now called the Ad-vanced Career Education Cen-ter at Hermitage.

The new names better convey the centers’ broader mission, said Mac Beaton, director of HCPS’ Department of Career and Technical Education.

“In the past there was an asso-ciation with technical education that these were students who maybe weren’t headed to college. The name changes reflect the fact that we are truly gradu-ating students who are both career-ready and college-ready,” said Beaton. “It’s a rebranding that communicates that more clearly.”

Mills Godwin High School’s cen-ter got a shift in focus along with a new name. Formerly the Center for Sci-

ence, Mathematics and Technology, the school will now be home to the Center for Medical Sciences. The curriculum will provide advanced coursework, re-search labs and shadowing opportuni-ties for students interested in college majors like biology or biomedical engi-neering. The center hopes to be a spring-board to careers in medicine, dentistry, medical research, pharmacy, veterinary science or nursing. Much of the new

Godwin cen-ter’s core sci-ence and math curriculum will stay the same.

G o d w i n lost some of its focus on tech-nology when Deep Run High School’s Center for Information

Technology opened. That shift created an opening for new opportunities at the Godwin center.

Virginia Commonwealth Univer-sity School of Medicine will be a partner in the new center.

Two other HCPS specialty centers also recently refreshed their names. The Center for Communications at Va-rina High School is now the Center for Communications and Media Relations. J.R. Tucker High School’s Center for World Languages has been rechristened the Center for Spanish Language and Global Citizenship.

Changes in name, focus for high school specialty centers

Bee-peat: Tejas Muthusamy captures HCPS, regional spelling titles

“In the past there was an as-sociation with technical educa-tion that these were students who maybe weren’t headed to college. The name changes reflect the fact that we are truly graduating stu-dents who are both career-ready and college-ready,” said Beaton. “It’s a rebranding that communi-cates that more clearly.”

Divisionwide Spelling Bee winner Tejas Muthusamy and runner-up Eugene Agyapong.

Newly Board-certified HCPS educators Margarate E. Marquis, Tuckahoe Middle School, and Janet Lynn Nowlin, L Douglas Wilder Middle School


Bulletin Board

Watch

Channel 99 on Comcast Cable Channel 38 on Verizon FIOS

IMPORTANT CALENDAR DATESMARCH to JUNE 2016

MARCH 28-APRIL 1 : Spring Break!APRIL 20 : Student half-dayMAY 30: Memorial Day holidayJUNE 7-10 : Senior exam weekJUNE 14- 17: Student exam weekJUNE 17: Final day of classes (student half-day)JUNE 24: Offices closed Fridays for summer Get the full calendar:henricoschools.us/pdf/Calendar2015-16.pdf

1:30 p.m. : Virginia Randolph Education Center VREC campus7 p.m. : The Academy at Virginia Randolph Glen Allen High School

7 p.m. : Advanced Career Education Center at Hermitage Hermitage High School gym

7 p.m. : Advanced Career Education Center at Highland Springs Highland Springs High School gym

11 a.m. : Henrico High School3 p.m. : Highland Springs High School7 p.m. : Glen Allen High School

11 a.m. : Hermitage High School3 p.m. : J.R. Tucker High School7 p.m. : Deep Run High School

11 a.m. : Varina High School3 p.m. : Douglas S. Freeman High School7 p.m. : Mills Godwin High School

3 p.m. : Maggie Walker Governor’s SchoolCarpenter Theatre

JUNE 8

Graduation schedule 2016

JUNE 9

JUNE 13

JUNE 14 (all at Siegel Center at VCU)



JUNE 17

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Looking Back:School Days Vol.8 No.2 1975 “Reading is

to the mind what excercise is to

the body.”- Sir Richard

Steele


Henrico County School Board

Lisa A. Marshall Tuckahoe District

P.O. Box 231203820 Nine Mile RoadHenrico, VA 23223-0420804-652-3600 School Days is an award-winning publication

produced quarterly by the Department of Communications and Public Relations of HCPS. If you have questions about School Days, call 804-652-3725 or email [email protected] C. Kinlaw Superintendent

Beverly L. CockeVice Chair, Brookland District

Michelle F. “Micky” OgburnChair, Three Chopt District

John W. Montgomery Jr. Varina District

Roscoe Cooper IIIFairfield District

henricoschools.usTwitter: @HenricoSchoolsFacebook: facebook.com/henricocountypublicschools

Chris OBrion - Editor, WriterApril Sage - Graphic DesignerLarry Willis Jr. - Digital Content Manager

Sp tlight On:

Think of the teachers who inspired you, who opened your mind and unleashed

your hidden potential. Those teach-ers were almost certainly ones who felt valued and respected for their knowledge and experience.

We have asked teachers to do a job that is important to the overall health of our community and the success of our precious children. Nothing is more vital to successful schools than teachers who have the tools and freedom to identify and meet the needs of their students.

As a former teacher of more than 20 years, I know firsthand the importance of strong teacher mo-rale. Too often, I talk with teachers who feel deflated. They are paddling upstream against the constraints of standardized testing, inflexible state curriculum requirements and nonteaching duties.

When I began my teaching career, the state and local curricu-lum was a framework upon which teachers built lessons tailored to their students’ needs. Teachers were free to create and seek out outstanding lessons that captured the attention – and hopefully the

imaginations – of their students. We were encouraged to be innova-tive. If my second-grade class was studying caterpillars and became captivated, we could take extra time to delve deeper, creating lessons my kids wouldn’t soon forget.

Now, with SOL testing and rig-idly scripted state pacing-guides that push teachers along, we are squandering the creativity and pro-fessional knowledge of an entire generation of teachers.

What do teachers want? I think teachers want to be a part of the solution to problems and to con-tribute to school and divisionwide planning for success. They don’t want to be micromanaged. They ar-dently seek the support of parents and, most importantly, want to be treated as trusted professionals.

While we still have work to do, Henrico County is endeavoring to improve teacher morale and, thus, the environment in which our chil-dren learn.

In Hen-rico County, Sup e r i nte n -dent Patrick C. Kinlaw has made inclu-sion of teach-ers’ voices and improving teacher morale a key part of his tenure. Last year he created The Un-Initiative, a policy-housecleaning contest that asked HCPS employees to identify outdated and unproductive divi-sion policies. The Un-Initiative is now in its second year and going strong. The ideas that don’t win still provide HCPS staff and adminis-trators with important suggestions for improvement.

Everyone agrees that smaller class sizes benefit students and a teacher’s ability to individualize instruction. HCPS has made class size reduction a priority.

Following several years of changes to testing procedures, com-puter systems, and more, the super-intendent declared that this school year would be free from new, addi-tional demands on teachers.

I attended a series of HCPS meetings last spring that illustrat-ed the importance of prominent teacher voices. Due to state man-dates, teachers were required to change the format and content of their lesson plans. After much feed-back, teachers from every school in Henrico County, along with admin-istrators and staff members, were included on the HCPS instruc-tional planning committee. Instead of a top-down method of satisfying these state guidelines, teachers sug-gested a more flexible approach:

teachers and administra-tors would create lesson-plan formats that worked for them while meet-

ing state requirements. The “one-size-doesn’t-fit-all” approach that emerged likely increases efficiency, along with teacher morale.

On Jan. 11, we began the bian-nual stakeholder survey. The ques-tionnaire asks HCPS teachers, par-ents and students how the division can improve. During a recent visit to Tuckahoe Middle School, I was delighted when teachers indicated that they felt comfortable giving

their honest opinions on the survey and that their views were seriously considered.

At the state level, a dialogue is underway about the future of Vir-ginia’s Standards of Learning tests. It’s encouraging that teachers have been included on the State Depart-ment of Education’s SOL Innova-tion Committee. The committee gives the General Assembly recom-mendations for making the SOL tests work for students and teachers – not the other way around.

Teachers simply can’t adequate-ly respond to their students’ needs and interests when they are limited to teaching to standardized tests.

Another way to improve teach-er morale is through regular pay raises. Henrico County instituted two pay raises in 2015 for eligible teachers, totaling approximately 5 percent. I hope the trend continues because competitive salaries are in-dicators that educators are valued.

Sometimes we become so busy thinking about satisfying educa-tional requirements that we do not to stop to ask: What is the effect of what we’re doing on a student sitting in a classroom – and on the teacher who has to do what we’re asking? Posing those questions, and adjust-ing the academic program accord-ingly, is the best path to boosting teacher morale, improving schools and putting our students in the best possible position to learn and suc-ceed.

Michelle F. “Micky” Ogburn is chair of the Henrico County School Board and represents the Three Chopt District.

Students are shortchanged when teachers aren’t heardTeacher Morale

By Micky Ogburn

“What do teachers want? I think teachers want to be a part of the solution to problems and to contribute to school and divisionwide planning for success.”

Documents

School Days Spring 2016