PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Schools Board of Education met last Monday, June 3, for its monthly meeting.
It announced an update to district policy on Extra Curricular Activities and Student Organizations to allow homeschool students to participate in school athletics, so long as they are dual enrolled with Chatham County Schools.
Students are considered enrolled if they are taking at least two classes, generally through the Chatham County Schools Virtual Academy.
“We usually have a fall and a winter and a spring update, so this is a little bit different,” said Assistant Superintendent for Academic Success and Instructional Support Amanda Moran. “This particular policy spring update has 11 policies for revision. Some of these require just slight changes in the footnotes or legal reference changes but a few of these require some decisions to be made.”
The board adjusted policies that lay out the procedures and regulations for foreign exchange students, as well as updated regulations put forth by the School Boards Association.
The board was also briefed on the district's pursuit of a GEAR UP Grant.
“This is a seven-year grant cycle that could potentially generate over $2 million in funds for our school district,” Moran said. “GEAR UP started in 1998 and is a federally funded program designed to increase the number of students who are prepared to enter and succeed in post-secondary education.”
The GEAR UP program — Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs — “promotes college going culture for all students beginning in middle school and continuing through the second year of post-secondary education,” and the district doesn’t anticipate the need to commit any spending to support it.
The board also approved the Chatham County Schools’ CTE department’s local plan.
“We did our comprehensive needs assessment by surveying both teachers, students and families and we actually had teachers come in, as well our business community, to answer some questions about what pathways we should offer and how to better prepare students to have employability skills upon graduation,” said Executive Director of Secondary Education and CTE Michelle Burton. “Based on the comprehensive needs assessment, we came up with three goals.”
The goals include increasing the number of students participating in work-based learning opportunities by 10%, increasing the number of teachers obtaining industry level credentials by 10% and increasing the number of students becoming completing the program by 10%.
The board also approved a one-year, $118,000 renewal of an agreement with UNC Chapel Hill to have certified athletic trainers at Jordan-Matthews, Chatham Central and Seaforth High Schools, as well as a $86,000 contract to expand the AVID program to Chatham Early College and One Academy, on top of the 13 schools already using it.
AVID, which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, is an accelerated college prep program with its own curriculum for grades 6-12 focused on writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and reading.
The Chatham County Schools Board of Education will next meet July 8.
