The elements that went into designing LCPS’s largest and most successful summer school program – the 2021 Summer Enrichment Academy – will provide the basis for one of 11 presentations district educators and administrators will make at next week’s North Carolina School Board Association fall meeting in Greensboro..

School board members, educators and school administrators from across the state will get a good look at innovative programs and practices at work in Lenoir County Public Schools during next week’s fall meeting of the North Carolina School Board Association.

NCSBA has invited LCPS to make a record-setting 11 presentations during breakout sessions, which the organization calls “the heart of the conference.”

The two-day conference opens Thursday, Nov. 11, at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro.

Previously, LCPS has made as many as seven presentations at the NCSBA gathering. “Being asked to make 11 different presentations of educational innovation is outstanding. I believe it is the most in the state,” Superintendent Brent Williams said.

Scheduled presentations and the presenters from LCPS are:

Students Helping Students Succeed: An Innovative Peer Tutoring Program Partnership Between LCPS, ECU and AmeriCorps. Presented by Associate Superintendent Frances Herring and Nichelle Shuck, AmeriCorps/STEM Corps East director. In its fourth year, a peer tutoring program puts top high school seniors in freshman math and science classes as co-teachers with master teachers. Math I scores have increased and the peer tutors earn scholarship dollars for college.

Bridging the Opportunity Gap: Innovative Career Pathways and Partnerships Resulting in Guaranteed Jobs for Students. Presented by Amy Jones, director of high school education and CTE. LCPS is expanding work-based learning experiences for students to include paid youth apprenticeship positions while in high school and guaranteed jobs after graduation.

Market! Market! Market! Using a Combination of Cutting Edge and Traditional Approaches to Marketing a Collective Community Opinion that Public Schools are the Best Available Choice to Educate Children. Presented by Patrick Holmes, public information officer, and Melissa Lynch, digital learning instructional coordinator. Whether traditional or outside the box, the tools are available to help public schools market themselves as the best choice for parents among many available options.

Road to Recover the Fifth Time Around: How Floyd, Irene and Matthew influenced Florence, Dorian and Covid Response. Presented by Associate Superintendent Frances Herring and Esther Hines, executive assistant for student services. Lessons learned from prior hurricane events informed the planning and preparation for hurricanes Florence and Dorian as well as the response to Covid-19.

Looking Back to Plan Forward: LCPS One-to-One Digital Learning Journey to Increase Equity and Access for All Students. Presented by Melissa Lynch, digital learning instructional coordinator; Charles White, Media and Technology director; and Suzanna Moye, digital learning specialist at South Lenoir High School. LCPS has worked to level the playing field for all students and increased the effectiveness of learning opportunities by providing a digital device for all students and teachers in a sustainable structure that supports curriculum and instruction.

Building Stronger Family Support Structures at the High School Level: Family Engagement Structures in a High Needs High School. Presented by Kinston High School principal Kellan Bryant, KHS assistant principal Celicia Milford and Amy Jones, director of high school education and CTE. Over the past five years, Kinston High has structured its parent engagement programming to increase family engagement and build community support for students.

Flipping Parent Engagement – Community, School, Families: Taking Family Engagement Beyond the School Walls. Presented by Northeast Elementary School principal Rashard Curmon, La Grange Elementary School principal Lorene Bell, Beverly Kee, LCPS federal programs director, and Stacy Cauley, director of elementary education. School closure, social distancing and distance learning prompted schools to develop new strategies to stay connected with their families and keep the focus on relationships.

Learning by the SEA: Structuring a Summer Enrichment Academy to Address Equity, Innovation and Growth for All. Presented by Melissa Lynch, digital learning instructional coordinator, and Christy Eubanks, assistant principal at Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School. During the summer, students in Lenoir County have opportunities to engage in enrichment, STEM, language development, social emotional learning and literacy instruction. Summer staff pilot new programs and then go back and become instructional leaders in their own schools.

Dramatically Improving Student Achievement and Attendance through the Innovative Implementation of Restorative Discipline Practices. Presented by Lenoir County Early College High School principal Steve Saint-Amand, South Lenoir High School principal Elizabeth Pierce and Superintendent Brent Williams. A systemwide change in mindset has allowed LCPS to dramatically reduce out-of-school suspensions and reap the benefits of keeping students in school by posting significant increases in academic achievement.

Transforming School Board Meetings from Information Sharing/Discussion/Voting to Leading and Learning by Truly Engaging with All Stakeholders. Presented by Associate Superintendent France Herring, Lenoir County Board of Education chair Bruce Hill and Amy Jones, director of high school education. School board meetings in Lenoir County have moved from focusing solely on information and action items to strategic engagement sessions that provide board members and other stakeholders opportunities to engage in and “experience” the systemwide transformation.

Recoding our Future: Bringing Computer Science to Students in Rural Communities. From elementary school classrooms to Advanced Placement courses in high school, computer coding instruction is available throughout LCPS, helping the district build a computer science pipeline.

Next week’s meeting is the first in-person NCSBA conference in two years. In addition to business sessions and award presentations, the program features addresses by former Alabama secretary of state Beth Chapman and retired University of North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams.