At last Thursday’s Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education meeting, the board approved three high school online learning facilitator positions. The positions (one for each high school) were created to manage online learning scheduling, testing and lab supervision. These positions were created in response to a steep increase in the number of CHCCS students who are completing coursework online and who need support from school personnel. Funds for these positions are available in the current budget’s staffing allocation.
The board also approved the plan for Governor’s School tuition. In the past, the six-week residential program has been free to those students who are selected to attend. The North Carolina General Assembly reduced the budget for this program and is now requiring payment of $500 per student to attend. Each district has been asked to create a plan for how it will make this payment.
Scholarships would be provided for those students who are selected, who may receive free and reduced lunch benefits. CHCCS can set aside $4,000 from transportation lines in the gifted-education budget to cover this cost.Â
The board received the opening-of-school report from Todd LoFrese, assistant superintendant for support services. LoFrese discussed the facilities report and highlighted work on Lincoln Center this past summer. Seawell and Carrboro received new roofs; FPG and Phillips had asbestos abatement projects. LoFrese also summarized transportation data. The average morning bus ride in the state is 24 minutes; the CHCCS average is 13 minutes — the best in the state. CHCCS ranks second-best in the state in terms of the earliest pickup time and average longest ride time.
Hazel Gibbs, Executive Director of Human Resources, shared data related to class size and staffing.
Gibbs noted the dramatic differences in the number of teachers hired this year over recent years. Gibbs said there have been few secondary teacher hires, elementary and exceptional-education needs remain strong and minority teacher hiring is down. — Staff Reports