The Martinsville School Board approved a request to submit a grant that, if approved, would boost Career and Technical Education programs, and heard an update about upcoming SOL testing at an April 8 meeting.
Sheliah Williams, director of Clearview Early Learning Center, and Felicia Preston, director of pupil personnel and foster care/homeless for the city school division, discussed enrollment in preschool and kindergarten.
“We are looking to have 36 available spots for our three-year-olds and 68 available slots for our four-year-olds,” Williams said about pre-school registration. Children who will turn three or four by September 30 and live in the city are eligible to enroll in the Clearview Early Learning Center preschool program.
Applications can be picked up at the center or on the division’s website. Interested families can call 276-403-5800 for more information.
Kindergarten registration also is coming up, with a special event held at the school board office on April 23 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to help families enroll.
“We will have a nurse here that day that will check immunizations and physicals to make sure that you are all set before August,” said Preston. Those with questions can call Preston at (276) 403-5833.
When discussing SOL testing, Dr. Angilee Downing, assistant superintendent of instruction, said, “Our students and staff have been working hard all year and we are in that final quarter, that last push to the end of the school year.”
The SOL testing window will open on April 22 and will run until the end of the school year. Downing has been meeting with teachers to go over simulation testing to see where support is needed.
“It’s a moving target,” Schools Superintendent Dr. Zebedee Talley, Jr., said about SOL testing and the changes it has undergone.
Shauna Hines, coordinator of STEAM, CTE, and fine arts, discussed the Perkins Grant that would benefit the Career and Technical Development programs. The grant includes a combined total of $28,360.54 for professional development for career and technical development teachers. The grant would allow for the implementation of school-based enterprises in the local community that would support economically disadvantaged English learners and disabled, and non-traditional students.
The purchase of 30 laptops with a locked cart for the high school CTE courses would further help these students and cost $19,2000. The final part of the special population funding is $9,000 to help pay for a career counselor at Martinsville High School to make students more aware of CTE opportunities.
Health and Medical Sciences would receive a combined total of $5,000, with $6,000 to support instructors in the business and information technology department; $2,100 for trade and industrial education to buy new welding equipment, and $5,367 to pay teachers in the summer and after school to develop the CTE curriculum. The final $1,200 of the grant would be spent on administrative equipment. The board approved a request to submit the grant for approval.
The board recognized and gifted assistant principals in the division.
“It’s a tough job. The main responsibility of the assistant principal is to make sure that your principal has everything he or she needs,” Talley said.
Yvonne Givens, board chairman, noted that Tiffiny Gravely will be the new director of Governor’s School.
In her presentation, Laura Steere, owner of Infinity Acres Ranch, discussed the benefit of field trips to the ranch and partnering with the schools to educate students on animals. A few animals, including a kangaroo and armadillo, were in tow to meet the board and others at the meeting.
In other matters, the board:
*Recognized Odyssey of The Mind.
*Recognized The Robotics Team.
