Lake Country Visitor & Newcomer Guide 2009 - (Page 40) excellent education 40 At every level from K through college, Lake Country-area schools are marked by strong, consistent success – resulting in a bounty of state and national awards and recognitions. reat public schools may be the best-kept secret of the Lake Country area. The Roanoke Rapids Graded School District received the Governor’s Award of Excellence in Education for staff development programs. This in turn explains why their standardized test scores are consistently above average. In Mecklenburg County, Va., seven schools have been recipients of the state Board of Education’s VIP Competence to Excellence Award. Standard & Poor’s also recently noted Mecklenburg County as an Outperforming School District. This is quite an achievement, considering that only 16 of the 132 school districts analyzed in Virginia received this rating. Why the success? It’s the teachers, says Helen Hill, Mecklenburg County’s first African-American woman South Hill Advanced Knowledge Center as well as school superintendent. Southside Virginia Community “They’re highly qualified,” Hill says, “and College and Halifax they’re committed to helping the children.” Community College are very Standard & Poor’s honored Mecklenburg active in providing workforce County for achieving a higher level of student protraining programs. ficiency than peers; performing at a level that significantly exceeds statistical expectation; and for G outperforming consistently. Businesses help, too. Many pledge money to help schools. “They have been wonderful,” Hill says. Along the way, businesses have fun with such activities as the annual Adult Spelling Bee. Here, teachers and business partners form teams and take on each other in a spelling championship. In Halifax County, NC, the Roanoke Valley Business-Education Partnership helps students understand the connection between what they learn in the classroom and the skills they will later need in the workforce. A sampling of the ways the partnership strengthens these ties between business and education are practice interviews for students, internships for area educators, job shadowing and a youth leadership program. BRUNSWICK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS • Brunswick Senior High School has recently been upgraded with a new 2,000-seat gym, cafeteria, library and six new classrooms. • A Junior ROTC program was implemented in 2004, with more than 100 students. 434/848-3138, brun.k12.va.us Southern Virginia ⁄ Northern North Carolina’s Lake Country http://brun.k12.va.us
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.