ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Board of Education met Monday and voted to extend the contract of system superintendent Stephen Gainey. The board members said in a release they appreciated the difficulty of navigating the delivery of education during the Covid-19 pandemic and applauded Gainey’s dedication, long hours, and focus during the constantly changing situation.
The board extended Gainey’s contract through June 30, 2025, and awarded him a salary increase of 4%.
ASHEBORO — With eight schools currently affected by COVID-19 quarantine protocols due to contact tracing, The Randolph County Board of Education has called a special meeting for Sunday, August 29 at 2pm
In an email to the North State Journal, the county’s largest school system said its leaders would meet at the R. Alton Cox Learning Resources Center Auditorium at Randolph Community College, 629 Industrial Park Avenue, Asheboro, for the purpose of discussing the current status of COVID-19 in the Randolph County School System and COVID-19 protocols.
The system said Monday that Southeastern Randolph Middle School, Southwestern Randolph high School, Southwestern Randolph Middle School, Randleman High School, Providence Grove High School, Northeastern Randolph Middle School, Level Cross Elementary School and Grays Chapel Elementary School currently had a staff or student with a reported case of COVID-19 and that other students and staff were quarantine due to close contact.
ASHEBORO — A planned in-person graduation ceremony at Randolph Community College scheduled for Aug. 27 has been cancelled. The event was intended to celebrate students who completed degree programs in Fall 2020, Spring 2021 and Summer 2021.
The ceremony was optional for graduates. The school made the cancellation announcement Monday saying they based their decision on “new information.”
SILER CITY — The Southwestern Randolph Ladies Golf team defeated Chatham Central in varsity golf today with a nine-stroke team win. The match, played over nine holes at the Siler City Country Club, was paced by low-scorer and SWR top seed Lexi Auman who shot a 54. SWR’s 2-seed Lindsey Auman shot 56, 3-seed Caiden McDuffie shot 65, and 4-seed Taylor Edwards shot 65.
SWR Athletics also announced three changes to the ladies gold schedule on Tuesday:
Thursday, August 26 will now be at Asheboro Muncipal vs. Asheboro and Union Pines
Wednesday, September 8 will now be at Tot Hill vs. Asheboro, Providence Grove, and Southern Alamance
Tuesday, September 14 will now be a quad at Tot Hill with Union Pines being added to NW Guilford and Gray Stone
ASHEBORO — Schools across Randolph County are back in session this week. Randolph County Schools started Monday and Asheboro City Schools started Tuesday.
As of 5 pm Tuesday, Randolph County Schools had 277 students and staff members under COVID-19 quarantine protocols, according to information provided to the North State Journal by the school system.
“Our school system uses a Saturday-Friday week for contact tracing with regard to COVID-19 issues. As a result, from Saturday (8/21/21) to this point in the day on Tuesday (8/24/21), a total of 44 positive COVID-19 cases have been associated with the Randolph County School System,” said Stephen Gainey, superintendent of Randolph County Schools. “Out of these 44 cases, 12 of them have impacted a school.”
Under Randolph County Schools procedure, every person directly exposed to a positive COVID-19 case is contacted by the school’s principal and informed of their quarantine time and return date. The school’s staff members also receive an e-mail to make them aware of positive COVID-19 cases. A telephone message is sent to the school’s community to make parents aware of the positive COVID-19 case.
“Overall, from Saturday (8/21/21) to this point in the day on Tuesday (8/24/21), 277 students and/or staff members have been removed from school for a period of quarantine,” said Gainey in a statement.
Asheboro City Schools did not have anyone under quarantine to start the school year. “With today being the first day of school, there are no students that are in quarantine because of an exposure,” said Leigh Anna Marbert, Public Information Officer for Asheboro City Schools. “We will continue to update our data dashboard every Friday. The dashboard can be found on the ACS website. “
ASHEBORO — Six of the county’s seven varsity football programs begin the second week of the season undefeated following a high-scoring opening week of high school football. Here’s a look at the game outcomes from the first week of the season.
Asheboro players and coaches give head coach Blake Brewer an ice bath after they beat Randleman 20-7 giving him his first win as a head coach. PJ WARD-BROWN/NORTH STATE JOURNAL
Asheboro Blue Comets 20 Randleman Tigers 7
RANDLEMAN — The Blue Comets of Asheboro shocked the Randleman Tigers Friday night in the season opener for both teams. The in-county rivalry game, which was a non-conference game, pitted two teams coming off vastly different seasons last year. The Blue Comets were 0-7 last season while the Randleman Tigers played an undefeated regular season before bowing out of the state playoffs in the first round against St. Pauls. The Tigers entered the game with a regular season winning streak that spanned 37 games and dated back to 2017. The Tigers had roughed up the Blue Comets 43-7 slightly more than four months ago at Lee J. Stone Stadium during the COVID-altered 2020-2021 campaign.
This time the Blue Comets never trailed scoring 20 points while holding the Tigers, who were without several key starters due to injury, to just 7 points. The Blue Comets will play their home opening Friday against in-county foe Eastern Randolph and Randleman will host its second-straight home game Friday at 7:30 against Central Davidson.
RAMSEUR — The Eastern Randolph Wildcats jumped out to a 28-6 halftime lead against the Eagles of Eastern Alamance and cruised to a 34-6 win in their non-conference home opener. The Wildcats will visit Lee J. Stone Stadium this week to face the Asheboro Blue Comets in a non-conference county rivalry game.
Wheatmore Warriors 34 West Davidson Dragons 13
LEXINGTON — Wheatmore High School opened its 2021 gridiron campaign on the road against the West Davidson Dragon. The Warriors of Wheatmore never trailed in the game after opening a 14-0 lead over the Dragons and ultimately winning 34-13. The Warriors will play their first home game this Friday against the East Davidson Golden Eagles who dropped their home opener to Providence Grove 42-0.
Providence Grove Patriots 42 East Davidson Golden Eagles 0
THOMASVILLE — The Providence Grove Patriots were on the road Friday for their season opener against East Davidson. The Patriots led wire to wire to take home the 42-0 non-conference win. The Patriots will again be on the road Friday with a 7:30 pm tilt against Southern Guilford.
Southwestern Randolph Seth Baxter points to were the play is going during their first day of football practice for the 2021 season at SWR in Asheboro, NC on August 2, 2021. PJ WARD-BROWN/NORTH STATE JOURNAL
SILER CITY — The Southwestern Randolph Cougars walloped the Jordan-Matthews Jets in the season opener for both teams. The Cougars led the entire game — which took two days to play due to lighting that halted the game in the second quarter Friday night. Southwest picked up where they left off when play resumed Saturday at high noon, scoring 26 more points and preserving the shutout. The Cougars will play their home opener at Ivey B. Luck Stadium Friday against the Rowdy Rebel Bulls of South Stanly at 7:30 pm.
Chatham Central Bears 12 Trinity Bulldogs 22
TRINITY — The Trinity Bulldogs opened their season with a 22-12 home win over Chatham Central. The Bulldogs will be on the road this Friday night to face Forbush High School in non-conference action.
RANDLEMAN — Asheboro’s football team won for the first time in more than 600 days to open the season.
Now the Blue Comets will have their sights set on more conquests.
Asheboro players and coaches give head coach Blake Brewer an ice bath after they beat Randleman 20-7 and giving him his first win as a head coach Aug. 20 at Randleman. PJ WARD-BROWN/RANDOLPH RECORD
After a winless record in seven games when the 2020 season was shifted to this past spring, Asheboro might have been largely dismissed as a factor entering the new campaign.
That was far from the case in Friday night’s season-opening 20-7 conquering of Randleman.
“We proved that we got the talent,” linebacker / running back Qamelo Butler said.
Asheboro plays its home opener Friday night against Eastern Randolph, another highly regarded team.
“We proved we could step it up and fix our mistakes,” Blue Comets defensive end Charles Perry said.
Randleman cheerleaders hold a sign up prior to the season-opening game against Asheboro. PJ WARD-BROWN/RANDOLPH RECORD
The first-week result was jarring in many respects, particularly given that Randleman hadn’t lost a regular-season game since 2017. The Tigers roughed up Asheboro 43-7 slightly more than four months ago in Asheboro.
“All they’ve heard about is how good Randleman is, how good ER is,” Asheboro coach Blake Brewer said. “They have a lot to prove.”
It turns out that the Blue Comets entered the season with a certain fatigue – though not of the physical variety.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who are tired,” Brewer said, referring to players he described as fed up with losing. “They’ve had enough.”
Now, they want more of this winning.
“Just hard work and dedication,” Perry said. “No lollygagging.”
Butler began the scoring on a 9-yard run right after a successful fake punt late in the first quarter.
Asheboro’s Hakemme Butler makes a jumping catch for the touchdown over Randleman’s Nick Connor in the second quarter during the first game of the season. PJ WARD-BROWN/RANDOLPH RECORD
“I got the first touchdown of the season,” Butler said, noting it was the first time he ever scored against Randleman.
A 65-minute lightning-related delay followed, but it didn’t distract the Blue Comets.
They scored in the second quarter on Markell Graham’s 60-yard pass reception on a toss from Khyland Hadley-Lindsay on the first play following the Blue Comets’ fourth-down defensive stand. Asheboro went up 20-0 with 1:53 left in the first half on Hakemme Butler’s 28-yard catch from Hadley-Lindsay.
By game’s end, Hadley-Lindsay threw for 98 yards and rushed for 80.
There was a relentless nature to Asheboro’s defense.
“We were able to finish no matter how tired we were,” Perry said. “We had to keep pushing.”
For Randleman coach Shane Timmons, he figured a new season would bring certain challenges.
“Did I see it coming to this level? No,” he said.
Part of the issue was that the Blue Comets didn’t budge along the line of scrimmage.
“They were strong where we were weak,” Timmons said.
Randleman quarterback Christian Long throws on the run against Asheboro in the first quarter. PJ WARD-BROWN/RANDOLPH RECORD
Still, the Tigers reached the Asheboro 14-yard line in the final minute of the first half. They were stopped on downs after moving inside the Asheboro 20 early in the third quarter before finally scoring on Errvod Cassady’s 11-yard run with 5:07 to play in the quarter.
Then Randleman threatened again later in the quarter, but Quamelo Butler intercepted Christian Long’s fourth-down desperation pass.
“Our defense, they were so confident,” Brewer said.
The Tigers have turned to Long at quarterback. The sophomore has switched positions after lining up as a receiver last season.
Timmons said he liked the determination that Long showed. He said the quarterback kept a positive outlook that a turnaround would come despite possessions that fizzled. His 12-for-33 passing for 102 yards with one interception is something to focus on improving.
“There’s going to be growing pains.” Timmons said.
There were just 93 rushing yards for the Tigers, who were 0-for-6 on fourth-down conversions.
“Failure is never fatal,” Timmons said. “But it better get your attention. … There’s going to be a different atmosphere in practice. We haven’t tasted this in a while.”
ASHEBORO — Gov. Roy Cooper lifted a state requirement for schools to require masks in July, but he is ramping up pressure on local school boards to mandate masks instead.
Randolph County Schools was the fifth school system to make masks optional on July 20. Since then, a total of 62 systems voted to make masks optional. In Randolph County, Uwharrie Charter joined the county schools in making masks optional.
The Asheboro City Schools held their decision for the school board’s August 12 meeting. Just before the meeting, the school board members received a letter from Cooper urging the school to institute masks for all students and teachers, regardless of vaccine status. A divided school board voted 6-3 to require masks.
Of the 62 systems that voted to make masks optional, nine have reversed course. Many of those who changed cited Cooper’s pressure and the threat of school shutdowns.
The state’s guidance says that masked students who interact with other masked students will not be quarantined if a COVID case is found in their classroom or school. As of this week, 60 districts are requiring masks.
The Randolph County School Board met Monday night and board chairman Gary Cook reiterated the board’s commitment to making masks optional in the county’s largest school system. Cook said the county schools had also received a letter from Cooper urging a mask mandate. But, Cook said in his meeting opening statement, keeping masks optional will be a shared task by all stakeholders. “If we continue to try this option that we have [masks optional] we’re going to have to have a lot of help,” said Cook. “Teachers, parents, students are going to have wash their hands, hand sanitizer every time you see it. Stay home if you’re sick, Teachers stay home if you’re sick.”
Cook also stressed that the board’s policies and desire to make masks optional could be superseded by Cooper. “It kind of makes me feel like we’re being backed into a corner using our kids,” said Cook. “I certainly hare to see us have to mask up our kids. I hope we get the opportunity to try it. The governor can go back and mandate the masks, and it’s out of our hands.”
Following Cook’s opening comments, the school board heard from several public comments with a mix of parents supporting and opposing having masks be optional. Other commentors urged the board to not require the COVD vaccine. Individual board members responded that they would not require teachers to receive the vaccine but no vote was taken.
Superintendent Stephen Gainey provided a detailed overview of the system’s plan. Gainey reiterated that masks are optional for students and staff. He added that students riding buses are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings.
Gainey also said that six feet of distance was expected and that school field trips were cancelled until further notice. He added that schools would not have grade-level or school wide assemblies and that the system would not incentivize attendance or perfect attendance so that students and parents would stay home if they felt sick. He reminded the board that the system was not allowing visitors into school buildings until further notice. One exception to that rule is that parents will be allowed to walk Kindergartners to class for the first five days of school, and first-graders can have their parents accompany them to class the first two days of school. Gainey said first-grade parents were deprived of an opportunity last year to walk their Kindergartners into school.
Extracurricular activities, including sports, will be on a regular schedule. “This is how we’re starting,” said Gainey.
Gainey said his primary goals were five days per week of instruction, extracurricular activities operating at regular levels, and students able to eat in cafeterias. In an op-ed in the North State Journal last week, Gainey outlined those goals and said the system’s attention “will be focused on a return to the basics of school as the students arrive on school campuses throughout the school system.”
Following Gainey’s presentation to the board, Cook made it clear that the group was not reconsidering their July decision on masks. “We made the decision to go optional with the masks last month, and we’re not going to change it tonight,” said Cook. “We have no intentions of changing it.” Cook also reiterated that making masks optional did not mean the schools were opposed to masks. “The option, that’s a key word,” said Cook. “If you want to wear a mask, … that’s great, you should wear it.”
ASHEBORO — It seems like a world away for Uwharrie Charter Academy seventh graders, but helping people on another continent find fresh water tends to hit home.
For the past five years, students in Suzanne Bryant’s classes have raised money in what’s called the Iron Giraffe Challenge to support water for South Sudan.
“The students were very interested,” Bryant said. “Probably close to 700 students have been involved.”
Uwharrie Charter is recognized for its role in helping with a well-digging project in South Sudan. (Photo provided by UCA)
That’s because members of the first group to take part in the project have just entered their senior year at the school.
Because the school has sent more than $5,000, it’s considered a partial sponsor of a well. This particular site is in the village of Bazia in Western Bahr el Ghazal State in South Sudan.
The project has stemmed from seventh graders reading “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park.
“It touched my heart in a really cool way,” said student Lila Ingold, who’s now a freshman. “All they went through and how they lived. And they couldn’t even get fresh water.”
A nonprofit organization, Water for South Sudan drills wells to bring clean water to villagers.
Bryant, who teaches English language arts, said the story about the well-digging tends to grab students’ attention.
“That’s my goal is making them aware and seeing that they’re making a difference in the world,” Bryant said. “Now they’re seeing the results of all this had on the world.”
The goal each year is to raise $1,000. This is done through various fundraisers, including Pajama Days at school. Students write a speech to present to their parents on the school’s Iron Giraffe Parent Night in a quest to elicit support.
“When I started teaching this novel and having students write the speech for their parents, I wanted them to know that through their words and their voice, they could make a difference in the world,” Bryant said. “I know they believed in the power of their words each year after surpassing the $1,000 goal, but now to have the well dug and to be able to see pictures of the villagers who are benefitting from their efforts, it will make them more certain of their ability to impact the world around them.”
Ingold took it another step by selling painted pumpkins at Halloween and then Christmas ornaments. She said this is a good way to share what was learned by students and the challenging facing groups that need assistance.
“What can I do to help?” Ingold said of her endeavor to extend the fundraising outside of school.
Bryant said that’s the ideal example.
“I hope along the way (other students) are as passionate as she is,” the teacher said.
UCA superintendent Sharon Castelli said the biggest positive for her school is students realizing how they can make an impact in a global way.
“The benefit is more for all students to see what a small thing can do to help others,” Castelli said.
Because the project has involved so many students who’ve passed through middle school, it’s like a school-wide undertaking.
“Each year, a lot of teachers are very involved and asking how much we’ve raised,” Bryant said.
If Uwharrie Charter Academy reaches the $15,000 level of support, the school will be considered a full sponsor of a well. According to information provided to the school, Water for South Sudan has dug more than 450 wells, with each providing clean drinking water to 500 to 1,000 people.
ASHEBORO — Following a last-minute plea from Gov. Roy Cooper, the Asheboro City School Board voted Thursday to require all students within the school system to wear masks as the 2021-22 school year opens.
The divided board voted 6-3 to require masks. Board members Ryan Patton, Archie Priest, and Gidget Kidd voted to make mask wearing optional.
In a letter to the board dated August 12, 2021, signed by Gov. Roy Cooper, DHHS Sec. Mandy Cohen, and State Health Director Betsey Tilson, state officials urged the board to mandate masks wearing for all students and teachers, regardless of vaccine status.
Asheboro City Schools is the last system in Randolph County to make a decision on masks and the only system that will require them. Randolph County Schools and Uwharrie Charter previously voted to allow parents to make the decision on mask wearing by students and made masks options for teachers.
