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School news: Principals to shift; Gainey honored; Commencement times listed

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ASHEBORO – The Randolph County School System made a few principal appointments for the next school year.

Dennis Hamilton is going from his role as principal at Randleman to become principal at neighboring Providence Grove. No replacement for the Randleman position has been named.

Corey Culp, an assistant principal at Liberty Elementary and Grays Chapel Elementary School, will be the principal at Liberty Elementary School.

Katie Henderson moves from principal at Coleridge Elementary School to become the principal at Franklinville Elementary School.

All the appointments are effective July 1.

For schools in the Randolph County School System, the last day of classes is June 9 with a two-hour early release.

Gainey honored

RCSS announced that superintendent Stephen Gainey has been named the Superintendent of the Year for the Piedmont Triad Education Consortium.

Gainey has been superintendent for RCSS since the summer of 2013.

Commencement times

Here’s a list of times for high school graduations in Randolph County. All of the remaining ceremonies are scheduled for June 9.

6 p.m.: Eastern Randolph, Trinity.

7 p.m.: Asheboro, Randleman, Southwestern Randolph, Uwharrie Ridge Six-Twelve (at Journey Church in Asheboro).

8 p.m.: Providence Grove, Wheatmore.

Note: Randolph Early College graduate was held May 19 at Journey Church in Asheboro.

Uwharrie Charter Academy’s commencement was held May 26.

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Southwestern Randolph grad Gainey picked for Caldwell Fellows

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RALEIGH – Kaitlyn Gainey of Asheboro is one of 30 first-year North Carolina State students selected as part of the Caldwell Fellows at the university.

Gainey is a graduate of Southwestern Randolph.

Caldwell Fellows are selected for demonstrating an aptitude for servant-leadership development. Students selected for the Caldwell Fellows program undergo intensive leadership development programming that includes a sophomore seminar on their personal philosophy of leadership and a capstone training at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro.

“Each year we embark on the challenge of identifying first-year NC State committed to developing their leadership and serving in North Carolina and beyond,” Dr. Janice Odom, director of the Caldwell Fellows, said in a statement. “I am delighted that the members of the Caldwell Fellows Class of 2026 are dedicated to NC State’s land grant mission of empowering themselves and others to build brighter futures for their communities.”

The program is named for former N.C. State chancellor John T. Caldwell. It’s the university’s oldest scholarship and fellowship program dedicated to leadership development.

This is the 56th class of Caldwell Fellows. There were a record 315 applicants. More than 150 Caldwell Fellows alums and friends participated in the selection process.

Gainey is the daughter of Randolph County School System superintendent Stephen Gainey.

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RCSS receives electric bus as part of pilot program

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The Randolph County School System is the first public school system in the state to receive an electric school bus as part of a pilot program funded by the North Carolina Volkswagen Settlement program.

Various school officials and representatives of other groups gathered last week to document the development.

In photo, left to right: Phillip Lanier, Randolph County Board of Education member; Michael Trent, Director of Innovative Energy Solutions, Randolph Electric Membership Corp.; Roy Parks, Western Regional Sales Manager, Carolina Thomas; Dr. Stephen Gainey, Superintendent, Randolph County School System; Elizabeth Biser, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality; Shannon Whitaker, Randolph County Board of Education member; Kevin Harrison, Section Chief, Office of District Operations, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Lighthouse Award photo

Lighthouse Award adds to Eastern Randolph’s pride

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School leaders gathered last winter when Eastern Randolph High School received the Lighthouse Award. Pictured, left to right, are Cecil Mock, former assistant principal; Cathy Waddell, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction with the Randolph County School System; principal Susan Chappell; RCSS superintendent Stephen Gainey; math teacher Ashley Inman; and retired JROTC advisor Lt. Col. Mike Williams. (Courtesy photo)

School’s deep staff of alums helps define culture

RAMSEUR – As principal Susan Chappell of Eastern Randolph High School reflected on the school receiving a major award on a statewide level during the past school year, one thing stood out.

That’s because many people responsible for the school’s success have roots within the district.

Eastern Randolph was one of two schools statewide to receive the 2021-22 Lighthouse School Award, which was presented by the North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Almost half of the school’s 78 staff members are Eastern Randolph alums.

In the nomination from the Randolph County School System, the memo pointed out that the school motto of “We are … ER” is so appropriate.

Among those with ties to the school is Chappell, a 1991 graduate.

“This is my home,” she said. “I grew up here.”

Chappell said that often data is used to promote accomplishments for a school, but she chose a different tactic.

“What I chose to focus on was our school culture and how we were able to navigate the pandemic,” Chappell said. “We wanted to show what makes our school special.”

The Lighthouse Award is presented to schools that have furthered student achievement in innovative and creative ways and nurtured a positive and supportive school and community climate.

Eastern Randolph has about 600 students in the high school, making it the smallest RCSS high school.

“I was pleased that people recognized there are various ways to demonstrate success,” Chappell said.

Chappell became an assistant principal at the school in 2015. For the past 2 ½ years, she has been the principal. A few months after moving to the new role, the pandemic hit.

That’s when she said Eastern Randolph was able to stand tall.

“We problem-solved and we got through it and we’re better for it,” Chappell said.

That involved taking care of staff and students.

Staff members delivered food and study materials to students. They helped establish internet hot spots in the community, particularly because of the many rural areas within the district.

But the impact extended beyond those types of services.

“Making sure we were meeting their social and emotional needs,” Chappell said. “That need is still out there. It opened our eyes to some of the things our students are dealing with.”

Through receiving the Lighthouse Award, Chappell said she hopes that school pride has flourished and that what was achieved the past couple of years can be expanded.

“ ‘We are … ER’ may be a simple motto, but its meaning has roots that run deep,” the RCSS nomination read. “Those roots will ensure the success and fulfillment of generations of Wildcats to come.”

The other Lighthouse Award recipient for the past school year was Cedar Ridge Elementary School of the Surry County Schools.

school bus picking up kids

School’s start with some students and staff under quarantine

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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. “

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GAINEY: Welcome Back

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Dear Randolph County School System Students, Staff Members, and Parents:

I want to “welcome everyone back” to the Randolph County School System for the 2021-2022 school year. Please know that I am very excited about the return of our students to school campuses. While our school system has been confronted with many challenges during the past 17 months, I am confident in the fact that many exciting developments for our students, staff members, parents, and members of the surrounding community will occur during the 2021-2022 school year. Nonetheless, our attention will be focused on a return to the basics of school as the students arrive on school campuses throughout the school system.
Several positive changes will be in place at the start of the 2021-2022 school year in comparison to the end of the 2020-2021 school year. Examples of these positive changes are noted below:

  1. Students at all levels of school ( elementary school, middle school, and high school) will attend school for five days of in-person instruction per week at the same time.
  2. Middle school athletics, high school athletics, performing arts events, and all other extracurricular activities will operate according to the regular procedures associated with each event.
  3. The school cafeteria will be used by students for lunch at all levels of school ( elementary school, middle school, and high school).

Despite the previously-noted positive changes, many safety standards will have to remain in place until further notice in our efforts to have school while dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, school trips/field trips as well as grade level assemblies and/or school-wide assemblies will not be permitted. Furthermore, school visits by parents and other visitors, such as guest speakers, will not be permitted. However, please remember that these safety measures, as well as several other ones, will be in place until further notice. As conditions with the COVID-19 pandemic change, these standards will be assessed and revised as needed. Hopefully, these revisions will be caused by positive developments with the COVID-19 pandemic and the eventual removal of these safety restrictions.

I also want to share two other positive developments in our school system. To begin with, during the 2021-2022 school year, our school system will grow from 31 schools to 32 schools. The new school, The Virtual Academy at Randolph, will open on 8/23/21. This online academy will serve students in grades K-8. It will be exciting to watch this new school’s development during the 2021-2022 school year and future school years in our school system’s continued efforts to meet the needs of all students.

The school system’s local budget for the 2021-2022 school year is another area of excitement. More specifically, through the hard work of the members of our Board of Education and County Commissioners, all of our school system’s local budget requests were approved. This budget result led to an increase in the school system’s “current expense” funding by $1,024,000. Supplement increases for all employees in our school system resulted from this work. Furthermore, our school system received an additional $100,000 in our “special capital outlay” funding to support the “9- Year Facility Upgrade/Repair Plan.” This funding is provided on an annual basis in addition to our “regular capital outlay” funding. In addition, since the creation of the “special capital outlay” funding starting with the 2014-2015 school year, it has grown to $950,000 provided on an annual basis. Overall, the teamwork of the members of our Board of Education and the County Commissioners continues to play a major role in the success of our school system.

In closing, I hope the 2021-2022 school year is very enjoyable for you. Our goal as a school system is to continually improve. In addition, we want our students to enjoy their time in our school system and leave with multiple options for their future. Nonetheless, I can not overlook the great support provided for our school system by our staff members, parents, and community members. All of these groups are “special” to the school system and greatly appreciated. Without a doubt, it is a great time to be a part of this special school system, the Randolph County School System!

Dr. Stephen Gainey is the superintendent of Randolph County Schools.