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[15:00] They need help from community groups, civic organizations, and alumni. The alumni from Hunter Huss are committed to supporting their alma mater and working to enrich the lives of students, teachers, and everyone associated with the Hunter Huss High School family. Tonight we are very proud to honor the Hunter Huss High School Alumni Association for 10 years of outstanding service, and we are recognizing the association with one of our celebration plaques.
[15:29] We want to extend our heartfelt thank you for your hard work, dedication, and ongoing support of Hunter Husk High School.
[15:37] We sincerely appreciate it and Chairman.
[15:40] But I would say it's always important to have our community involved in making sure that they're involved in our schools and in particular, I'm not so excited to take a big part of that.
[15:49] So thank you all for what you're doing, like that's present that to you.
[15:52] Thank you.
[16:48] Mr. Chairman and members of the board, we have a few good news announcements that
[16:52] we would like to share with you. First we would like to congratulate the 26 students in the class
[16:58] of 2026 who earned valedictorian or salutatorian honors. The students were recognized during high school
[17:05] graduation for their commitment to academic excellence and we have information about our valedictorians
[17:11] and salutatorians on our website. In addition one senior Madison Watson from Highland School of
[17:17] She was recognized at her school's graduation for having 13 years of perfect attendance, and she received a plaque from the Board of Education for that achievement.
[17:27] And we would like to give a shout out to the class of 2026 on being awarded more than $36 million in scholarships from colleges and universities across our state and the nation.
[17:40] One final piece of good news for you, our Academic Services Department, coordinated a two-day leadership conference for
[17:48] principals and assistant principals on June 3rd and 4th at Stuart W. Kramer High School.
[17:53] The professional development centered around academic performance and student proficiency.
[17:58] The sessions were well planned, engaging and beneficial, and they were designed to complement the game-owned,
[18:04] the GCS playbook for leading teaching and learning thing with emphasis on taking action in the new
[18:10] school year to improve student achievement at a higher level. We have a short video featuring
[18:15] one of our principals, Sean Hubbers from Pleasant Ridge Elementary School who shares his perspective
[18:21] on the leadership conference. One
[18:36] of the things I appreciate about the conference now versus a lot of
[18:40] times that we would try to fit this in into the days right before students come back, teachers
[18:46] come back, and there's 100 million things going on at that time, and so I feel like
[18:53] doing it now at the end of the year where we're able to reflect on the things that happen
[18:58] this past year, but also think about ways that we can get better for the coming year is
[19:04] a lot more advantageous and helpful. So we did this last year and then again this year,
[19:11] and I really appreciate it this time of year, which helps going into the summer, which
[19:17] is a principle is when you do a lot of planning, you have time to reflect, and so doing it
[19:22] now gives us that time in space to reflect, make plans so we're ready to go when our teachers
[19:30] come back and students come back. For me, as a principal, one of the things that I'm constantly
[19:36] thinking about is how can I grow as an individual? How can I get better? And then in turn, how can I make
[19:42] my school better? Being around your colleagues, reflecting on the on the year, taking just what these
[19:49] research-based best practices that we discuss, and then thinking about my own leadership, reflecting on
[19:56] it and then thinking about how changes that I need to make or want to make to improve
[20:02] our school which ultimately will then help in turn gaps in county schools improve is
[20:08] something that I try to do.
[20:09] For me it was just all I had really known was my own school and how we improved and I was
[20:17] happy with that and it was good and encouraging to hear some of the other schools and some of
[20:25] just a great improvement set. So many of our schools have made. And then when you have a
[20:30] conference like this, it gives you the opportunity and the space to also talk to colleagues,
[20:36] you know, to get ideas about what they're doing in their schools that they've seen good growth from,
[20:41] that are maybe things that we can incorporate or that I can incorporate at my school.
[20:46] So it's just a positive environment, you know, this past year and then looking forward to this
[20:51] upcoming year. I'm just super thankful for our district leaders in
[20:56] administration. I feel like they push us to get better, which I'm thankful for.
[21:01] They're encouraging and at the same time they challenge us to improve.
[21:10] Mr. Chairman, that completes our good news, but I do think that the superintendent
[21:14] would agree following that video that we have good news to come in the future
[21:19] about academic achievement. We look forward to sharing that with you very soon.
[21:24] And that completes our good news for the month of June.
[21:27] Thank you, Mr. Hagins, and obviously the board appreciates all the good news and all of the outstanding things going on in our district on a regular basis.
[21:35] I think several of us had an opportunity to stop by the leadership conference.
[21:39] Very impressive the level of input, participation, well-playing, so I think staff.
[21:45] And of course, all the principals and the assistant principals who took it seriously and made it worthwhile, they deserve credit as well.
[21:51] So I may or may not have some video of principles,
[21:55] the system principle is dancing into the final ceremony,
[21:57] so they might need to be aware of that.
[21:59] No, just kidding.
[22:00] But I had an opportunity to stop by for the closing ceremony
[22:02] as well, and it was absolutely a great event.
[22:05] So I think all the staff and all of our principals
[22:07] for an assistant principal, yes.
[22:09] I would also like to say I want to thank our sponsors.
[22:11] That was a 100% fully sponsored event.
[22:15] So professional development is absolutely important,
[22:18] but we couldn't have done that without our sponsors.
[22:20] So thank you to all our sponsors. Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Smith.
[22:24] All right, next on our agenda is our classroom moment and that's going to be led tonight by Dr. Shannon Hullett, who we'll be talking to us about our summer reading camp.
[22:35] Good evening, Chairman. Chris, Vice Chair, Chair, members of the board and Superintendent Dr. Hushard. Our classroom moment tonight will highlight the 2026 elementary summer reading camp.
[22:47] Summer Reading Camp is mandated and funded by the North Carolina Department of Public
[22:52] Instruction through specific allocations and that fund is PRCO85.
[22:58] These funds are strictly designated for literacy intervention to improve early childhood
[23:03] proficiency and to support the science of reading.
[23:07] Summer Reading Camp is a requirement it's outlined in the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021.
[23:13] The law defines reading camp as an additional educational opportunity that takes place outside of the regular 180-day instructional calendar.
[23:23] And the purpose of reading camp is to provide targeted support for students who need additional reading instructions to strengthen literacy skills and improve their reading proficiency.
[23:33] To meet the state requirement, students must receive 72 hours of reading instruction and
[23:39] it must be delivered by licensed teachers who have demonstrated success in improving student
[23:44] reading outcomes.
[23:45] This ensures that the students receive that high quality, evidence-based instruction from
[23:51] educators who have a proven track record in supporting student growth.
[23:57] Summer camp is offered to rising third and fourth graders as well as some of our fourth
[24:02] grade transitional students and it's based on their middle and end of year reading data.
[24:07] This year we had 982 students who registered to attend summer camp.
[24:14] Summer camp started June 8th so we're well on our way into summer camp we're in our second
[24:19] week. It runs through June 25th. We have six sites this year and this is a great opportunity
[24:25] for six of our assistant principals to grow their leadership skills. They are leading our
[24:30] summer camp sites at the schools that they have been assigned. So now it's the
[24:35] fun part where you get to see a glimpse into what students get to experience
[24:39] during summer camp.
[24:51] So summer reading camp is very different than the
[24:53] school year. We use data from the schools and we design and develop a program
[25:00] that's unique to each student. We give them intense reading instruction and small
[25:05] group, whole group as well as one-on-one. With summer, you want to prevent that summer's
[25:12] the flood or that losing of their the skills that they obtained while they were, you
[25:19] know, all school your own. Also, you want them to be able to build a stronger confidence
[25:25] within their reading abilities with a different set of teachers. They're having fun while
[25:30] they're doing it. We have two days of professional development,
[25:34] which gives us time to look at the data, so we will know how to plan for working one-on-one with the students,
[25:41] working small group with the students, and then how to work homework with the students.
[25:46] We do work on some intervention pieces such as Spire, which helps with the phonological awareness for the children,
[25:54] and it's just like a stepping stone. It builds on letter sounds, blending, fluency, the comprehension piece.
[26:02] The
[26:07] smaller class sizes help out a lot. When students are in a smaller classroom
[26:13] setting, person-experts set of hands that allows for gaps to be filled, you know,
[26:21] even better. We have student days, theme days, when we do dress-ups, we read special
[26:26] books based on the topic. And one of the unique things about summer camp is we have
[26:31] enrichment clubs. We have things like STEM, art, enrichment, engaging
[26:36] activities. Mr. Goodson is doing like a Minecraft themed club. We have where
[26:42] Miss Morris is doing some computer games. Between our daily theme, the extra
[26:48] stories, the partnership with the Gaston Public Library as well as clubs and
[26:55] the different things our teachers do in the classroom. It really makes it feel
[26:58] different than a normal school day. So all the things like school, we just put
[27:03] that focus on doing a little things a little bit different, offering some enrichment and
[27:07] engaging activities and focusing on the intense reading instruction.
[27:12] And when you can hone in on what their specific needs and when you see that they get it,
[27:18] it is so rewarding and it truly is and they finally think, oh, I can do this and that means
[27:26] a lot.
[27:36] So we are growing readers in gasoline county schools, so it's an exciting 12 days.
[27:40] Thank you for letting us share a little bit about it.
[27:44] Thank you.
[27:45] I think Miss Sherry had a question.
[27:46] Dr. Ella, how many children are we servicing?
[27:50] We track attendance every day, and we are right at 601 today.
[27:55] Thank you.
[27:58] All right. Well, thank you Shannon for that.
[28:01] It's great to see how much we're reporting to our kids in the system,
[28:04] and we thank everybody for all the hard work.
[28:05] They are putting in our children to make sure they are successful.