NC State Superintendent visits LCS

North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Catherine Truitt, joins in on the PE fun at Southwest Elementary School. {Contributed photo/Darrick Horton}

LCS Superintendent, Dr. Anitra Wells (in blue cardigan), State Superintendent Truitt (in white shirt) and staffers from DPI and the State Board of Education visit Lexington Middle School.
{Contributed photo/Darrick Horton}

On Monday, Lexington City Schools (LCS) was the recipient of a visit by the state’s highest ranking public school’s administrator, State Superintendent Catherine Truitt. Staffers from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and State Board of Education accompanied her.

Dr. Anitra Wells, superintendent of Lexington City Schools, along with assistant superintendents Emy Garrett and David Miller and members of the LCS Board of Education provided tours of all six schools on students' first day back to school, in the traditional setting, after being out of the building for over a year. Mayor Newell Clark, North Carolina State Representative Larry Potts and North Carolina State Senator Steve Jarvis were also present.  

Truitt, who was sworn into position in January, was excited about her first official school visit and what she saw taking place inside the schools. 

Mayor Newell Clark shares encouraging words with Charles England Ambassadors, Janiyah Butler (right), 10, Janyuis Flores (center), 11, and Kali Manzana, 11.
{Davidson Local/Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart}

“We were invited by lots of people, not the least of whom was the mayor,” noted Truitt. “We spent last evening driving around looking at all the new things coming to Lexington. What I wanted to see today was kids in the classroom. What I saw were kids who were engaged, happy to be with their teachers, teachers loving on their kids. We saw experiments being done, hands-on learning, kids working on math, a PE class. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see all of this in action. I think what impresses me the most is everything we saw today was about the student. Everything was student centered. These were adults working to meet the needs of the students and that’s awesome.”

At Charles England Elementary School, visitors were treated to lunch while principal Beth Callicutt gave a presentation explaining a concept her team developed called Camp Englandwood. 

After lunch, Truitt, a former teacher, engaged with the educators who are being charged with teaching the next generation through dialogue. The first question she had was if teachers were experiencing burnout. 

Callicutt confirmed faculty was tired from life in general due to living in a pandemic. Additionally, she expressed her initial concerns about teachers being isolated when the system was strictly using remote learning.

“But they’re rockstars,” Garrett chimed in. 

LCS Assistant Superintendent, Emy Garrett, shares with Truitt and her team how teachers have adjusted during the pandemic.
{Davidson Local/Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart}

The state superintendent also inquired if there were any staffing issues with summer school, if LCS desired to still have a virtual learning option next school year and how DPI can support the central office administration.

Wells provided answers. At the elementary level, the system is fully staffed for summer school. At secondary levels, there are some challenges with staff and the system may have to fill available positions with educators from other school systems. The desire of the central office is that DPI continues communicating its expectations with LCS. 

From previous discussions, Wells believes there needs to be a virtual component offered to students going forward.

“We’ve done very well with virtual learning because of Ms. [Celia] Gossett and her IT team,” Wells said. “I believe we have families who’ve said this has worked out very well. We’d love to have that as an option. Some teachers have requested it, too.”

Before the visit concluded, Truitt, who isn’t a fan of end-of-grade testing, shared that she is focused on a new reading initiative and transitioning North Carolina public schools to a competency-based learning model.

Truitt poses with members of Lexington Senior High School’s JROTC.
{Contributed photo/Darrick Horton}

“Competency-based education means instead of children moving through their education according to seat time, it’s through demonstration of learning,” explained Truitt. “For over 100 years, our system of education has said if you’re 12-years-old, you’re in the sixth grade. The purpose of sixth grade should be to prepare for life after high school and to allow children to have as many choices as they want after they graduate. Competency-based education is the ultimate in instructional equity. It allows a child to move on when he or she is ready. They have to get everything they need in that time and space in order to master the learning. Once they have that mastery, they move on. We need to have performance-based testing that allows a child to demonstrate learning at multiple points. This one-and-done test does nothing other than attempt to hold the teacher accountable. That’s not what testing should be about. This is all working towards what employers want, which is not a college transcript but a new kind of resume that tells what a person knows and can do.”

Left to right - Mayor Newell Clark, Charles England Assistant Principal, Shannon Watkins, LCS Board of Education Chair, Darrick Horton, Charles England Principal, Beth Callicutt and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Catherine Truitt, gather for a photo after lunch.
{Davidson Local/Kassaundra Shanette Lockhart}