Category: Education

Vance-Granville Community College has been awarded a $25,000 grant through the Rural Community College Agricultural Cooperative Initiative, with funding provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The grant is for a project entitled “Cultivating and Connecting Agricultural Communities” that seeks to strengthen agricultural cooperative partnerships in Franklin, Granville, Vance, and Warren counties. A different component of the same project received grant funding from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. As part of the new grant, VGCC will be …

AT&T North Carolina has made a $10,000 contribution to Vance-Granville Community College to support a new student success initiative. For the first time, the college will offer a “Summer Bridge” program this year for incoming first-year students. With AT&T’s sponsorship, the program will be available at no cost to participating students. “Thanks to the strong support of AT&T North Carolina, in a few months, our faculty and staff will be able to offer some extra help to students to prepare …

Stephanie Alston, an educator for over 17 years and an elementary school principal most recently in Edgecombe County, has been named as the new principal at E.M. Rollins Elementary School. She replaces Dean Thomas, who has been named as Vance County Schools’ new coordinator of the Transportation Department. Alston will assume her new duties at E.M. Rollins as soon as possible. During her career in education, she was a teacher for eight years and an administrator for the past nine …

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) is allowing states to request a waiver from assessing speaking and listening as part of its Reading/English language arts assessments. In June 2010, the North Carolina State Board of Education adopted Reading/English language arts content standards, which include standards for speaking and listening. Federal law requires assessments include all adopted content standards; however, measuring speaking and listening skills in a large-scale summative assessment is not practical at this time. As a result, North Carolina …

Vance-Granville Community College recently partnered with the Justice Rural Volunteer Fire Department in Franklin County to offer an unusual training program designed to prepare local firefighters for specific emergency situations that may occur on farms. A course called “Agricultural Machinery Rescue” was conducted from Jan. 19 through March 3, with instructor Joe Burris of Greenville teaching at the fire station in Justice and, at times, on the farm of Kelly Harris, the former chief and current assistant chief of the …

The Vance County Board of Education will meet on Monday, March 14, 2016, at 7:00 pm in the Administrative Services Center Board Room, 1724 Graham Avenue, Henderson.    You may download the full agenda packet here:  20160314_vcboc_agenda_packet.pdf  You may also download the 2000 series board policies mentioned under VIII.D Here:  2000 Series, Board Operations.pdf

Vance-Granville Community College will offer a course on the “afternoon tea” party, the tradition that is enjoying a renaissance as fine hotels, inns and tea rooms across the country give guests an opportunity to retreat from the hurried pace of their lives.  The course, called “Let’s Have a Tea Party,” will meet on VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 until 4 p.m., starting March 29. The final class and “graduation” ceremony is an actual …

The dropout rate in Vance County Schools for 2014-2015 declined for the sixth consecutive year with data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction indicating that 68 students or 2.28 percent left school early. The 2014-2015 rate was a decrease from 83 students or 2.71 percent dropping out in 2013-2014. In 2012, Vance County Schools implemented “Destination Graduation” one of the National Dropout Prevention Network Center’s model program that addresses prevention, intervention and recovery. The program highly emphasizes parent participation, …

The North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission has awarded a $25,000 grant to Vance-Granville Community College to support students in a pair of training programs. The grant, for a project entitled “Cultivating and Growing Agricultural Communities,” will help cover the cost of tuition and other fees for eligible students in the “NC REAL Agricultural Entrepreneurship” and “Heavy Equipment Operator” courses offered by VGCC. Grant funding will also support instructional staff, marketing and supplies related to the programs. VGCC has offered …

Educators, parents, students and other stakeholders of North Carolina’s public schools are invited to attend six public comment sessions scheduled for April and May across the state. Public input is being sought by NC Department of Public Instruction staff to help guide development of the state’s plan for complying with the new federal education law, a re-authorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the new federal education law approved in December …

The Vance-Granville Community College chapter of the national SkillsUSA organization, established only a few months ago, now has its first official student leaders. On Feb. 29, four students signed their contracts and took their oaths as chapter officers. They included President Benjamin Layton of Kittrell (a Criminal Justice Technology student), Secretary/Treasurer Ashley Allen of Henderson (Office Administration), Reporter Harold Todd of Oxford (Criminal Justice Technology) and Parliamentarian Daniel Johnson of Louisburg (Paralegal Technology). Performing the installation was Steve Hargrove, who …

The Warren County Campus of Vance-Granville Community College will soon host a pair of free Small Business Center seminars focused on innovative marketing techniques. “Generating Revenue with Special Events for Business Owners” will be held on Tuesday, April 5, from 1 until 4 p.m. “Mobile Apps for Small Business” will follow on that same day, from 6 until 9 p.m. Both are scheduled to meet in Building 4 (Room W4103) of the Warrenton campus. Leading both seminars will be Renae …

Vance-Granville Community College has scheduled its fourth annual Biotech Workshop for local high school students, as one of a series of VGCC Arts & Sciences camps and workshops being held this year. All tenth, eleventh and twelfth graders who have taken or are currently taking biology and chemistry are invited to attend the workshop, which is set to take place over the course of two Saturdays: April 2 and April 9, each day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students …

Applications are now available for the Vance Medical Academy located on the campus of Southern Vance High School for the 2016-2017 school year for rising ninth-grade students. The applications are available from middle and high school guidance counselors and on the Vance County Schools’ website at www.vcs.k12.nc.us. The deadline for completed applications is March 31, 2016. Applications should be turned in to Willa Clark, Vance County Schools, P.O. Box 7001, 1724 Graham Avenue, Henderson, N.C. 27536. The Vance Medical Academy …

North Carolina’s public school dropout rate slightly increased in 2014-15 according to the Consolidated Data Report today presented to State Board of Education members at their March meeting. The state’s dropout rate rose to 2.39 percent from 2.28 percent the previous year. The .11 percentage point increase was the first increase in the dropout rate since 2006-07, when the dropout rate increased from 5.04 to 5.24. In 2014-15, 11,190 students dropped out of school as opposed to the 10,404 students …