GHS year begins under Restart
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 8, 2016 1:46 PM
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Freshman and sophomores at Goldsboro High School arrive for the first day of school this morning.
Goldsboro High School students return to class today, as the district introduce the Restart Model at the school.
At the recent school board meeting, administrators at the school explained the significance of the new approach.
"We want to make sure GHS is a mecca in the city, in the state," Principal Robert Yelverton said. "With everything that's happening, I believe we're trending in the right direction."
Yelverton, a graduate of the school, was named principal there in February.
On May 5, the N.C. Board of Education approved the district's "Restart Model" application for GHS. The designation affords Wayne County Public Schools greater flexibility in how it structures the calendar and delivers education at the low-performing school.
In addition to aligning its schedule to that of Wayne Community College, opening up opportunities for students to earn college credits, officials have touted the potential to create a "culture of high expectations" at the school.
"Restart is a fresh start," Yelverton said. "It provides GHS with a fresh learning environment where classrooms nurture creativity and interest.
"Restart makes GHS a trailblazer -- we are the only high school in the state that received permission and approval to be a restart school. So we are leading the way and hopefully soon we'll have other high schools in North Carolina coming to visit us to see what we're doing to make an impact in the lives of our students."
There are five components to the model, Yelverton told the board -- personal relationship-building, teacher collaboration, a "laser-like focus" on student learning needs, formative assessment and data driven instruction.
Accompanied by his assistant principals, Kenneth Sumler and Maya Swinson, the administrators explained how the implementation will work.
"Personal relationship-building is one of the major determining factors of children getting to the next level, how they master the material," Sumler said. "One of the things we want to do with Freshman Academy, Cougar Enrichment and Teen PEP, is building those relationships because if it's not there, they're not going to learn or they're not going to meet the standards that we need them to make."
Freshman Academy will provide a foundation for the first-year students. Sumler will be in charge of that group of students, readying them for one of the "big three" -- college, military or workforce.
"So many students start their college education their junior year, taking those tests, getting prepared," he said. "So we cannot start after they get their high school diploma.
"We want to start early in preparation of those big dreams, with Freshman Academy."
Cougar Enrichment, he explained, will personalize academic and social support. Afternoons will be spent either pursuing college courses or in academic or elective areas. Teen PEP, meanwhile, will develop leadership and social connections, with upperclassmen mentoring freshmen.
The teacher collaboration piece will center around staff development, a morning time called "Cougar Call" carving out time at the start of the day for teachers to work on lesson plans, share strategies and address ways of teaching and learning.
The new method is similar to efforts being used at Wayne School of Engineering and Wayne Early/Middle College High School, which both boast high graduation rates and test scores.
"We're still a comprehensive high school just like the other schools and we have a lot to offer," Yelverton said. "But what we want to do is to restore things that have kind of dwindled down with lack of interest."
To accomplish this, new people have been brought in, the principal said -- those with passion for the program and the initiative, with a love for the kids and a solid knowledge in their content areas.
"We want to make sure through this restart effort that we continue to fill their buckets, give them opportunities for staff development to grow," he said. "One way to build a school is to either bring in better teachers or improve the ones you have."
Board member Patricia Burden, a former principal at GHS, said she was "highly impressed" with the presentation.
She said she was excited about the new flexibility the Restart Model affords the school, to test students before the Christmas holidays rather than after a break in the routine, and also saw the merits of the Freshman Academy and Cougar Call.
"Those three things, I think, are really going to benefit the students of GHS and give you what you want in the end," she said. "It would be nice if the General Assembly could see the success that this program could bring about and allow other high schools, not so much to do everything that you are doing but at least be able to test in December rather than coming back three or four days after the holidays and test."
Sumler, retired Air Force who had been an assistant principal in Johnston County, said he has confidence in the potential of the Restart Model at the city high school.
"I truly believe that every single administrator and every single teacher that has gone through the high school has honestly tried but what has happened now is Dr. (Michael) Dunsmore (superintendent) has given us and the board more flexibility, much greater flexibility, so with that understanding, we as a team see what the need is and the overall picture," he said. "We see what's happening downtown, where the money's been invested there.
"We see how the train station may come to pas, how the bus station's there. We see this huge economic engine, called Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. So that being said, Dr. Dunsmore has given us the charge to make GHS look just as good as downtown Goldsboro."