Home Care In Holly Grove, NC

A group of 19 students attending Holly Grove Middle School in North Carolina invented a smart school bus stop sign as a part of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest. The students came in first place, receiving grant money for classroom resources.

The students developed the idea after their friend was almost hit by an illegally passing vehicle while trying to board the school bus. After researching the issue, they concluded that they wanted to create something that was more than just education and training. They wanted to make sure motorists knew exactly where the bus would be stopping, to ensure they wouldn’t miss it.

“Most people ignore the stop-arm, but with our school bus stop sign, the lights will flash so they will notice and not ignore it,” said student Caroline Parker, who worked on the project.

The students surveyed parents at their school district, hosted focus groups, met with transportation directors, law enforcement, government officials, and an NC Department of Transportation engineer, to gather as much information as they could on illegal passing.

On top of developing a sign, they also created an app that tracks the bus routes and stops. The app sends a message to the solar-powered LED lights on the sign, indicating when the bus will be approaching. When the bus is 400 feet from the stop, the lights on the sign begin flashing yellow, and at 30 feet away, the lights flash red.

“We coded an app that allows the bus driver to select which route they are taking that day,” Parker said. The route will pop up on Google maps. We did use an Arduino micro-controller to help in the process, to make the lights flash on and off.”

A prototype was installed at one stop. However, the school district is working on placing these signs at stops with the most traffic. The students are also considering adding audio alerts for the visibly impaired students.

The project began in October 2018, and continued through April of this year. Their project won first place, the community choice award, through the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, so their school received grant money for classroom resources.

“We all felt so excited! It was cool that one email could turn into $110,00 in technology for our school,” commented a student involved in the project, Jasper Cekander.

Parker added, “to me, it was excitement and joy to know that we won and can save hopefully many lives.”

Video courtesy of Holly Grove Middle School Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Team.

The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest challenges students from middle through high school to show how STEM can be applied to help improve their local communities. The contest expands over an 8-month-long period, consisting of several rounds.

The group advisor, Debbie Schelin, was first introduced to the contest after receiving an email in October. She said once she received that initial email, the students started brainstorming and the gears never stopped turning.

“The kids were passionate from the start,” Schelin said. “They saw a true need in our community and school. They dedicated much time to researching, collaborating and creating an innovative unique solution. It’s truly inspiring to see students so committed to something that would benefit their classmates and our entire community”

Schelin said the kids dedicated a lot of their free time to work on the project. They worked on it during lunch, after school and on weekends. She said some students even worked on it during their 3-week break from school.

Schelin said the project gained widespread attention, and earlier this month, “Stop for School Buses Act of 2019” was introduced in the house on April 10.

The bill establishes a safety program on illegal passing. The bill increases the penalties for illegal passing and requires safety measures to be installed to address it.

“I hope these students get to see their invention become a reality and help save lives,” Schelin said.

The students said their goal is to save lives and reduce the number of illegal passers. “We want to reduce the number of stop-arm violations by 100 percent in 2020,” Cekander noted.

The transportation director for Wake County Public School System, Stephen Sposato, said the students have seen great success in their prototype. He expects the pilot projects that will be implemented soon will benefit school transportation.

“School bus stops have to be located within a walkable distance to where students live,” Sposato said. “Sometimes, visibility for approaching traffic in those areas might not be ideal. A dynamic sign like this could better alert drivers and get their attention, as compared to the current static signs that occasionally alert drivers to a bus stop ahead.”

The Wake County school board’s split decision to open a new elementary school on a traditional calendar is a likely sign of deeper friction as leaders and parents weigh the future of year-round schools.

School board members voted 5-4 on Tuesday to open Buckhorn Creek Elementary School in Holly Springs on a traditional calendar. Families had lobbied for weeks for a year-round calendar at the school that will open next fall.

Board chairwoman Monika Johnson-Hostler said she understood some people were unhappy, but other families wanted a traditional calendar.

“We listened,” she said after Tuesday’s board meeting. “It is hard, as a human being, to say, ‘Listening means you do what I ask you to do.’ We didn’t actually honor the request (parents) were making to us tonight. But the five of us who voted for it were honoring the request of those others.”

Wake has been moving away from year-round schools, which are often seen as a way to help the school system deal with growth. A multi-track year-round school, in which students are split into four tracks, can increase a building’s capacity by as much as 33 percent.

But parents often complain about the year-round calendar, and Wake has agreed since 2013 to open all but one new elementary and middle school on a traditional calendar.

The Buckhorn Creek fight could be repeated next year as the school board decides whether to open the new Alston Ridge Middle School in Cary in 2019 on a traditional calendar or, as some parents want, on a year-round calendar. Staff have talked about switching Alston Ridge Elementary to a traditional calendar to put both schools on the campus on the same schedule.

Board member Roxie Cash, who also served on the board in the 1990s and voted against making Buckhorn Creek a traditional-calendar school, said the reason Wake developed year-round schools in the first place is still relevant.

“One thing I’ve been very consistent about – in high-growth areas, I just cannot understand why we would move multi-track to traditional,” she said.

About 35 people dressed in red attended Tuesday’s board meeting in a last-ditch effort to convince members they should pick the year-round calendar for Buckhorn Creek. Parent Alice Rup said she believed a year-round school would be best for her children.

“The board that we need must make an effort to provide every child in Wake County with the stability that we need,” Rup said.

Board member Kathy Hartenstine, who voted to open Buckhorn Creek on a traditional calendar, said Tuesday’s decision does not reflect her opinion about which calendar option is better.

“I believe year-round and traditional calendars serve the needs of a growing system, the individual needs of children and the preference of families,” she said.

The assignment plan for Buckhorn Creek, which had several iterations, changed again Tuesday. Students assigned to Holly Grove or Herbert Akins, both year-round elementary schools, can apply to attend Buckhorn Creek as their traditional-calendar option.

Families affected by the plan can apply to four year-round elementary schools: Herbert Akins, Holly Grove, Holly Springs and Ballentine.

The application process opens in January, and there’s no guarantee any family’s application will be approved.

Some board members have said the options and changes are a compromise, but parents disagree. So do some board members.

“I do not see this as a compromise when one side is not seeing the present offer as an advantage,” said board member Donald Agee, who voted against opening Buckhorn Creek on a traditional calendar. “We just do not have enough seats. I don’t care what the calendar is.”

The board on Tuesday named Daniel Simons principal of Buckhorn Creek Elementary. He is currently the principal of West Lake Elementary in Apex, and he will earn an annual salary of $84,211 in his new role.

Pressley Baird: 919-829-8935, @pressleybaird

This story was originally published December 20, 2017, 12:21 PM.

By Susan Shinn For the Salisbury Post

GREENSBORO — Tim Smith is coming home.

On Saturday morning, the Rev. Dr. Timothy Smith was elected bishop of the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, during the final day of the annual gathering, which took place at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro.

Smith, senior pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Atlanta, grew up in Salisbury and attended St. John’s Lutheran Church, where his parents are members. He is the son of Marcus and Dot Smith of Salisbury.

Some 624 voting members of the assembly — including some 234 clergy and 374 lay voting members — elected Smith by a margin of 301-276 votes. On the fifth and final ballot were Smith and the Rev. Mark Fitzsimmons, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Arden.

“He is a homeboy who’s coming home,” said the Rev. Phil Tonnesen, an assistant to Bishop Leonard Bolick. Tonnesen was on the fourth ballot Friday evening, along with Smith and Fitzsimmons.

“He is much loved and respected in this Synod,” Tonnesen said. “He has a pastoral heart, a goofy sense of humor, and a passion for campus ministry, and for youth and young adult ministry, which will serve us well.”

Smith’s election may have come as a bit of a surprise to some people, as he is not a member of the North Carolina Synod. However, any member of the ELCA clergy may be nominated on the first ballot, and Smith placed second behind Tonnesen. He arrived in Greensboro Friday morning with wife Wendy, wearing a “visitor” designation on his name badge.

He said Friday that he was the “mystery guest” at the assembly.

Tonnesen noted Saturday, however, that Smith had served as senior pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Boone from 1993-2010, where many vacationing Lutherans got to know him. He was also a member of the Synod’s candidacy committee for a decade. Smith also served at St. Paul Lutheran in Newton from 1986-1993.

Smith received a B.A. degree in religion from UNC, and a master’s degree in divinity from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 1986, the year of his ordination. He received a doctoral degree in ministry from Drew University six years later.

Smith was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he played junior varsity basketball for Coach Dean Smith. The bishop-elect is known to have a way with words — and even may sing a note or two during his sermons.

But Smith was at a loss for words Saturday morning — for perhaps the first time ever, he admitted.

“I am humbled,” he said. “I’m excited. I need to say goodbye to my congregation in Atlanta and get ready to come to North Carolina. With the big picture, I’m completely good.”

But, as bishop, he said, he doesn’t know what to do yet. “I’ve never attended a churchwide assembly. I’ve never been on Synod Council.”

He will have lots of help and counsel. The Rev. Chris Boerger is secretary of the ELCA. Shortly after Smith’s election, Boerger handled him a thick envelope on which he’d written “My Life.” The contents included the ELCA’s national calendar for the next six years.

“I’m shell-shocked,” he admitted, “but God’s got this. With my family here, my heart has always been, and always will be, in North Carolina. Those roots are just too deep. I feel very, very hopeful about who we are as a Synod as who we are as a church.”

Smith and his wife, Wendy, met at UNC. They have three children: Matthew, Isaac and Ruth. Matthew Smith is pastor of Holly Grove Lutheran Church in Lexington.

Smith will be installed Sept. 12 at Christ Lutheran Church, Charlotte.

Bishop Leonard Bolick’s last day in office is July 31. During the assembly, Bolick received the title of bishop emeritus.

“It was exciting to see this call committee at work,” said Bolick, who noted it was the largest such committee with which he’d ever worked. “We had marvelous candidates. Tim has wonderful leadership skills. He’s articulate, he’s an excellent theologian, and he’s a visionary. He will be able to take us into the future in wonderful ways.”

Freelance writer Susan Shinn lives in Salisbury.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- When the pandemic hit Karen Goeke-Austin made the decision to homeschool her oldest daughter, Katie.

"I was really nervous about her going back to public school in 6th grade because she was so far behind and the schools just weren't catching her up," Goeke-Austin told ABC11 last August.

The transition to a remote working position gave Goeke-Austin the chance to finally try out homeschooling, something she always wanted to do. The family called the school Mountain View Academy.

"I know in our particular case, she had somewhat of a traumatic elementary experience and so, she really needed these two years to kind of recover emotionally and then also kind of regain some of the skills that she hadn't been getting in public, so we did a lot of outside tutoring and a lot more focused interventions with her during the last two years, and now that she's gotten caught up to her peers, we feel more comfortable sending her back to public (school)," Goeke -Austin said.

After two years, the family decided to close Mountain View Academy.

"We enjoyed our homeschool experience. We really did. There were a lot of benefits, a lot of perks. There were some struggles here and there. And so now that she's back in public, some of those struggles have gone away. It was tricky for her to always be in charge of her own learning. And because I work a full-time job, I couldn't always be there to answer her questions," Goeke-Austin said.

Katie is now an eighth-grader at Holly Grove Middle School and six weeks into the new school year. She said she's enjoying science and math and all the new friends she's made.

She is one of the thousands of families who are now opting out of home school.

Close to 31,000 more students participated in homeschooling during the 2020-2021 school year than did in the year before, according to data from the North Carolina Department of Administration. But, like Katie, many of those students chose not to make that schooling option permanent. State data showed that 19,000 fewer students were enrolled in home school last year.

However, while homeschool numbers decline, public schools across the state are not reporting a large uptick.

Only 2,600 more students were enrolled in public schools during the 2021-22 school year compared to the year before. Across North Carolina, 50,000 fewer students were enrolled in public school last year than the year before the pandemic, representing a 4% decrease.

Locally, public school districts in Wake (-1%), Durham (-3%) and Cumberland County (-4%) are also reporting a decrease in the number of students enrolled.

At the same time, public school districts are reporting a drop, enrollment at charter schools across the state is booming. Nearly 20% more students attended a charter school last year compared to the 2018-2019 school year.

Wake County ranked third in the state for the largest increase in charter school enrollment last year, according to state data.

The various school options make planning for public school districts a challenge.

Wake County School Board member Christine Kushner also said charter schools particularly can also affect some of the district's both short-term and long-term planning.

"The difficulty in planning, I think, is also a problem with using public resources and tax dollars efficiently. So that's one of my increasing concerns is that the charter school movement with its expansion and closures and unpredictability is straining already strained public resources and that should be a concern for every taxpayer in North Carolina," Kushner said.

About 20 new charter schools have been added during the past three years and a number have been forced to suddenly close by the state, some for 'financial irregularities.'

Kushner said she is also concerned by the lower standard of accountability charter schools are held to and about their impact on the make-up of student populations.

"Charter schools have never really scaled to include all children. I think that's an important point to make and that charter schools aren't looking to educate every child. And for taxpayers, for public dollars that are becoming increasingly scarce, I think it's important for us to be efficient with those dollars and fragmenting our school systems are creating two-tiered systems," Kushner said.

A previous ABC11 investigation uncovered that 60% of charter schools have higher portions of white students enrolled than their local public school district.

The latest state data does show the biggest change in enrollment is among white students. Nine percent fewer white students are enrolled in public schools than in the year leading up to the pandemic.

Another concern is the financial impact a slipping student population could have on public school districts.

State funding for districts is usually tied to enrollment numbers. For the last few years, state leaders have not used this data to determine funding, but this year public school districts' enrollment will matter again. If districts report a significant drop in the number of students they serve, cuts to resources may have to be made.

It's still too soon to know how districts will be impacted as initial enrollment numbers aren't released until a few weeks after school resumes. Public school leaders like Kushner are hopeful enrollment starts to stabilize.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, but we have to face it with as much optimism and proactive work as we can," she said.

A new elementary school in Apex will join the list of crowded Wake County school campuses put under enrollment caps that will keep some newly arriving families from attending them.

The Wake County school board approved Tuesday putting enrollment caps on 25 schools through the 2023-24 school year. The newest school on the list is Apex Friendship Elementary, which school leaders say is already facing significant crowding after opening in August.

The need to run buses to send students to overflow schools will add to the district’s challenges during a time of acute driver shortages. But school leaders say capping is “the best of several bad options” with alternatives including massive student reassignment and converting schools to a year-round calendar.

“Capping has a lot of negatives,” said school board vice chair Chris Heagarty. “When we cap, we take families who are moving into an area that have made a decision, moved right next to the school and because we’re overcapacity, we’re sending them to a further, more distant school.”

The new enrollment cap at Apex Friendship Elementary goes into effect immediately. The overflow school will be Baucom Elementary, which will temporarily move to a new location while its campus is renovated.

“I am saddened to see that we are capping a brand-new school that opened at 80% capacity,” said school board chair Lindsay Mahaffey. “But I’m hopeful knowing that in the Apex and Holly Springs areas we have a few elementary schools that will be coming to provide relief.”

Caps will continue at 19 elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools.

Baucom Elementary will no longer serve as one of the overflow schools for Apex Elementary. Salem Elementary will no longer serve as one of the overflow schools for Olive Chapel Elementary.

The cap will end at Sycamore Creek Elementary in Raleigh now that a new elementary school has opened in the area.

Enrollment caps are a way to shift the burden of reducing school crowding onto newcomers.

When a capped school reaches an enrollment limit, families who weren’t living in the attendance area by a certain date are assigned to a more distant school that has space. This school year, 837 students are capped out of the school they’d normally attend.

Wake also has to deal with how the state sets class sizes at 18 students in kindergarten, 16 in first grade and 17 students in second- and third-grades.

Most of the capped elementary schools are in fast-growing western and southwestern Wake.

“I know that staff does everything they can to try to come up with the best possible recommendations here,” Heagarty said. “Unfortunately, these recommendations will disadvantage a lot of our families. But at this point I don’t know that we have a better option.”

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Caps will continue at 19 schools with the addition of Apex Friendship.

Baucom Elementary will no longer serve as one of the overflow schools for Apex Elementary. Salem Elementary will no longer serve as one of the overflow schools for Olive Chapel Elementary.

MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Caps will continue at 2 schools.

HIGH SCHOOLS

Caps will continue at 3 schools.

This story was originally published February 21, 2023, 8:37 PM.