Davie County Schools superintendent reports 332 kindergarten registrations, summer programs and switch to Aristotle K12

Dr. Belcher, superintendent of Davie County Schools, told the Board of Education that the district has about 332 kindergarten students registered for the coming year and that summer programs and operational work are underway across campuses.

The superintendent said the district maintained an overall attendance rate of 93.25% for the prior school year and is continuing outreach to families to improve attendance. He highlighted summer offerings including kindergarten camp, Exceptional Children’s Camp, Camp Discovery, STEAM camps, Read to Achieve and YMCA programs. Dr. Belcher said the district expects roughly 150 students to participate in the kindergarten camp, which is supported by a grant from the Mebane Foundation.

Summer feeding and nutrition services remain active, with school nutrition staff operating 38 district feeding sites and 29 public access points, Dr. Belcher said. Two full-service sites provide sit-down breakfast and lunch. So far this summer the program has averaged about 1,350 meals per day, or roughly 6,500 meals per week, the superintendent reported.

Human resources has been active, with the HR office processing more than 41 new hires for the upcoming school year, Dr. Belcher said, and staff continue recruitment efforts for classified and hard-to-staff positions.

Operations and facilities work underway includes installation of a partition in the Central Davie Academy cafeteria/auditorium, HVAC upgrades at several schools, gym floor refinishing at the high school, luxury vinyl tile carpet replacements in parts of some schools, LED lighting upgrades and practice-field work at the high school. Dr. Belcher said one gym-floor project (referred to in the meeting as “Corn Apser”) has been delayed while contractors complete a higher-priority volume of work.

The district is coordinating with the North Carolina Department of Transportation about a bridge out on Pine Brook School Road; Dr. Belcher said DOT has been responsive and the district is developing plans for traffic changes at the start of the school year.

On state-level policy and testing, Dr. Belcher said the district is monitoring recent legislation under consideration at the General Assembly related to wireless devices and cell-phone use during instructional time. He also said North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has approved use of end-of-grade and end-of-course retests for growth measures; the district administered about 1,955 retests this past year and expects results later in the fall.

In technology, the district will replace its current student-safety and web-filtering vendor with Aristotle K12. The district’s presentation described Aristotle K12 as a K–12–focused vendor providing web filtering, drive and email scanning, alerting for potentially concerning content and classroom-management tools that allow teachers to monitor and limit student tabs and release specific content for a class session. School leaders and teachers reviewed the system during a procurement process, and the district plans training for teachers, support staff and administrators ahead of the switch.

Dr. Belcher closed his update by thanking school administrators and community members for outreach and said district staff will continue to schedule community meetings and leader briefings ahead of the school year.

Two brief clarifying notes from the meeting: the superintendent described the kindergarten registration figure as “approximately 332” and described the expected kindergarten-camp attendance as about 150 students. The district reported the 1,350 meals/day figure as an average for the sites currently operating this summer.