Alexander County Schools Announce Schedule Changes And Reveal Major Changes For Ellendale Elementary

Dr. Denita Dowell-Reavis

Superintendent’s Report

Superintendent Dr. Bill Griffin announced changes in the upcoming school academic calendar due to the ice and snow in late January and early February. February 13th and March 20th are now student days. Prior to that, those were scheduled to be teacher workdays. Also, April 10th will now be a student day. It was originally scheduled to be the final day of Spring Break. The final update is the last day of school will be a full day instead of an early release due to one of the weather-related two-hour delays for schools. The district must get 1,025 hours of instruction each school year and can only use five remote (virtual) days. The state law requires that districts start school on the last Monday in August. The state calendar restrictions create a tight timeline if families hope to be done with the academic year by Memorial Day, and as Griffin pointed out this year had an unprecedented snow, sleet, and ice storm that lingered.

Griffin also spoke about some changes for next year for Ellendale Elementary School. He intends to market the school as a School of Opportunity with a Science-Technology-Engineering-Math, or STEM focus. He would eventually like the school to be known as a STEM School of Distinction. Griffin says the students would engage in inquiry and problem-based learning and exploration. According to Griffin, “Ellendale Elementary has the great opportunity to pilot an innovative model of instruction within ACS. EES was selected because of its community support which will help strengthen overall community engagement… said Griffin. He continued saying, “This model will focus on inquiry-based and innovative learning experiences that are anchored in content standards but emphasize STEM, PBL, design thinking, and real-world application.” The school will be open for any student in a district through a parent request. Griffin’s hope that the rebranding and instructional focus will help the lagging enrollment at Ellendale. The average daily membership of students at Ellendale has dropped from 313 in 2015 to 166 in 2025. Griffin has already met with faculty at Ellendale and plans to meet with them again on creating the school’s new mission and vision. He also plans to be with the parents at a meeting later this week. Griffin says he hopes the school will appeal to many families in the county and potentially to people who live outside Alexander County. 

Board members said that they were pleased with the continued efforts to become “The Educational Choice for Each Child” and that the help for Ellendale may mean the district can avoid conversations in the future about closing or consolidating schools. 

Honors and Recognitions

Communications and Public Information Director Dr. Denita Dowell-Reavis began with recognition of Career and Technical Education Director, Crystal Hoke. Since 2021, Hoke has been working with the CTE department, which has received national recognition for two Harbor Freight Tools for Schools grants, and statewide recognition for multiple student competitions. Most recently, Hoke helped secure a state grant for the Homebuilding Career Program. According to state school superintendent, Mo Green, “These grants put hammers, tools and real-world skills into the hands of students across North Carolina.” He continued, “When students build homes, sheds and structures alongside industry professionals, they’re not just learning a trade — they’re building a pathway to a career and strengthening their communities.” Ten districts around the state were awarded the money back in January, and the grant meant $20,000 for Alexander County Schools. 

Another recognition for the CTE department deals with student credentialing. At the state board of education meeting last week, North Carolina celebrated having the third-highest number of students enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses in the nation during the 2023-24 school year. This means more students are getting credentials to help them when applying for jobs in the trades. In Alexander County, in 2024-25, students earned 2,561 credentials out of a possible 3,668, resulting in a 69.8% attainment rate. This performance exceeds the North Carolina statewide credential attainment rate of 58 percent.

Next, the board recognized Alexander Central High School Senior Hayden Inman for placing 5th in a statewide competition for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Inman also earned a perfect score in the contest. Then, ACHS Business, Marketing and Computer Science teacher Becky Cole was recognized based on a fall honor as a Microsoft Office Specialist Outstanding Educator. Cole is currently working on her certification in Adobe.

Also at the February meeting, the board gave recognitions for school performance. The State of North Carolina has now formally recognized some ACS schools for the 2024-2025 academic performance based on standardized test scores. The scores were released in September.

One celebration is for the schools that met expected academic progress. Those include: Bethlehem Elementary School, East Alexander Middle School, Ellendale Elementary School, Hiddenite Elementary School, Stony Point Elementary School, and Wittenburg Elementary School. 

Also recognized were two schools who performed better than predicted for what is called “exceeding state expected growth”. West Alexander Middle School and Alexander Early College were honored by the state for their high performance West has outpaced expected growth since 2018 and the Early College since coming back from the pandemic. (State scores were not issued in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid.)

The state also presented certificates through district personnel for Alexander Early College to celebrate its graduation rate. The school graduates more than 95 percent of its students compared to the state average of 88 percent. State reporting requires districts to report “higher than 95 percent” rather than saying the actual percentage to avoid identifying students.