School system to open local office
Sep. 2—HIGH POINT — Guilford County Schools will open its first-ever office in High Point this fall.
That was among several major developments Superintendent Whitney Oakley announced Friday during an event at Congdon Yards in High Point to mark her first full year in her job.
Oakley recited some highlights of the past year and briefly discussed the challenges of the job — "I've never worn as many hats as I have in the last year," she said — but most of the hour was given over to news announcements.
The school system office in High Point will be the first here since the merger of the former High Point, Greensboro and county school systems 30 years ago. The central office is north of downtown Greensboro. The school district will develop the High Point office at Congdon Yards in partnership with Business High Point-Chamber of Commerce.
The office will house school system community, equity and school engagement teams and will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays. The office is expected to open this fall.
Oakley also announced two grants totaling $6.7 million to expand telehealth clinics in schools and enhance Guilford County Schools' mental health outreach to students.
A $3 million grant from the Oak Foundation will allow Guilford County Schools to continue its partnership with Cone Health, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and the Guilford Education Alliance to expand telehealth clinics in elementary schools.
The initial four clinics that have already opened, which are electronically connected to Cone Health, include one at Union Hill Elementary in High Point. The grant will allow clinics to open in 11 more elementary schools, including this fall in Parkview and Kirkman Park in High Point and in the winter in Fairview and Oak Hill in High Point.
A $3.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will allow Guilford County Schools, in partnership with the Kellin Foundation and North Carolina for Community and Justice, to launch a pilot program in several high schools to address student mental health.
The initiative is designed to enhance how the district identifies and addresses mental health needs, with parental consent, by removing stigmas and barriers around mental health and raising awareness of available mental health resources. The names of the high schools in the pilot program haven't been released yet.
Jose Oliva, the school system's chief of staff, also formally announced a major tutoring initiative involving the High Point Community Foundation that first was reported Friday by The High Point Enterprise. The foundation made a challenge grant of $100,000 toward a goal of raising $800,000 to underwrite the Students First Literacy Initiation, a tutoring program for High Point students. Students First will begin in 2024 at four elementary schools with high poverty levels — Kirkman Park, Northwood, Montlieu and Parkview — with the intention of expanding so that eventually every public-school student in High Point has the necessary support to read at grade level by third grade,
The foundation's challenge grant puts the foundation at the forefront of efforts to try to replace the federal pandemic-relief money the school system has been using for its current high-dosage tutoring efforts, which have garnered national attention. That federal funding expires in 2024.
The foundation's long-term goal is to establish a multi-million-dollar endowment targeting the overall educational needs of High Point public-school students.
pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul
