Roanoke Rapids Graded School District administrators, support staff, and Board of Trustees had a busy week of professional learning and meetings and our students had another action-packed week of learning. 

In addition to last Tuesday’s night’s September Board Meeting, district and school administrators and support staff engaged in their monthly leadership meeting, quarterly district safety committee meeting, and yearly threat assessment training.

EC Teacher of Excellence Honored at RRGSD Board Meeting

During the Board Meeting, Frank Coulman, an Occupational Therapist (OT) in the Exceptional Children’s (EC) department, was honored through a Special Recognition at the RRGSD Board of Trustees Meeting. 

Mr. Coulman has been named the 2024 RRGSD EC Teacher of Excellence. He has served students at Manning Elementary School, Belmont Elementary School, and Clara Hearne Pre-Kindergarten Center for the past 20 of his 32 years as an OT, and he provides therapy to help students develop functional motor and visual perceptual skills to successfully access their educational setting. 

He leads the district autism evaluation team, and participates in evaluations for children as young as 2 ½ years old and then works with them and their families as they progress through preschool and elementary school. 

Mr. Coulman builds lasting relationships with students and their families, and we are thankful for his commitment to excellence. 

When asked, Mr. Coulman stated that he absolutely loves working with our students and their families and is grateful to work with his colleagues, his work family, and he feels the love and support they have for him each and every day.

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Clara Hearne Pre-Kindergarten Center

On Friday, Amy Parker, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Clara Hearne Pre-Kindergarten Center, was honored with the other Central Carolina teachers of the year at the CCRESA Board of Directors Meeting. 

I was able to introduce Mrs. Parker and share about her dedication to the mental and social-emotional well-being of her students including how she introduced Buddy Benches to provide a supportive space where students or teachers feeling down could sit, with the hope of being joined by others. 

Mrs. Parker recognized a need and took proactive steps to address it and offer support, which is one of the many reasons our students and staff love Mrs. Parker.

Manning Elementary School

Kindergarten students at Manning Elementary recently participated in the annual book box parade. 

The parade is a creative and engaging event, held annually at Manning, where participants decorate boxes to hold their favorite books. 

These decorated boxes are then "paraded" through the school, allowing students to showcase their love for reading while expressing their creativity.

Belmont Elementary School

Belmont Elementary School has implemented positive office referrals, which they are calling “Belmont Fist Bumps.”

This is a proactive approach in which students are sent to the office, not for disciplinary reasons, but to be recognized for exemplary behavior or achievements. 

Belmont is using this practice to help shift the focus toward celebrating positive actions such as kindness, leadership, academic success, and improvements in behavior.

Chaloner Middle School

Chaloner Middle School has a fresh addition to the front of the campus—beautiful new banners that proudly represent our school spirit. 

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to G.W. Hux & Company for generously sponsoring the banners, which help us create a welcoming environment for our students, staff, and visitors. 

We are proud of our Chaloner Middle School football team, which started its season out with an 18-0 win at Northampton this week.

Roanoke Rapids High School and Roanoke Rapids Early College

Our high school students and their families were invited to an informative CFNC Financial Aid Night in the RRHS Media Center. 

Amy Denton with CFNC presented valuable information to ensure the success of our seniors with their future plans. We had a record turnout of seniors and their families. We are excited to help our students and their families navigate the next steps of their lives after high school. A big thank you goes out to school counselors Jessica Elias, Sabrina Hunter, and Angie Rowe for their hard work and dedication in planning such a successful evening.

Lastly, we recently published our Board-approved traditional school calendar for the 2025-26 school year. 

We are excited to share this early, so families can plan for an earlier return to school next school year. 

This traditional calendar is more closely aligned (but not the same) with the Early College calendar, but we do not have the Early College calendar yet for 2025-26 because we will wait to see the Halifax Community College calendar before finalizing ours. 

Together we succeed!