NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL BOARD
Kiptopeke Elementary Hopes for Provisional Accreditation

By SARAH BARBAN
Cape Charles Wave

October 26, 2012

Northampton County Schools have been facing their fair share of troubles — from accreditation, to staffing, to test scores. The county school board even had to call in an outside company, Edison Learning, to try and help sort out the issues.

At the Northampton County School Board meeting October 24, it appeared that rough seas are still ahead.

Due to last year’s unsatisfactory math scores at Kiptopeke Elementary, the school cannot be deemed fully accredited.

The three classifications for accreditation are: fully accredited, accredited with a warning, and seeking additional accreditation.

Kiptopeke falls under the latter.

“We have to make a request to the [state] Board of Education for their consideration to see if they will give Kiptopeke that rating of additional accreditation,” reported Superintendent Walter Clemons.

With the exception of math, Kiptopeke’s scores went up in all other areas, including reading, language arts, science, and social studies.

The State Board of Education met October 25 to decide whether to grant Kiptopeke a status of additional accreditation needed. The school awaits the decision.

Clemens lamented that in these difficult times, Northampton County schools, along with the entire United States, face federal budget cuts under the Budget Control Act of 2011, known as sequestration.

The cuts could affect Federal programs such as Title One, Head Start, English Language Acquisition, IDEA, and Career and Technical Education.

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“It’s not something that is in action at this time, but it is something that we want to make sure the community is aware of, that it is a topic,” said Clemons. “If you hear that word ‘sequestration,’ know that it’s something we don’t want to have happen.”

According to a school board resolution, sequestration could cause the loss to Northampton County of $1.5 million over 10 years.

The Budget Control Act takes effect January 2, 2013.

But in the face of daunting circumstances, Northampton County schools and students are pushing forward.

One example was provided by Occohannock Elementary Principal Ronald Yorko: “Mr. Ford, band/music teacher, has begun the process of building the band program. He has a tremendous increase of students interested in band.  He has also started three after-school groups, including band, chorus, and guitar,” Yorko reported to the school board.

And at Northampton High, students took the initiative to create a student pledge, which is recited every morning.

“I brought a student pledge to the school,” reported newly appointed Northampton High Principal Alvin Coleman. But instead, “the seniors came to me and said, ‘Mr. Coleman, we can make our own pledge.’”

Written by Zaukia Smith, the Northampton High School Student Pledge is:

We are strong.
We are bold.
We are the mighty blue and gold.
Today we will soar to success in our home hive, because as Northampton students, we have Yellow Jacket Pride.