By Angela H. Hill
Patrick County parents who filled out the school system’s parent survey: your opinions have been heard. At its November 10 meeting, the county school board announced that in response to parent feedback, it is revamping the school system’s website, www.patrick.k12.va.us.
“The new design will make it more user-friendly,” said Patrick County Schools Superintendent William Sroufe. “You will see the same icons and features, but won’t have to scroll as much. A lot of the information will be the same, but it will have a cleaner look.”
One new feature, however, will be a link to the School Quality Profiles—commonly called “school report cards”—from the Virginia Dept. of Education. Those profiles can be seen now by visiting the Dept. of Education’s site at www.pen.k12.va.us, linking to Statistics and Reports on the left, and then to School Quality Profiles.
The School Quality Profiles contains a wealth of statistics on Patrick County and how it compares to the rest of the state. Topics include core-subject proficiency, teacher-to-pupil ratios, per-pupil spending, college and career readiness, attendance rates, and enrollment.
School officials are also working on a smart phone application that will contain much of the info found on the full website, including an athletics calendar and school lunch menus. Sroufe said school officials hope to add the ability for parents to deposit money into student lunch accounts to both the website and the app.
In other school news, the Patrick County Public Schools surplus auction sale will be held at the school bus depot on Saturday, Nov. 19, starting at 9 a.m., rain or shine. Items range from school buses to televisions to tables to power poles. Money raised at the auction goes into the school’s general fund.
The school board also heard presentations regarding parental involvement at school activities from principals Jason Wood, Meadows of Dan Elementary; Jeannie King, Patrick Springs Primary; and Dee Owens, Woolwine Elementary.
The parent survey showed that approximately 75 percent of parents attended back-to-school nights across the county; and 95 percent of parents feel comfortable calling or visiting the school. Patrick County Schools has received approximately 200 survey responses so far. The survey remains open at www.patrick.k12.va.us.
