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The Need to Know
- Parent's Guide to Student Achievement
- Legislated Notifications
- Low Performing District Plan
- Policies
Parent's Guide to Student Achievement
Legislated Notifications
Parents Bill of Rights
The North Carolina Parents’ Bill of Rights outlines key rights and responsibilities of parents in the education of their children. It affirms the importance of parental involvement and transparency in areas such as curriculum, health care decisions, and educational records. Halifax County Schools is committed to upholding these rights while fostering strong partnerships between families, educators, and school communities to support student success.
Parents Right To Know
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires all LEAs to notify parents of all children in all Title I schools that they have the right to request and receive timely information on the professional qualifications of their children's classroom teachers. This notice must be sent at the start of each school year. The notice does not itself contain the teacher information. It simply tells parents the types of information they may request.
At a minimum, if a parent requests it, LEA/school must report:
- Whether the teacher has met state qualifying and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher is teaching;
- Whether the teacher is teacher under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualifications or licensing criteria have been waived;
- The baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, including the field of discipline of the certification or degree; and
- Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessional and, if so, their qualifications.
- In addition, if a child is assigned, or taught by a teacher who is not "highly qualified" for four or more consecutive weeks, the parents must receive timely notice.
These and other communications with parents must be in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practical, in a language the parents can understand. According to ED guidance, if there is no other way to provide information, it should be provided in oral translation.
Requests must be in writing to the principal.
This applies only to Title I schools.
Senate Bill 49
Senate Bill 49, also known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights, was enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2023 to affirm and protect the rights of parents in directing the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their minor children. This legislation outlines clear expectations for transparency between schools and families, including access to academic records, curriculum materials, and health-related information.
This PDF contains the full legislative text of Senate Bill 49, providing detailed information about the rights it guarantees and how public schools are expected to implement the law.
Low Performing District Plan
Low Performing District Plan
As a designated low-performing district, we are required to develop and implement a comprehensive improvement plan. This plan outlines specific strategies to raise both the school performance grades and the growth scores of each low-performing school within the district.
The plan will also detail how the superintendent and central office administrators will directly support each low-performing school. This includes providing targeted resources, guidance, and interventions, as well as establishing systems to regularly monitor progress and ensure accountability.
Our ultimate goal is to create sustainable improvement that positively impacts student achievement and overall school effectiveness.
Understanding School Performance Grades and Halifax County Schools’ Designation
In 2013, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation (G.S. §115C-83.15) that introduced School Performance Grades as an additional way for parents and the public to understand how schools are performing. Starting with the 2013–14 school year, each public school in North Carolina has received an annual letter grade—A, B, C, D, or F—published in the North Carolina School Report Cards.
These grades are calculated based on two key components:
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80% of the grade is based on student achievement (proficiency on end-of-grade and end-of-course tests)
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20% is based on student academic growth (the progress students make over the course of the school year)
In Halifax County Schools, 7 out of 11 schools met or exceeded expected growth during the most recent academic year. This progress is measured by student performance on state assessments in areas such as Grades 3–8 Math and English Language Arts, Grades 5 and 8 Science, NC Math 1 and 3, English II, and Biology.
Policies
Policy Manual
This manual contains the official policies of the Board of Education and related administrative regulations of the Superintendent organized by topic. Board policies state positions adopted by the Board of Education to provide direction, control and/or management of its legal functions. Regulations establish procedures and rules developed by the superintendent to guide and direct the implementation of board policy.