CUMBERLAND – Superintendent Dr. Amy Griffin has started 2011 off by working to advocate for public education and recently presented new ideas and highlights from the Cumberland County Public School division to the County's Board of Supervisors this month.

“The School Board did add a new goal for this year… They want to start advocating for public education,” she explained to Cumberland's supervisors. “Public education has been taking a beating in the media lately and with declining funds we are going to start advocating for public education.”

As part of advocating for public education and creating community awareness in Cumberland, Dr. Griffin announced that she has planned three community outreach meetings for the near future.

“These are not Town Hall meetings where I will be talking about the budget,” she noted. “These are community outreach where we're going to meet in three different places throughout the community and we're going to talk about how Cumberland County Public Schools can help the community…”

Mark your calendars; the first meeting will be on Tuesday, February 22 at the Randolph Fire Department.

The second will follow on Tuesday, March 1 at the Cumberland Fire Department and then on Thursday, March 3 at the Cartersville Volunteer Rescue Squad.

The meetings are set to begin at 7 p.m.

School News

This year, the division's three main areas of focus are rigor, communication, and working on a culture and climate of high expectations, offered Dr. Griffin about the work that is taking place to lead within Region 8.

This year, at the High School, there is a renewable energy class being offered for the first time in Cumberland.

“The teacher is a special education teacher who had one block where she could teach this class and we're piloting it with the Department of Education and it's a brand new course. Our goal is to, hopefully, develop a whole new career pathway so our students can get a career industry certification in renewable energy,” said Dr. Griffin about the new initiative.

That opportunity, she detailed, will only last if grants can be identified to continue the course. According to the Superintendent, she has started to work with Allied Waste to secure grant funding.

In other grant news, another has already allowed Cumberland to construct a green house.

A Learning Serve grant allowed for the construction of a green house on the school's campus and will also assist students with completing community service hours by growing a “community garden,” she explained to the County's Supervisors.

In other “green” initiatives, the school division is also completing a “green room” where students can produce videos and productions.

Summer reading was initiated this past summer and is currently being revamped for the upcoming summer, she told the Board, and virtual learning opportunities are being expanded.

“With being a small county and with the economy being the way it is we're really having to look outside the box of how to offer course options to our students when we don't have teachers for that,” she said about the school system utilizing the Virtual Virginia offering where courses can be taken in languages and electives are offered.

Since taking over the Superintendent position, she has also reinstituted the Superintendent's Advisory Committee, which is filled with faculty and staff.

“They come every other month to provide input and I provide information to them,” she said about the line of communication that has been opened up through the Committee.

There is also a Superintendent's Student Panel where students also meet with Dr. Griffin and discuss their concerns.

Students are also involved with the School Board-a High School senior participates as a non-voting member on the School Board and an alternate assists the Board's clerk, she added.

“Our website is up and we keep it really current and I have a blog on there that I email you all every Monday so you can see what's going on in the school division,” offered Dr. Griffin about her updates that are provided each week on the school's website.

She later said, “I tweet everyday through Twitter…”

The school division will soon start developing a Cumberland County Public Schools YouTube channel, Dr. Griffin said.

The plan is for students to begin producing and taping videos that will be placed on a YouTube channel for viewing and a Facebook page will also be created soon as part of reaching out into Cumberland.

“We are just starting a Blue and Gold Alumni Club,” she said about reaching out to those who have graduated. “We are trying to get the alumni back into the school and to let them know that we care about them…We want you to come back and visit.”

An athletics booster club is also being developed, she concluded.