“This — is the school.”

Tonya Freeman, chief public relations officer of Hertford County Public Schools, guided EdNC through C.S. Brown STEM High School. As the second smallest high school in the district, all of the classrooms could be seen by standing at the end of a single hallway. But at that moment, all of the students and their teachers were gathered in their multipurpose room — also their cafeteria. They were waiting for lunch to be delivered from Hertford County High School, just up the road. 

“We finally have enough (students) for two lunch periods,” Ronica Watford, the school’s principal, said. The school hit an enrollment of over 100 students.

The family and collaborative nature of simply waiting for lunch was an extension of the community around Winton, North Carolina in Hertford County. Watford, a product of HCPS herself, said that it’s a place where people from “all walks of life” can come together. As principal of a smaller school, Warford finds it easier to communicate goals for the new school year with families.

HCPS consists of seven schools: three elementary, one middle, and three high schools. They serve about 2,500 students and employ about 500 teachers and staff. They rank as the 29th smallest district in the state based on 2023-24 enrollment.

Find out more information about Hertford County below.

Student achievement

The adults in the classroom crowded in the corners. They took pictures and waved at the students, but teachers at Ahoskie Elementary School kept instructing. The disruption of administrators observing a class is routine for them, even if it is the superintendent, Freeman said.

Jesse Pratt took on the superintendent role in January 2023. Even though he has teaching and administrative experience from all over North Carolina, he was new to Hertford County. But the family atmosphere makes him feel like he’s lived there all his life, he said.

Pratt outlined three main priorities for the new school year: academics, attendance, and social outcomes. 

Pratt said the district particularly wants to focus on basic math skills, early literacy, and making sure students are reading on grade level. He said that professional development to help teachers with this goal is equally important. 

“We’re strong believers, if teachers are not learning in schools and improving their craft as educators, our students are not learning,” Pratt said. “So we have a very rigorous professional development that really helps our teachers grow their skill set as educators, to better meet their needs, to meet our students’ needs as they’re coming into the building.”

Teachers in the district have also expressed the goal of getting students up to speed with their grade level, while also looking beyond standardized test scores.

“I explained to the parents, you know, you may not be proficient at the end of the year. But if you could take a child that’s on a second grade level that has come to you, and move them to a fourth grade level, you have done your job as a teacher because you’re moving them in the right direction,” Corese Bowser, a teacher at Ahoskie Elementary, said. 

Safety first 

The school district is a recipient of a safety grant from the Center for Safer Schools. At the end of the 2023-24 school year, they began placing metal detectors at the district’s middle and high schools. The front offices have a new, computerized visitor and tardy check-in system. The school buses have new cameras and radio systems. And on the first day of school, all students at all schools walked the halls with clear book bags. 

“We are requiring all pre-K to 12th grade students in our district to have clear book bags this school year, just to make sure that we’re trying to be proactive and that we can catch things in advance instead of being reactive on the back end,” Pratt said. 

At the high school level, Watford said they ran into no problems with the changes. At Ahoskie, Bowser said one of the things she likes about the school is feeling safe with all of the “crazy things going on in the world.”

“The way that our building is set up is that it would be very difficult for people to just walk in. So in order for our students to be successful, … we have to feel safe, and we feel safe here,” Bowser said

Keeping students in school, and modeling the behaviors expected of them while they are in the classroom “Code of Excellence,” the superintendent said.

Pratt said that since last school year, HCPS decreased their chronic absenteeism rate by 8%.

This school year, they plan to implement and continue different incentives and approaches for attendance. At the high school level, Watford said that she started having “No Tardy Parties” for her students. Students can compete by grade level to earn a party with treats as an incentive to come to school and get there on time. 

“And you will be amazed, even at high school, how those students say ‘I gotta make sure I’m at that next No Tardy Party,’” Watford said. 

The Partners for Hertford County Public Schools Foundation sponsors the incentives that schools can give to students, such as gift cards and prizes. The foundation recently announced that their affordable housing complex for the district’s teachers is fully paid off. Now, the income can be redirected to supporting the schools and funding positive behavior intervention programs. Dennis Deloatch, member of the SECU foundation, said on behalf of the foundation at a recent board meeting.

To keep more students in school, the district started repurposing their in-school suspension rooms. They will now be known as R3 rooms — a place to “reflect, rethink, and return,” Pratt said.

According to the district, this is a place where students will have time to process their emotions and behaviors. When their session is over, a coordinator will do follow-ups with the students to help them readjust. 

Pratt said this is a part of moving away from punitive consequences and having more restorative practices. 

“Behavior is taught and modeled to kids. We can send kids home every day from school, but they come back with the same learned behavior if we don’t do anything to intervene with those behaviors,” Pratt said. 

In everyday instances, teachers said that they will make their own efforts to check in with students. 

Bowser said that at Ahoskie, they spend 15 minutes everyday with their students to check in with them and set goals. 

Jackson Davis, a senior at C.S. Brown Stem, said that he feels safe talking to his teachers. 

“They will talk to you one-on-one. Like after class they put themselves, like, ‘hey, I know she wasn’t doing such and such,’ or ‘I know you weren’t acting yourself. Let’s talk, what’s wrong,'” Davis said. 

Julia Lequin, a STEM teacher and AIG coordinator at C.S. Brown STEM, said that it is important to dialogue with students regularly, even when students appear to be performing well. 

“That’s one thing also this year that I need to look at and recognize — the ones that are always on the go, always on top of their game, and then equally with the ones that are at risk,” Lequin said. 

The community

The best thing that educators said about living and working in HCPS is how close the community is. 

“The parents come out, support us. And when they see stuff on Facebook, they share it. They do what they are supposed to do,” Jayda Owens, a fifth grade teacher at Ahoskie Elementary, said. “As parents, they come out to the PTAs, come out to support their child, making sure that they get in everything that they need for their child.”

Walker said that she finds several ways for parents to get involved. 

“We’ve had opportunities for parents to come in, you know, try to be flexible with work schedules,” Watford said. “We had opportunities for parents to come in for breaks, for sessions where we’ve provided parents with pamphlets and different materials in regards to how they can support their child at home.”

Pratt said that overall, the community has been receptive to the changes brought to the district. 

“It’s a small district. Everybody knows each other, and everybody’s committed to positive outcomes for our students in our district,” Pratt said. “And so I feel like I’ve lived here all my life, the way people have welcomed me to the community, into the school district overall.”