Stokes County Schools is starting the new school year with technology on school buses, in hallways, and in bathrooms to keep students healthy and safe and support their success. While school district leaders are working on plans that could bring changes for parents in the 2024-2025 school year, Superintendent Stokes County Schools Dr. Brad Rice said school staff is focused on the students’ current needs. “Our primary responsibility for our focus this year is to provide a quality education in a safe, inviting environment. And that’s going to be our staff’s goals. Our board is looking long-term, and I know it’s hard to avoid all that noise, but when we come in the first day, we want our students and the teachers in that classroom focused on those students to give them a world-class experience in a great safe, and inviting environment,” Rice said. “We have some great success stories. We believe we are the launching pad for our students’ success, whether that’s in college, in a career, or whatever they choose. That’s our jobs to get them ready for their next step,” Rice said.Health, Safety, and Security Stokes County students may notice new technology in school buildings to help keep students safe and healthy. New this year, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jared Jones said the school district added environmental sensors to 85 middle and high school bathrooms to detect if someone is vaping. Jones said the school district also enhanced security camera systems throughout all 19 of its schools thanks to a Safer Schools grant. “Not only will it create enhanced usability for our administrators and accessibility, you know, they are not tied to a computer or a specific space in the school. They can view anywhere where they have internet access, which is very important in terms of their usability on a day-to-day basis,” Jones said. A school resource officer is assigned to every school in the district, Jones said.”More importantly, it does allow for us to send real-time footage and live feeds to the emergency services, including law enforcement. So in the event of a crisis, our law enforcement personnel does have access to all 19 school campuses and the video footage for those facilities.” Jones said. The school district will also be implementing the Rave panic button system. Jones said it will enhance emergency response times.”So as opposed to having to call the office and put the school in lockdown or have them call 911, as long as a staff has the application on their phone and are connected to the internet, then they can call directly and alert emergency services directly of any emergency or crisis that may take place on our campus,” Jones said.Jones said the state paid for all North Carolina public school districts to implement the Rave system. School Buses Stokes County Schools added new GPS routing systems to school buses. The touchscreen tables will give bus drivers turn-by-turn directions for all of the stops. The director of transportation, Matt Tedder, said will be especially helpful when a substitute driver is filling in.”We think this will be great for our district because it’ll have turn-by-turn directions with all of the stops included for our route drivers and our subs,” Tedder said.Tedder also addressed concerns from parents who say their kids are on the school bus for too long and how the consolidation plan could impact times. “I don’t foresee any drastic increases in ride times. it’ll be case by case, obviously. where students live in relation to the schools that may be closed/consolidated in the future, any schools that are built. It’s going to impact those students differently than others, but I feel we can keep drive times very manageable,” Tedder said. The district said it does hope to reach a consensus plan on how to consolidate schools by the end of this August. Those changes would not take effect until the 2024-2025 school year.Click the video player below to watch Superintendent Dr. Brad Rice’s welcome back message to Stokes County students and families.
Stokes County Schools is starting the new school year with technology on school buses, in hallways, and in bathrooms to keep students healthy and safe and support their success.
While school district leaders are working on plans that could bring changes for parents in the 2024-2025 school year, Superintendent Stokes County Schools Dr. Brad Rice said school staff is focused on the students’ current needs.
“Our primary responsibility for our focus this year is to provide a quality education in a safe, inviting environment. And that’s going to be our staff’s goals. Our board is looking long-term, and I know it’s hard to avoid all that noise, but when we come in the first day, we want our students and the teachers in that classroom focused on those students to give them a world-class experience in a great safe, and inviting environment,” Rice said.
“We have some great success stories. We believe we are the launching pad for our students’ success, whether that’s in college, in a career, or whatever they choose. That’s our jobs to get them ready for their next step,” Rice said.
Health, Safety, and Security
Stokes County students may notice new technology in school buildings to help keep students safe and healthy.
New this year, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jared Jones said the school district added environmental sensors to 85 middle and high school bathrooms to detect if someone is vaping.
Jones said the school district also enhanced security camera systems throughout all 19 of its schools thanks to a Safer Schools grant.
“Not only will it create enhanced usability for our administrators and accessibility, you know, they are not tied to a computer or a specific space in the school. They can view anywhere where they have internet access, which is very important in terms of their usability on a day-to-day basis,” Jones said.
A school resource officer is assigned to every school in the district, Jones said.
“More importantly, it does allow for us to send real-time footage and live feeds to the emergency services, including law enforcement. So in the event of a crisis, our law enforcement personnel does have access to all 19 school campuses and the video footage for those facilities.” Jones said.
The school district will also be implementing the Rave panic button system. Jones said it will enhance emergency response times.
“So as opposed to having to call the office and put the school in lockdown or have them call 911, as long as a staff has the application on their phone and are connected to the internet, then they can call directly and alert emergency services directly of any emergency or crisis that may take place on our campus,” Jones said.
Jones said the state paid for all North Carolina public school districts to implement the Rave system.
School Buses
Stokes County Schools added new GPS routing systems to school buses.
The touchscreen tables will give bus drivers turn-by-turn directions for all of the stops. The director of transportation, Matt Tedder, said will be especially helpful when a substitute driver is filling in.
“We think this will be great for our district because it’ll have turn-by-turn directions with all of the stops included for our route drivers and our subs,” Tedder said.
Tedder also addressed concerns from parents who say their kids are on the school bus for too long and how the consolidation plan could impact times.
“I don’t foresee any drastic increases in ride times. it’ll be case by case, obviously. where students live in relation to the schools that may be closed/consolidated in the future, any schools that are built. It’s going to impact those students differently than others, but I feel we can keep drive times very manageable,” Tedder said.
The district said it does hope to reach a consensus plan on how to consolidate schools by the end of this August. Those changes would not take effect until the 2024-2025 school year.
Click the video player below to watch Superintendent Dr. Brad Rice’s welcome back message to Stokes County students and families.
