Greensboro, NC - Together, we can make Guilford County Schools the best place to learn, work and grow. That is the message Superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley shared as she unveiled Better Together, the new strategic direction for Guilford County Schools (GCS). The plan serves as a blueprint, detailing four focus areas and strategies to guide the district for years to come.

More than 200 conversations with more than 8,000 people, including students, parents, business leaders and district employees, served as a guide for the strategic direction. Oakley said, “When I became superintendent, I knew it was important to bring our community together, to have honest conversations, understand the challenges and explore solutions together.”

A 100-person transition team, co-chaired by Dr. Harold Martin, Sr., Deborah Hooper, Carlvena Foster and Elaine Utin, organized the feedback into four areas:

 - Accelerate learning
 - Recruit, retain and reward top talent
 - Strengthen health, wellness, and safety in schools
 - Prepare students for the world

Working together, GCS commits to work across all four areas by making investments that address historical inequities, prioritizing collaboration among stakeholders to address barriers to student success and achievement, maintaining open lines of communication and engagement and operating efficiently to maximize resources for students.

The pandemic has been the singular most disruptive force in education in modern history. During her presentation, Oakley praised the resiliency of Guilford County when it comes together to help students succeed. She credited the hard work of educators, community partners and lawmakers committed to investing in the advancement of our students.

Nationally recognized programs including: a high-dosage tutoring initiative in partnership with local universities and learning hubs to assist students outside of school hours have begun to reverse learning loss and close achievement gaps. “Despite the trauma, pain and suffering that the pandemic brought, it also taught us we can overcome significant challenges when working together as one community,” Dr. Oakley said. “This is a community we can rely on and a district we can believe in.”

GCS pledges to continue this trend of fostering student success by expanding accelerated learning programs to improve support at key academic transitions including kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades.

The impacts of the pandemic are not just reflected in student performance. During meetings, stakeholders emphasized the need for mental health services in schools. Using federal funding, on-demand mental health services are available to all students and employees. “In the midst of a mental health crisis and gun epidemic in America, we must do more to improve the mental health and safety of our students and staff,” Oakley shared

Over the next five years, GCS will deploy more than $15 million towards mental health and the hiring of additional staff. Full-time school-based clinicians may be trained in counseling, psychology, or social work, and will help improve the ratios of counselors, psychologists and social workers serving students.

The district is also partnering with local universities to recruit a diverse pool of graduate students to serve in assistantships and fellowships that build their skills and experience in providing school-based mental health services, creating a talent pool of qualified candidates to fill district positions.

Students perform better when they feel safe, seen and supported. For GCS, strengthening school safety infrastructure is a top priority. This school year alone, the district has deployed twelve safety strategies, including adding security screeners in high schools, upgrading cameras for our 400 active yellow buses, adding a new video monitoring system and upgrading servers to support more than 1,500 cameras across the district. Over the next year, GCS will purchase an additional 5,000 cameras for schools and install Evolv touchless security screeners in our 21 middle schools.

Through the construction of 21st century facilities and renovation of older buildings, money approved by voters in Guilford County is being strategically deployed to prepare students to compete in a global economy. “My vision for Guilford County Schools is for our schools to become accessible places for learning beyond the school day and the normal school year.” Superintendent Oakley said, “I want our campuses to be places where we prepare our students to seek various pathways.” During the event, Oakley recalled conversations with industry leaders to frame programming that provides students with the tools they need to perform in future jobs. Partnerships with local universities and companies like Toyota will expose students to a broad range of post-secondary opportunities.

GCS is committed to investing in the future of students and staff. With federal dollars sunsetting in the next few years, Dr. Oakley called on the community to become advocates for public education at the local, state and federal levels. “...without our people, we cannot and will not achieve our vision to transform learning and life outcomes for all students.” Oakley highlighted her proposed budget, which calls for an increase in the teacher supplement and raises for frontline workers that will ensure all employees get a competitive, living wage. “I am deeply committed to growing and investing in developing our teachers and staff so we can better serve our students.”

Superintendent Oakley made the appeal for the community to join the district in building a stronger and better tomorrow by supporting efforts in one of four ways; working with us, contributing time, helping sustain the work and advocating for GCS. Community members who want to know how to get engaged, support GCS or learn more about the strategic direction can visit the Better Together website.