Starting this January, you may see bus drivers across the state giving students a “thumbs up.” That is because recent revisions to State Board of Education policy now require drivers to use a standard hand signal that tells students a roadway is safe to cross.

The hand signal has three steps. First, the driver holds up his or her palm facing the student until all traffic has stopped. Second, the driver gives a “thumbs up” to the students when it is safe to cross. For the third step, the driver points with his or her index finger the direction in which the child should proceed across the street. To see a graphic of this new signal, visit NCDPI’s Bus Safety website.

While State Board policy currently requires bus safety training for students twice per year, the revision will require training in each district to be documented and provided to all students, not just those who ride the bus. NCDPI Transportation Services staff members have provided districts basic instruction points for the training as well as guidance on how to implement the new requirements. Information on this policy and school bus safety is available online.

Last year, 35,966 students enrolled in at least one online course through the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS), and there were a total of 55,817 course enrollments according to the 2014-15 NCVPS Annual Report. This represents an increase from the 17,326 student enrollments in the school’s first year of operation in 2007-08. 

NCVPS enables students to take courses that may not ordinarily be offered in their local brick-and-mortar school or during times that are more convenient for their schedules. These virtual courses are offered through local school districts at no charge to public school and public charter school students or their families. Courses offered through the NCVPS range from credit recovery to Advanced Placement courses. One special component of the NCVPS is its Occupational Course of Study blended courses for students with disabilities. Education Week called the NCVPS Occupational Course of Study Blended Learning approach “the gold standard of courses for special education students.” To learn more, visit the NCVPS website.

At its December meeting, the State Board of Education approved a funding formula to distribute $690,000 in state funds to local school districts for installing stop-arm cameras. Only school districts that are reporting violations through the North Carolina State University data-gathering instrument will be eligible, unless the district submits a statement indicating why submitting data has not been possible. Priority will be given to districts with a lower percentage of the school bus fleet currently equipped with stop-arm camera systems. 

During one-day statewide counts, 3,000 vehicles illegally passed school buses with red lights flashing and the stop arm extended. Since 1998, 13 North Carolina students have been killed in such incidents. To learn more, visit NCDPI’s Bus Safety website.

Do you know of a class, school or district that accomplished amazing things in 2015? We would love to highlight these education success stories on DPI’s Celebrate NC Schools. This site was launched in 2011 to highlight creative and innovative initiatives implemented in North Carolina public school districts and schools.   

The site is divided into two sections. Local news and feature stories that spotlight special accomplishments and programs are cataloged in the Celebrate Features Archive. In addition to these inspiring news stories, public school personnel from across the state have shared information about praise-worthy programs that are listed by county in the School Innovations Database.