Our Roanoke Rapids Graded School District students have had another exciting week of learning! 

Recently, our youngest at Clara Hearne Pre-Kindergarten Center learned about fire safety (“Crawl low and go!”) from the Roanoke Rapids Fire Department, celebrated the seasons changing by designing pumpkin artwork that is displayed our walls, and played outside in Ms. Amy (Parker) and Ms. Betty (Martin)’s outdoor learning space. 

A big thank you goes to Jarrett Parker for sharing his gifts and talents with us in making the outdoor learning space!

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Our first graders at Belmont Elementary and Manning Elementary visited Big John’s Store in Pleasant Hill. 

It was such a great opportunity for our children to celebrate the fall and learn more about our local community. 

Students rode on the wagon pulled by a tractor, picked pumpkins, made crafts, had their faces painted, and learned about local history. 

A big thank you goes to Luke and Jessica Clements for being such great hosts to our wonderful teachers and students!

 At Chaloner, Mr. Sandeford’s Exploring Business Procedures and Leadership classes visited East Carolina University. 

They toured the campus and left with some great college readiness facts. 

At RREC, Mr. Stowinsky’s second period class traveled to Halifax Community College to attend the National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023 Celebration. 

Omar Rios, RREC Class of 2027, was one of the two guest speakers for the program, and he did a phenomenal job!

October 17th is a big testing day for Roanoke Rapids High School. 

We will administer the ACT to all eleventh graders, the Pre-ACT to all tenth graders, and the CTE WorkKeys assessment to all ninth graders. 

If you come on campus, please remember that we have testing sites occurring in all of our campus locations. 

And if you know one of our 9-11th graders, please wish them a day of great testing and encourage them to do their best and eat a healthy breakfast!

Our elementary and middle schools will be participating in Unity Week this week (Today through Friday).

Unity Week is an awareness program to prevent bullying and share the impact it has on everyone. 

Belmont will celebrate each day: 

Today - pajama day (to put bullying to sleep) 

Tuesday - inside out day (because it is what’s on the inside that counts) 

Wednesday - dress your best day/picture day (do your best to stand up against bullying)

Thursday - wacky tacky day (don’t be afraid to be different)

Friday - BEE a friend, not a bully day. 

Manning will celebrate Unity Day on Thursday by wearing and sharing oranges to prevent bullying.

Chaloner will celebrate with spirit days too: 

Today - pajama day 

Tuesday - BBQ Dad vs. Soccer Mom 

Wednesday - Jacket Pride day 

Thursday - rhyme without reason day 

Friday - National Bigfoot Day/camo day.

Belmont Elementary is hosting a “Family Tech Talk” Night on October 17 at 7 PM. 

Families can attend in person or online at this link

Doors will open at 6:45 PM.

This night will help families learn the risks their children face online and Internet safety tips. 

It will be presented by an Internet safety expert from Trend Micro’s Internet Safety for Kids and Families program. 

Please join us for a great parent and family engagement event!

Roanoke Rapids Early College High School is hosting its first Club Exhibition on October 18 from 5:30- 6:30 PM. 

Club members from the Gaming, Creative Writing, Coding, Beta, and Yearbook clubs will showcase their impressive skills and talents. We hope that families and scholars will come out to support our students and see the exciting activities that happen during Club time at RREC.

Our RRHS band is conducting their annual band fruit sale (navel oranges, pink grapefruits, Hamlin juice oranges, mandarins, and red delicious apples) by calling 252-519-7249 or emailing Director of Bands Laura Manning at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our elementary and middle schools are partnering with the C.A.R.E. John 3:16 Center on a drive to collect new socks and underwear to give out at Christmas. The winning class from each of the three schools will get an ice cream party. You can support “Socktober” by dropping off new socks or underwear at Belmont, Manning, or Chaloner.

Lastly, professional development is a very important item for our RRGSD adults. 

Staff participate because we must commit to and model lifelong learning, and honing our craft and adapting to the changing needs of our students and the world around us are essential. No matter how long any of us has been an educator, there is always an opportunity to become more effective at what we do. 

This week, I had the opportunity to attend the North Carolina School Board Association’s Annual Fall School Law Conference in Asheville, NC with two of our Board members, Vice-Chair Valencia Davis and Cathy Keeter. 

School laws are constantly changing, and it was so helpful for us to learn about the changes, so we can continue to move our district forward and model for our staff the importance of lifelong learning.