Avery County Schools

Attention Parents: Summer meals offered at Newland Elementary School and through the YMCA summer programs offered for FREE! The Summer Meals Program starts on June 10th. Check the out Child Nutrition web page for the menu for the day.

Help Spread the Word! TONIGHT, July 25th, 2024 Avery Viking Girls Basketball Fundraiser will be held at the Mountain Glen Clubhouse. You don't want to miss it! LIVE MUSIC, by the Johnson Brothers, Fresh Hamburgers and Hot dogs and more! Come out and support the Girls Basketball team.

Season athletic passes for Avery County High School can now be purchased for the 2024-2025 school year. Adult passes are $80, student passes are $25, and parking passes are $75. All passes will be sold in the front office at the high school. Please contact Benny Wellborn, athletic director, with any questions. Thank you.

Parents! Free Summer Meals available to children 18 and under at Newland Elementary School Cafeteria! No Service on July 4th or 5th due to the Holiday. For more information see the flyers below.

Reminder Parents! FREE Summer Meals available for children ages 18 and under available at Newland Elementary School cafeteria, Monday through Friday. Breakfast and Lunch. Meal schedule is on the attached flyer. Take advantage of this great benefit for your children. Menus are posted on the child nutrition web page for summer feeding.

Attention Parents: BACK TO SCHOOL BASH 2024 FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES for Avery County Schools Students! Grades PreK-12th. Please see the flyer for the address and the pick up times for each grade group. July 25th, 2024 at Camp Linn Haven.

Note from the Superintendent: Congratulations to the Class of 2024! The 2023-2024 school year has quickly come to an end and all students will be departing for the short summer break. This Friday evening, we are excited to celebrate the achievements of around 161 graduates from Avery County High School. These students will proudly walk across the stage to receive their high school diplomas. We want to extend congratulations to each and every graduate as you finish up your time in K-12 and step into the next phase of your lives. We are incredibly proud of all our graduating seniors and wish you the very best as you move forward. As we head into the summer break, let's take a moment to keep all our graduates, students, families, and everyone in our school community in our thoughts and prayers. May God continue to watch over and protect each of you and our wonderful school system. Once again, congratulations to the Class of 2024!

Attention Parents! PreK Screening coming up May 20th, 2024!

Avery County Residents - Don't Have Cable or Fiber Internet Access in Your Home? Email the Broadband Office at Jeffrey.brooks@nc.gov. Include your name, your address, your phone number and your email address. This information will help Avery County qualify for connectivity grants. The Avery County School district and the Avery County Government thank you for helping with this request.

Hey Parents, Did you know that hot, healthy, Supper Meals are served to all students in Afterschool? Services are provided at all Elementary schools for Free! Monday -Friday 3:00-3:30 during school days. No services when school is an early dismissal, or Holidays.

Don't Have Cable or Fiber Internet Access in Your Home? Please complete the survey at the following link to help Avery County expand access for our citizens. https://5il.co/2jt85

Parents, Please come to the YMCA for Family Day at the YMCA this Saturday, April 27th, from 10am-2pm! This is an Open House for the YMCA and is free to the public to attend. They will have Imagine Circus, Food Trucks, Bounce Houses and more! The YMCA hopes to see your family there

Attention Class of 2025! Get ready for Senior Portraits. June 10th and 11th, 2024 Avery High School 700 Pod Sign up to schedule your appointment at the link listed below.

Notification of incident involving Avery County Activity Bus April 23, 2024 at 10:47:10 AM EDT On 23 April 2024 at approximately 9:15 this morning, An Avery County Activity Bus transporting students to Watauga County was involved in a minor traffic collision on NC 105 near "Rock Crusher Hill". Thankfully, no students or staff were injured. The Avery County School System have made all necessary provisions for their transportation to their destination in Boone. Shared from the Avery County Sheriff NC app at

A Message from our Superintendent: April 19, 2024 Avery County School System Faculty, Staff, Students & Community Members: Our academic year is quickly passing, and the Class of 2024 will soon depart for their post high school endeavors. As you are aware, our annual budget development process is underway. All school systems across North Carolina - and the nation - are having similar challenges with school budgets. ESSER funds are depleted; therefore, district leadership teams and Board of Educations are seeking ways to sustain operations while improving services for children. Since 2019, inflation has continued to rise, hourly wages have increased, and the cost of goods and services have drastically increased. These impacts, combined with our loss of student enrollment (based upon which most of our state funding is calculated), continue to strain our budgets. More than 85% of our operational budgets go towards salaries and benefits, leaving us with minimal flexibility or options for reductions in our budgets. Ongoing efforts have been made over the past four years to protect our local budget and fund balances in preparation for this moment in time. Our priority is to protect classrooms and schools while ensuring the highest quality of teaching and learning continues throughout the Avery County School System. Recognizing upcoming fiscal challenges and hoping to avoid a Reduction in Force, we have been reviewing all positions throughout the district over the past two years and, when possible, absorbing positions as employees retire or leave the system. In addition to absorbing positions, we must make staffing decisions in the best interest of students and to protect our operational budgets. As done for many years, this approach will also require some staff to be reassigned to other schools or departments. Rather than making last-minute announcements, we are notifying all employees at the earliest time possible who could possibly be affected by a change in placement for the upcoming academic year. At this time, we are unsure how our budget outcomes will occur and will continue to make plans for reductions as necessary. We will continue to seek other options while protecting resources at the classroom level. Hopefully, with the reassignments and reductions in positions, use of a portion of our available fund balance, and essential funding from our county government, we will successfully sustain our current level of operations as we prepare for the 2024-2025 academic year. Thank you for your continued support as we strive to maximize every dollar while maintaining a balanced budget in the Avery County School System. Sincerely, Dan Brigman, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools

PARENTS - The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is requesting your participation in the Digital Learning Dashboard Parent Survey. Information you provide will be used to help target areas of need and ensure that all NC students have adequate access to devices and the internet to access learning. Note that the information gathered will be kept private and confidential. - Access the survey at this link - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1Mf0OcxSkz27_guOx4txGVhbfU-E1YdlZ2rlP2478Ex719w/viewform

Parents: New SUN Bucks Program Coming Soon to North Carolina! The Department of Health and Human Services is launching a new SUN Bucks Program, a food assistance program that will provide benefits to qualifying students and families to help purchase healthy foods during the summer months. Take action now: Please confirm by March 28, 2024 that the mailing address on file with your school is up to date with the best address for the summer months. Visit SUN Bucks | NCDHHS to learn more.

Attention Parents who use the K12 Payment Portal for Lunch account payments: Avery County Schools Child Nutrition Services will be changing our Point of Sale Software during Spring Break. We will be shutting the K12 Payment site down as of Thursday evening, March 28th, 2024. You will be able to set up a new account in the new system in Linq Connect at https://www.linqconnect.com. You will not be able to put funds on student accounts until Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024. All current balances on the old software will be transferred to the new system on Monday, April 1st, 2024. When you set up your new accounts in Linq Connect, you will still be able to view accounts in the new system as we are currently doing in the K12 payment system. Please set up your new accounts today at: https://www.linqconnect.com If you have any questions, please feel free to email Tammy Woodie, Child Nutrition Director at tammywoodie@averyschools.net.

The Avery County Board of Education has approved the 2024-2025 Instructional Calendar. The calendar can be viewed at this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PmpQJAQAvbm3l9K58OoetkVHeIXubrXzWbuft6oAMiw/edit?usp=sharing

Due to the impending weather and potential icy conditions throughout the county, the Avery County School System will be CLOSED with a REMOTE ACADEMIC DAY today, Friday, March 1, 2024. Students should work on their “Day 1 Snow Packets” that were sent home earlier.