post high performance and strong statewide reputations; students are admitted in significant numbers to Duke, UNC, NC State, East Carolina, and beyond. “We’re not choosing between career and college,” Basnight says. “We are building options so students can change direction without losing ground.” TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL, NOT A SILO Dare’s technology team is, by all accounts, elite— managing hardware, software, and classroom training while traveling the state with NC BOLD to present best practices. AI is a real topic, not a buzzword. Teachers learn its risks and uses; students learn where it fits. “The greatest tool in any classroom is a teacher,” Basnight says.“AI will shape the economy our students enter tomorrow. Our job is to teach both the power and the boundaries.” CAPITAL WHERE IT COUNTS The district’s board goals are straightforward: increase student learning; recruit and retain professionals; deliver high-quality professional development; increase safety and security; maintain, repair, and upgrade facilities; and grow support across the system. That plan is visible on the ground. DCS is constructing the Dare Early College—a 9–13 school on the College of The Albemarle campus. The inaugural class began this fall in existing college space while the new facility rises. Elsewhere, a multiyear capital plan funds field houses, auxiliary 251 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 11 DARE COUNTY SCHOOLS
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI5MjAx