Say in 2008, a school district had 1000 students in its school system and spent 10 million dollars in its budget to educate them. That’s a 10,000 per pupil expenditure. Now in 2017, that same district has 1500 students and the school system is spending 11.5 million to educate them. That district is spending more … Continue reading When a North Carolina Lawmaker Says, “Well, We Are Spending More on Education Than Ever Before,” Then Consider This

To Every Young Teacher in North Carolina's Public Schools: I first want to tell you that I admire what you have chosen to do as a career. Teaching in today’s public schools is not easy. I know as I am in my 20th year of teaching. I still love my job. I still love being with … Continue reading We Want Young Teachers to Become Veteran Teachers – Reason #30 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

As a teacher, I cannot legally give a student an aspirin tablet. My high school has five counselors for over 2400 students. There is one part-time social worker. There is one school psychologist assigned to multiple schools at one time. A school nurse is on campus only one day a week. As a country we … Continue reading The Only “Arming” of Teachers Should be Done With Resources and Fully Funded Schools – Reason #29 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

In 2016, then Rep. Rob Bryan and the House Committee on Education, pushed through a bill that would establish an ASD (Achievement School District) in North Carolina allowing the control of some of the state’s low-performing schools to be outsourced to out-of-state entities. That ASD was renamed the Innovative School District (ISD) in 2017 in … Continue reading The Incestuous School District (ISD) of NC & the Pay-to-Play – Reason #28 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

“Collaborate” :intransitive verb. Noun form is “collaboration” – 1:to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor  Simply put, collaboration as described in that first definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website is the best resource/tool that a school can have and that leaders can encourage. What makes schools work best are the … Continue reading Our Schools Should be About Collaboration Among Teachers, Not Competition – Reason #27 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

When you are the North Carolina General Assembly and you want to stop a string of court decisions that have declared your unconstitutional acts “unconstitutional,” then you change the judicial system in your favor. Or at least try. When you are the North Carolina General Assembly and you want to remain in power on West … Continue reading Our Schools Are Not Failing; Our Policy Makers Are : Raleigh’s New Way of Measuring Schools – Reason #26 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

It is a rather sadistic beginning to Teach Appreciation Week. Charles Davenport Jr., an Editorial Board Member for the N&R, might have penned one of the most blatantly ignorant op-eds in recent memory when he made a claim that NC teachers were probably paid enough if not too much because “as far as academic rigor … Continue reading About That Charles Davenport Jr. Op-Ed on Teacher Pay in the News & Record

In the long session of 2014, the NC General Assembly raised salaries for teachers in certain experience brackets that allowed them to say that an “average” salary for teachers was increased by over 7%. They called it a “historic raise.” However, if you divided the amount of money used in these “historic” raises by the … Continue reading Longevity Pay Removed To Fund “Historic Raises” – Reason #25 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

With the effects of House Bill 17 from the surreptitious special session of December in 2016, Mark Johnson became the most enabled incoming state superintendent in state history. He would have powers that even his predecessor did not possess one-tenth the magnitude of. And considering that he ran against her adherence to the “status-quo”, that’s … Continue reading HB17: The Power Grab for Mark Johnson From That Special Session in December of 2016 – Reason #24 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th

From WRAL on January 27, 2018: Johnson has said he prefers to work behind the scenes, speaking with lawmakers privately rather than sharing his thoughts on policy in public settings. But on Thursday, he shared his thoughts on teacher pay while speaking at a conference hosted by the North Carolina School Boards Association in Raleigh (http://www.wral.com/breaking-tradition-ncae-won-t-invite-superintendent-to-convention-due-to-teacher-pay-comments-other-reasons/17293180/).  From Dr. … Continue reading When the Leader of the Public Schools Refuses to be Part of the Public – Reason #23 To March For Students & Rally for Respect On May 16th