This past Friday afternoon right after the ending school bell in the high schools rang (high schools end last of all levels) teachers in my district received an email from the system superintendent announcing that she took a position with the Department of Public Instruction. People may debate on how effective a superintendent was / … Continue reading My School System Needs a New Superintendent, One Who…

I am biased toward my own school. Won't deny that. But hearing that four students from my school won individual state championships in the state indoor track meet makes me proud and not just because of the hard work and the effort put into a mentally tough and physically challenging sport culminated in being first … Continue reading State Champions & Even Better People

From a February 1, 2019 column by Colin Campbell in the News & Observer concerning staff raises for Sen. Berger and Rep. Moore's staff: Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have seen a lot of turnover on their staffs since 2017, but some of the staffers who stuck around have been rewarded … Continue reading NC is Not a “Prudent” Employer of Teachers: About Berger and Moore’s Recent Staff Raises

From WUNC.org from last December: "The General Assembly cut the budget line item for teacher professional development from the state budget during the recession and has never restored it. In 2008, the state budgeted $12.6 million for educator professional development. That line item has been reduced to zero. Now schools might pay for some professional … Continue reading The State of North Carolina Should Restore Professional Development in the State Budget

The GOP-led NC legislature’s 2013 decision to end graduate degree pay bumps for new teachers entering the teaching profession was not only misguided, but another wave in the assault on public education here in the Old North State. I confess there exist numerous studies that have shown that advanced degrees do not correlate with higher … Continue reading The North Carolina General Assembly Should Pass SB 28 – Restore Master’s Supplement for Teachers (And Include Other Vital Staff Members)

The following tweet appeared today: ExcelinEd is the think tank founded by Jeb Bush right after his tenure as the governor of Florida. Their donors (2018) include: Gates. Walton. Pearson. Zuckerberg. Koch. Charter Schools USA. And ExcelinEd was in NC today talking about how to improve Read to Achieve, the initiative passed in 2012 has … Continue reading Dear NC State Board of Education, Please Stop Listening to Jeb Bush

If you have not read the latest post by the gifted teacher / writer Justin Parmenter on his blog Notes From the Chalkboard, then do so. Entitled "After ice cream, could state lawmakers address our practice of assigning F's to schools of poverty?", Parmenter talks about yet another empty bill presented in the NCGA. Yesterday … Continue reading North Carolina: A State Where Ice Cream and Doughnuts Are Important Than Fully Funding Schools

Today, a draft of a new 2019 state report on teaching was released. Entitled "State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina," it chronicles last year's numbers as far as teacher attrition and  turnover are concerned. As highlighted by NC Policy Watch's Clayton Henkel, here are the key stats involving teacher turnover: 94,909 – total number … Continue reading About That “State of the Teaching Profession in NC” Report

Budgets for the state of North Carolina are made biannually. The current budget that helps fund our schools was put together in 2017. Although, there was the power to come back to a budget and make adjustments in the summer fo 2018, a veto-proof majority led by ultra-conservative NCGA members made sure that the budget … Continue reading About the Funding of the Opportunity Grants – What is Kept From Traditional Public Schools

Veteran teachers openly discuss, study, and collaborate. And they fight for public schools. The powers that rule in the North Carolina General Assembly under Sen. Phil Berger and Rep. Tim Moore have been waging a war against public schools in our state for the last seven years. Under the guise of “reform,” GOP ultra-conservatives driven … Continue reading The NCGA’s Absolute Fear of the Veteran Public School Teacher