Today, along with another stellar performance in a State Board of Education meeting, State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced the following: So, WHERE ARE THE TEACHERS? McKinney was a teacher until last school year. Jeffery Elmore is a teacher, but has spent more time in Raleigh supporting his party's stalling a budget process and extending the … Continue reading About Mark Johnson’s Schools Reopening Task Force – Where Are The Teachers?

Rep. Graig Meyer of Orange County has been a fierce advocate for public education and posted a side by side comparison of the Senate version and House version of the COVID-19 Bills (SB704 / HB 1038). It is worth looking at to see what is being debated in Raleigh that will affect our public schools, … Continue reading A Look At The Both The Senate And House Versions Of The Covid-19 Bills

A recent April 16th editorial in Durham's Herald-Sun highlighted the potential (actually likely) effects of the 2018 amendment that Republican lawmakers put on the ballot to cap state income tax rates (and corporate tax rates as well). In what now seems like the distant past of 2018, Republican state lawmakers moved to lock in their … Continue reading This Could Now Come Back To Haunt NC – Especially Public Education: 2018’s “TABOR” Amendment

If you ever needed more proof that many of our lawmakers in Raleigh have absolutely no idea of what happens in public education or how things work, then this should help. Courtesy of Kris Nordstrom: Read that carefully. If comes from a draft of a bill that has not been filed just yet. Specifically, page … Continue reading You Might Want To See What This NCGA Bill Draft Requires For Remote Learning

This is a good list for any public school advocate to look at and use as a template for observation. It comes from ITPI.org (In The Public Interest). Dr, Diane Ravitch posted it earlier on her well-known blog. Dr. Jen Mangrum shared it on her social media. The more it is shared, teh more people … Continue reading “11 Warning Signs That Your School District Is Under Attack” – From ITPI.org

And can do it in a short amount of time. This week the North Carolina General Assembly will "reconvene" for the short session of the 2020 year. Below is a informational graphic put together by Susan Book, one of the founders and leaders of saveourschoolsnc.org. It refers to Class Size Chaos, flexible scheduling, adding time … Continue reading This NCGA Short Session Could Do SO MUCH FOR Public Education in NC

It wasn't sarcasm.  Anyone who has taught for years in large public schools could expertly tell you that. On a stage with 50,000 Americans dead from the COVID-19 virus addressing a national audience in an election year with the economy crashing and unemployment rising by the second, you do not as a leader have any … Continue reading Great Teachers Can Admit They Are Wrong To Their Students

In this morning's Winston-Salem Journal is a report from the Associate Press entitled "Virus lockdowns an extra ordeal for special-needs children." Tomorrow will begin the seventh week of "homeschooling" here in my household (and in North Carolina), and having a child with a developmental delay as well as autism has made this period of time … Continue reading “Virus lockdowns an extra ordeal for special-needs children” – What Has Been The Most Help For My Special-Needs Child

I am almost three times as old as the average age of my students this year. I remember rotary phones, VHS, Walkmans, leaded gasoline, and the release of the first Star Wars movie. I remember the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Soviet Union, Columbine, … Continue reading This Teacher Has So Much Faith In The Class Of 2020

Below is a quick reference FRQ handout of the recently adopted end-of-year grading policies adopted by the NC State Board of Education FOR GRADUATING SENIORS. It is being published in this post for information purposes only. No opinions attached. YET…