When the country was in the grips of the Great Recession over a decade ago, public education in this state took some of the biggest cuts in funding – cuts that were never really restored as the economy regained momentum and rebounded. One only has to see the level of per-pupil expenditures in 2019-2020 compared … Continue reading Actually Now Is The Time To Invest In NC’s Public Schools

From the petition found on this link: New Hanover County Schools Must Follow All CDC Reopening GuidelinesOn Feb 12, 2021, the CDC released updated, and much needed, guidelines to support school districts in their reopening plans. On Feb 10, 2021, NHCS schools voted to transition Prek-5 students to Plan A, 5 day in person instruction. We … Continue reading Got to Have Six Feet – Sign The Petition For New Hanover Schools

Something happened to a teacher friend of mine yesterday. A zealous citizen of his town intentionally showed up in his neighborhood with a sign and bullhorn and "picketed" outside his house on a sidewalk that borders the yard. The teacher was not home but his family was - wife and two young children. The teacher … Continue reading About Targeting A Teacher’s Home In “Protesting”

“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, especially in this recent epidemic. What makes … Continue reading What This Current Crisis Shows Is That Our Schools Are About Collaboration Among Teachers, Not Competition

11 months in a pandemic. A lot going on. Close school buildings. Go straight to remote teaching. Primary elections. Standardized testing doubts. Government ignorance of the Leandro report. Reopening Task Force with no teachers. Dan Forest's platform. Lysol. Sunshine. Betsy DeVos. Meals for students. Underemployment benefits. Connectivity divide. Remote instruction plans. Vouchers for all bill. … Continue reading 11 Months. Comparing Schools & The NC General Assembly.

A look at the states that have prioritized vaccinating teachers: And how many vaccinations have been given in NC?

I work in a school system that has over 80 schools, 50,000+ students, and around 6200 teachers. There are around 1000 substitute teachers on the official sub list in the county. That does not mean that there are 1000 people ready to go to any school on any day for any amount of time. Those … Continue reading So, How Many Substitute Teachers Does Your School System Really Have?

Remember when Sen. Chad Barefoot said this in February of 2017 concerning House Bill 13? “For years, the General Assembly has been sending tens of millions of dollars to districts for new classroom teachers for the purpose of lowering classroom sizes,” he said. “The question we keep asking over and over again is, ‘What did … Continue reading Social Distancing Is Our New #ClassSizeChaos

... vaccinations. Nurses and mental support staff in every school. And the benefit of not letting the public think that you can "buy off" teachers. I will never begrudge a school employee who would choose to take the bonus. Considering what this state has not done to raise salaries of many school personnel, this cojuld … Continue reading Keep Your Damn Bonus. Give Us –

State Superintendent Catherine Truitt's rapid and sustained defense of her desire to remove certain words from the NC Social Studies curriculum standards was again on display in a new post on EdNC.org just a day after another State Board of Education meeting that highlighted revising those standards. In particular Truitt wants to do the following: … Continue reading About The State Superintendent’s Perspective On Social Studies Standards