Simply put, it’s hard to “hug it out” with those who are making the very divides that separate us.

Especially someone like Tim Moore who is having to answer claims of causing the dissolution of a marriage in a possible abuse of power. Having admitted to the relationship with the named party, Moore claims to have ameliorated the situation and of course admit no fault.

While “Moore said he had an ‘on-again, off-again’ relationship with Jamie Liles Lassiter starting in 2019, and that it has since ended,” Moore has had a very “always on” relationship with those who want to erode public education and has been a direct cause of the alienation of affection between the state’s obligation to fully fund its public education system and reality.

Before the 2008 Great Recession took hold of the country, North Carolina had what was considered one of the more progressive public school systems in the Southeast. That is no longer the case.

While other states have helped their public education systems recover, North Carolina’s General Assembly under Tim Moore’s leadership deliberately put into place measures that continued to weaken public education in the name of “reform” and privatization that included:

• Removal of Graduate Degree Pay
• Removal of Longevity Pay
• Removal of Career Status
• Removal of Due- Process Rights
• School Performance Grading System
• Bonus Pay Schemes
• Vouchers
• Charter Cap Removed
• Class Size Chaos
• Removal of Professional Development Funds

And there are many more.

When one surveys the terrain of North Carolina and sees just how many divides (examples of alienation) there exist from the it might be easy to say that we need to “hug it out” and bring people back together again “at a table in Biscuitville” to start a dialogue of how we can be great again.

But then it needs to be asked why those divides are there in the first place and why have certain parts of North Carolina been alienated from others.

Yes, public education can be the ultimate bridge that spans socio-economic divides, that links the rural to the urban, that allows for social gains, yet the parties who are in the construction of those bridges must be in complete synchronicity as far as goals and intentions are concerned.

But after watching lawmakers like Tim Moore (and Phil Berger) hold this state hostage through unethical measures to pass budgets, hold special sessions, and pass legislation that continuously weaken our public schools it has become apparent to this teacher that these are not the people with whom you “build bridges.”hug it out.”

In fact, why would public school advocates even want to “have a seat at the Biscuitville table” with them? Time and time again, the powers in the NCGA have shown that not only will they not invite teachers to the “table” but that they will go out of their way to make teachers part of the menu.

Yes, there has been a lot of talk about “hugging it out.”

But that is not really happening.

When in the last ten-plus years of Moore and Berger has there ever been any indication that teachers and public school advocates would be given even a small voice in matters much less have a “seat at the table in Biscuitville?”

That’s not a rhetorical question.

What we have in Raleigh is a group of people who have no interest in truly “hugging it out” and bringing people “to the table.” Those people (like Moore) are more concerned with alienating and putting public schools on the menu and teachers under the table.

So vote in 2024.

And don’t let one man ruin your love for Biscuitville.

Credit: unknown