What follows is the text of outgoing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's "farewell" letter to Congress. In it she asks Congress to keep in place the "reforms" she and her cronies have put in place, most notably the championing of school choice. When this letter was written, the results of the run-off elections in Georgia … Continue reading This Is Betsy DeVos’s Farewell Letter To Congress From Jan. 4th. Then Georgia Happened.

On the same day that North Carolina reached a new record in COVID-19 hospitalizations and an almost 16% positive test rate, Wake County rolled out an initiative to keep schools open as the winter break comes to an end. From an online News & Record report yesterday: That plan would include incremental "bonuses" based on … Continue reading Isn’t This Just Hazard Pay That’s Not Being Offered Full-Time Educators?

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”-R.E.M. “So. Central Rain” In the 2016 election, Donald Trump carried the state of Georgia. Comfortably. And from the Peach State, he plucked two men for his cabinet: Sonny “Pray for Rain” Perdue as Secretary of Agriculture and Tom Price as Health and Human Services Director. Price was … Continue reading R.E.M., Jimmy Carter, and Brad Raffensperger – Donald Trump’s Georgian “Reckoning”

In April when NC’s school buildings were officially closed for the remainder of the school forcing EOC exams to truly be waived for the spring administrations, these were the official state numbers concerning COVID: 8,052 cases, 269 deaths, and 477 hospitalizations. On January 2nd, these were the numbers: 558,437 cases, 6,933 deaths, and 3,479 hospitalized. But we … Continue reading Still Giving The EOC Exams? Here Is What They Will Really Measure

What a veteran teacher received ten years ago compared to what a veteran teacher who would start a career in NC today is quite startling. Not only is there a significant loss in projected income but ramifications on being able to get health care after retirement and not having to fear reprisal in standing up … Continue reading Simply Put, This NCGA Does Not Want Veteran Public School Teachers

1. COVID-19 & REOPENING PLANS Simply put,educators need to have a bigger voice on reopening plans. Here are the latest numbers of cases from the NCDHHS site. There are 117 LEAs in NC. Add to that, the needs of elementary schools may differ from middle schools and high schools as far as reopening is concerned. … Continue reading The Top Ten Educational Issues From 2020 That Need Our Attention in 2021

If you are hired as a new teacher after 2020 is over, you will not have something that teachers hired before 2021 have: retiree health benefits. A report today in the News & Observer explains that the budget set forth in 2017's long session of the NCGA did away with retiree health benefits for hires … Continue reading Happy New Year To All New Teachers From Your 2017 NC General Assembly

I am the proud parent of  two children. One is a highly intelligent and academically driven young lady who looks like her mother. The other one is what some in the educational field might call “special.” He looks like his mother as well. Specifically, that child has Down Syndrome and is on the autism spectrum … Continue reading What My Special Needs Child With The Really Big IEP Has Taught And Retaught Me As A Teacher In This Pandemic

“If you’ve been a school teacher for years, you have the immune system of steel because just like healthcare workers, you are around children all day long who aren’t the best at covering their mouth or nose when they sneeze or cough,” Morrow said. “They’re not good at washing their hands after they go to … Continue reading That “Immune System Of Steel” Did Not Prevent This Teacher From Getting COVID-19