As an educator, parent, voter, and taxpayer, there are very few elected offices more important than local school board representatives. And in the past ten months, this teacher has learned a lot about the local school board. Following last night's meeting of the WSFCS BOE was painful, exhausting, and nerve wracking for far too many … Continue reading About That School Board Meeting

As Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools begins to send more and more students back into school buildings, the dashboard that the district uses to report how it views the data concerning the pandemic shows a system built on self-reporting. It states, "Current reported confirmed cases are defined as cases that indicate a lab result confirming the diagnosis. … Continue reading A Tale Of Two Dashboards For One School System (How Data Is Presented) – AMENDED

If you are in public education or follow closely issues in public education, then you are aware of this: Today, Kris Nordstrom published this in response to that study: Please read it!

She tweeted it as an affirmation of her narrative. When pushback occurred on that tweet due to some questions about the veracity of how that info in the study was gathered and reported, then she answered with this: Ironically, the issue is not with just the Duke Study, but with the fact that Catherine Truitt … Continue reading About Our New State Superintendent’s Recent Tweet About “The Duke Study”

There exists no EOC or standardized test that can measure what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks about in the above quote.

Yesterday, this was tweeted out by the NC State Superintendent. Of course, the data collection was done between August and October when most school systems were not totally face-to-face and the community spread was nowhere what it is today. Today, this was in the Wall Street Journal: BERLIN—As U.S. authorities debate whether to keep schools … Continue reading NC Should Listen To What’s Happening In Europe Concerning Schools and COVID-19

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. There … Continue reading The NCGA IS Back In Session. Here’s 10 Issues They Could Address.

Below is a map provided by EdNC.org that plots the most recent school performance grades across North Carolina before the pandemic started. Next is a map of the economic well-being of each NC county as reported be the North Carolina Department of Commerce in 2019. The LIGHTER the shade of blue, the more economic “distress.” This is how … Continue reading Go Ahead And Eliminate School Performance Grades; They Only Map Poverty, Health Care Access, And Food Deserts – Not School Effectiveness

This is the salary schedule that was in effect for teachers this past school year (2019-2020). Remember that teachers who entered the profession after 2014 no longer receive graduate degree pay increases (unless they were grandfathered in by actually being in a graduate program in 2014). Those same newer teachers will not get due-process rights … Continue reading Dear NC Lawmaker, Explain How This Salary Schedule Creates An All-Time High Average Teacher Salary

“No doubt about it.  Closing school buildings is exactly what I wanted for schools, students, teachers, and communities. After years of being in the classroom, I finally have achieved the very goal I have had since I came into the profession: getting to teach students while not having to actually be with them. I never … Continue reading “Yes, It Has Been This Teacher’s Dream To Close Down School Buildings!” Said No Teacher Ever