Educators across North Carolina staged a walk-in to protest the current state of public education.
Teachers wore red, gathered in front of their schools Monday morning and marched in together. Parents and members of the community were invited to observe classroom activities and to participate in after-school discussions about education policies. The movement was backed by the North Carolina Association of Educators in an effort to raise awareness against the recent cutback of government spending on public education.
“The goal is to demonstrate solidarity and support for the work that teachers do and to open up a conversation about the challenges and successes of public education,” said Rodney Ellis, president of NCAE.
North Carolina legislators approved a state budget that eliminates bonus salaries for teachers who hold advanced degrees and phases out tenure positions.
As a result, public school teachers now face not only challenging working conditions, but a loss of career status, Ellis said.
According to the National Education Association, North Carolina is ranked 48 out of all U.S. states in terms of per pupil government spending and 46 in terms of average teacher salary.
“I am a committed educator, but I am asked every year to do more and more with fewer resources,” said Wendy Kauffman, a first grade teacher at Millbrook Elementary School in Wake County.
Kauffman noted that she currently puts in over 60 hours per week to meet the demands of her job.
The movement on Monday, however, elicited criticism from some members of the legislature.
“We appreciate the overwhelming majority of our teachers whose hard work and commitment are vital to the success of our children. And we appreciate the right of North Carolinians to exercise their first amendment rights, and welcome a productive dialogue,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger in a statement. “But we don’t appreciate the bully tactics of an organized union that puts kids’ safety at risk to gin up its membership and inflate the salaries of its executives. There is a time and place for everything—our schools are not the place for politics and our children should not be the pawns.”
A press release from Berger on Monday indicated that at least one elementary school recruited volunteers online to supervise the students while teachers participated in an hour-long strike, an effort that could have posed a serious safety risk.
“Someone claiming to be Sir Isaac Newton signed up to watch a class of third grade students,” the press release stated.
In reality, the volunteers were parents who came in to show support for the teachers, Ellis responded. Some teachers were initially planning for a walk-out through social media, but the NCAE suggested a walk-in as an alternative to minimize any negative impact on student education.
No commotion was caused at Millbrook and classes were unaffected, Kauffman said.
According to district news, all 126 schools in Guilford County participated in walk-in day. A number of schools in other North Carolina counties, including Durham, Raleigh and Wake, also took part in the initiative, although support from county officials was mixed.
“School administrators were advised to neither organize activities at their schools nor obstruct any events or meetings,” said Samiha Khanna, a spokeswoman for the Wake County public school system.
Ellis hopes that the walk-in will motivate parents to weigh in on the effort and to speak to legislators about the importance of high quality education.
“We love our children and their families, we love to learn and we love to share that love for knowledge with our students,” Kauffman said. “At some point though, we need to be treated as the professionals we are.”
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