Friday Report – April 20, 2018

The Friday Report

April 20, 2018

State News

Gov. Cooper Seeks $130 Million for Safer NC Schools. Here’s How He’d Spend It.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announces his budget recommendations for improving school safety and youth mental health during a tour at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, N.C., Thursday, April 19, 2018.

Photo Credit: Gerry Broome, AP.

N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled a $130 million school safety budget Thursday, offering a first glimpse at how the state might respond to the clamor for better protection in the wake of February’s mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school.

State lawmakers, who will convene May 16, are already holding study sessions on how to respond to gun violence in schools but have not released any budget plans.

Cooper released the school safety proposals at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough before unveiling his full budget proposal. The biggest spending, at $65 million, would go toward making buildings safer. The money would be available to K-12 schools, community colleges and universities for communication and camera systems, panic alarms, doors and other physical improvements to deal with possible attacks.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Doss Helms, A. “Gov. Cooper seeks $130 million for safer NC schools. Here’s how he’d spend it. ” The News & Observer. 4/19/18.

Matthews to CMS: No Deal on Town Charter Bill. CMS: Maybe We’ll Reassign Your Kids.

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After the town of Matthews rejected a proposed compromise Thursday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board launched a campaign against House Bill 514. 

The rift between Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and the town of Matthews widened dramatically Thursday after the Matthews mayor texted the school board chair saying “no thanks” to a CMS overture.

The school board had hoped the south suburb’s governing board would withdraw its support for a bill allowing the town to create its own charter schools, instead working with CMS to craft solutions to school crowding and other worries.

CMS Board Chair Mary McCray, who had demanded a decision by the close of business Thursday, said she got a text from Matthews Mayor Paul Bailey saying the vote was 6-1 in favor of continuing support for House Bill 514. The bill was introduced last year by state Rep. Bill Brawley, a Matthews Republican.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Doss Helms, A. “Matthews to CMS: No deal on town charter bill. CMS: Maybe we’ll reassign your kids.” The Charlotte Observer. 4/19/18.

Is North Carolina Ripe for Big Teacher Protests?

Elizabeth Ferguson Hollifield, a teacher from Princeton W.Va., holds a sign as she walks to a teacher rally Monday, March 5, 2018, at the West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. Hundreds of teachers from 55 counties are on strike for pay raises and better health benefits. Photo Credit: Tyler Evert, AP. 

Teachers in Arizona are protesting for higher pay, while Kentucky educators rallied at their state capitol this Friday. The same day, Oklahoma teachers ended a 9-day walkout, rivaling the length of time West Virginia teachers left their classrooms last month. Distressed teachers seeking higher pay and better funding for education have created a movement in red states, leaving some to wonder, will North Carolina teachers join in next?

In an article published Friday, Michael Hansen, an education researcher from the Brookings Institute, singled out Mississippi and North Carolina as two states that have a lot in common with the four states where simmering teacher complaints have boiled over into statewide action.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Schlemmer, L. “Is North Carolina Ripe for Big Teacher Protests?” WUNC. 4/13/18.

‘Blood on Our Hands’ If We Don’t Arm Teachers to Stop Shooters, NC Lawmaker Says

State Rep. Larry Pittman of Concord stares at the ceiling as he gathers himself in August 2014. In response to a school shooting in Florida on Feb. 14, 2018, Pittman on Feb. 15 encouraged a legislative committee to consider arming teachers in North Carolina. Photo Credit: Robert Willett, The News & Observer.

A North Carolina legislator is warning his colleagues that “blood will be on our hands” if teachers and students die as a result of not letting teachers carry guns at school to deal with potential shooters.

In an email sent Monday night to all 170 state lawmakers, Rep. Larry Pittman says arming teachers would “provide such a powerful deterrent to those who wish to do harm.” The Cabarrus County Republican added that the presence of armed teachers would lead to “a dramatic reduction, if not elimination, of such incidents.”

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

To read more about the topic of school safety, see the following articles:

As students prepare for Friday’s gun control march, gun backers vow to ‘kill’ any changes

Lawmakers want charter schools to conduct lockdown drills

Excerpt from:

Hui, K. “‘Blood on our hands’ if we don’t arm teachers to stop shooters, NC lawmaker says.” The News & Observer. 4/17/18.

Students Sue, Say Poor County’s School Funds Unfairly Shared

Photo Credit: Piabay, Pexels.

North Carolina’s top court heard arguments Monday about whether county officials should share the blame if schools are so underfunded that some children don’t get the chance for the sound, basic education required by the state constitution.

County governments are primarily responsible for providing buildings and infrastructure, but local appropriations totaled $2.7 billion in operating funds for things like teacher salaries during 2014-15.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Dalesio, E. “Students sue, say poor county’s school funds unfairly shared.” Associated Press. 4/16/18.

Teacher Uses Classroom Design to Offer Students a New Outlook on Learning

Michael Bonner makes class a fun learning environment by engaging his students through music and dance.

Photo Credit: Paris Silver.

At South Greenville Elementary in Greenville, North Carolina, all the students qualify for free and reduced lunches. Some don’t have a stable address, some come to school hungry, and many experience dysfunction at home. Barbed wire circles the school grounds and the neighborhood is one of concentrated poverty.

It’s a place where a young child’s hope for future opportunity can be staunched by their surroundings.

“When they see those images, I believe it reinforces ideologies they hold about themselves and I want to challenge that visual,” said Michael Bonner, a second-grade teacher at the North Carolina school.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Doleatto, K. “Teacher uses classroom design to offer students a new outlook on learning.” Herald-Tribune. 4/15/18.

Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences: It Takes a Village

Photo Credit: JJ Thompson, Unsplash.

In working to improve the health of North Carolinians, a broader emphasis has been placed on determinants of health, or non-medical drivers of health. Critical examples of health determinants are adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, that affect early brain development and lifelong health and function. Multiple organizations and communities have come together to acknowledge the importance of prevention, address toxic stress and trauma in childhood, promote resiliency and trauma-informed care, and invest in the future of North Carolina through its children. This issue of the NCMJ highlights the prevalence and magnitude of ACEs in North Carolina and the effects on our children and the impact into adulthood, and how people and communities can come together to improve public health over the life course by addressing ACEs.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

For the complete North Carolina Medical Journal issue on the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), click here.

Excerpt from:

Kimple, K. and  Kansagra, S. “Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences: It Takes a Village.” North Carolina Medical Journal. March-April 2018.

Join the Conversation About Education and Economic Opportunity in Your Community

Image Credit: EducationNC.

The myFutureNC Commission—comprised of state leaders in education, business, philanthropy, government, and faith‐based and nonprofit communities—is reimagining the ways our communities, our regions, and our state support an individual’s attainment journey, from pre-Kindergarten through postsecondary and into the workforce.

To help them in this task, the myFutureNC Listening Tour is collecting ideas and feedback from people all over the state. We want to hear from everyone: educators, parents, service providers, faith leaders, employees, employers, government representatives, and students.

Please join our team at one of our Listening Sessions this spring and summer to share your thoughts and ideas about strengthening educational and economic opportunities for your community. Drop in at any time: We will share information on our work at 2:30 pm, meet in small groups for discussion at 3:00 pm and host community conversations with local education thought leaders at 4:15 pm.

To learn more & RSVP for a Tour stop, click here.

National News

‘I Just Have to Do It.’ Teachers Struggle with Second Jobs.

In this Wednesday, April 11, 2018, photo, Stefanie Lowe, a teacher at Tuscano Elementary School, stands next to her car in the parking lot after joining other teachers, parents and students as they stage a “walk-in” for higher pay and school funding in Phoenix. To help make ends meet Lowe is a Lyft driver in order to supplement her teaching salary in Arizona, where teachers are paid some of the lowest wages in the country. Photo Credit: Ross D. Franklin, AP.

Teachers Are at a Breaking Point. And It’s Not Just About Pay

Photo Credit: Getty Images.

Stagnating wages and skyrocketing health-care costs are pushing America’s public school employees to their breaking point. After the recent strike in West Virginia, teachers in Kentucky and Oklahoma staged their own walkouts this month. Now, Arizona educators skeptical of their governor’s conciliatory pledge to hike wages are considering similar protests.

Why is this happening? And why now?

The teacher pay penalty is part of the problem. While low wages in this female-dominated profession are not a new phenomenon, the earnings gap between teachers and other workers with the same level of education has grown significantly wider. According to data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17 percent lower than the wages of comparable workers in 2015. The gap was under 2 percent in 1994.

To continue reading the complete article, click here.

Excerpt from:

Kolins Givan, R. and Whitefield, P. “Teachers Are at a Breaking Point. And It’s Not Just About Pay.” Education Week. 4/16/18.

Hard Lessons From Our Children’s Lives: These Videos Should Make You Uncomfortable

Photo Credit: YouthAmbassadorsKC

When my kids were small, they learned their letters and numbers, how to say “please” and “thank you,” how to tell time and take turns. But those are not the first lessons learned by all children. Some start cramming early for far more difficult tests: how to survive gunfire, drug abuse and hunger.

What would it look like if those hard life lessons were taught the same way we teach the ABCs? A partnership in Kansas City, Mo., has created some striking examples. In this video, an actual mom’s message to her very real 6-year-old child is shared in the style of educational TV. I warn you: This might make you a bit uncomfortable. At least, I hope it does.

To continue reading the complete article and watch the videos, click here.

Excerpt from:

Von Drehle, D. “Hard lessons from our children’s lives: These videos should make you uncomfortable.” The Washington Post. 4/16/18.

New Research Suggest Practical Ways to Make School Discipline, Access Equitable

Photo Credit: Chuttersnap, Unsplash.

Sometimes small changes in how school districts approach policy—including how behaviors are labeled, which interventions schools are offered, and how teachers are trained to use them—can help break down the school-to-prison pipeline and put disadvantaged students on a better academic trajectory.

In a symposium here at the annual meeting of the American Association of Educational Research, civil rights experts discussed practical ways that states and districts can reduce discipline disparities for students of color, especially black students, who are suspended from school at nearly four times the rate of their white peers.

To continue reading the complete article and watch the videos, click here.

Excerpt from:

Sparks, S. “New Research Suggests Practical Ways to Make School Discipline, Access Equitable.” Education Week. 4/14/18.

Opportunities

Making Innovation a Priority in NC Schools

Join the UNCW Watson College of Education for the “Making Innovation a Priority in NC Schools: Exploring Innovative Practices” conference on Monday, April 30, 2018.

• Explore innovative programs and practices (personalized learning, 1:1 technology, problem-based learning, STEAM) and other unique initiatives.
• Learn how innovative programs and schools can help engage students in meaningful and challenging learning.
• Help identify the opportunities and obstacles to making innovation a priority in our public schools.

DATE & LOCATION
Monday, April 30, 2018 from 8:30am-3:00pm
UNCW Watson College of Education – Room 162

Keynote
Dr. Buddy Berry, Eminence Independent Schools, KY

Special Guest
Mark Johnson, North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction 

To learn more or register, visit https://uncw.edu/ed/innovation/ or contact Robert Smith at smithrw@uncw.edu or 910.962.4076. 

The Friday Report is published weekly by the Public School Forum of NC and is distributed to Forum members, policymakers, donors, media, and Forum subscribers. Archived editions can be found at www.ncforum.org.

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