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Friday Report – March 16, 2018
by Forum Admin
The Friday Report
March 16, 2018
This Week on Education Matters – Schools and Mass Shootings:
Policy Implications
New laws are being considered nationally and here in North Carolina in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. What is happening next in NC and can new policies help protect our children?
Guests Include:
Rep. Linda Johnson (R-Cabarrus) (pictured above, left)
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (D-Wake) (pictured above, right)
Dr. Ben Matthews, Chief School Operations Officer, NC Dept. of Public Instruction (pictured below, right)
Dr. Anna Yaros, Research Clinical Psychologist, RTI International (pictured below, left)
The House Select School Safety Committee is set to have its first meeting next week on Wednesday, March 21st at 9 am. A live audio stream of this committee meeting will be available at www.ncleg.net.
When and Where to Watch Education Matters
Saturday at 7:30 PM,
WRAL-TV (Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)
Sunday at 8:00 AM,
FOX 50
(Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville)
Sunday at 6:30 AM and Wednesday at 9:30 AM, UNC-TV’s North Carolina Channel (Statewide)
The North Carolina Channel can be found on Time Warner Cable/Spectrum Channel 1277 or check your local listing and other providers here.
Ann Goodnight has been named as the recipient of the 2018 Public School Forum of North Carolina Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award. The Forum established the award in 2000 to recognize leaders who have demonstrated innovative, creative, effective leadership for public education in North Carolina. Mrs. Goodnight will be honored at a gala event on Monday, May 21, at the Raleigh Convention Center.
“Ann Goodnight’s commitment to North Carolina’s children and to serving our state in so many meaningful ways made her an ideal choice for this honor,” said Michael Priddy, Chairman of the Public School Forum of North Carolina. “Her deep commitment to the entire education continuum, from early childhood to K-12 to higher education, really sets her apart – a commitment she backs up with both her time and investments. She’s a model for what giving back and servant leadership looks like.”
If you are interested in discussing a sponsorship, contact Lizzy Mottern at lmottern@ncforum.org.
Synergy Conference 2018
Building Tomorrow’s Workforce Today Through Expanded Learning
When: April 25 – 27, 2018
Where: The Greenville Convention Center in Greenville, NC
Next week is the last week to register for the 2018 Synergy Conference!
The Synergy Conference convenes hundreds of out-of-school time providers to share insight on research-based practices, effective programs, and public policies that impact students and their overall success in school and life.
Featured speakers and events this year include:
The First Lady of North Carolina, Kristin Cooper (pictured above, left)
Girls on the Run International Founder, Molly Barker (pictured above, middle)
Do you know a leader in your community supporting our schools and making a difference in the lives of children both in and out of school? The Public School Forum is seeking nominations for individuals to be highlighted on our weekly statewide TV show, Education Matters. Click herefor an example of a recent spotlight.
Nominees could be principals, superintendents, teachers, teacher assistants, guidance counselors, parents, students, business leaders, community volunteers, afterschool providers, and the list goes on!
To nominate someone, please fill out the form here.
State News
NC Schools Could Face Lawsuits If Large School Districts Are Allowed to Break Up
Leesville Road Elementary School students board a school bus on Jan. 2, 2018, along Raleigh Boulevard in Raleigh. Photo Credit: Travis Long, The News & Observer.
Any efforts to break up North Carolina school districts would likely lead to lawsuits and challenges such as higher costs and fewer school choices, state education officials warned Tuesday.
State legislators who are studying how to divide school districts say they’re not targeting any specific district this year but want to learn more about what issues would be involved in breaking them up. On Tuesday, representatives from the state Department of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education laid out a list of constitutional, budgeting, facilities, transportation, nutrition, legal and other challenges.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
President Donald Trump and some North Carolina lawmakers have suggested that allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons might be the best way to prevent school shootings, but experienced firearms trainers said Thursday that such a move isn’t simple.
Law enforcement officers in North Carolina – the only people who can carry a gun on school grounds under current state law – undergo 632 hours of training before they can even be sworn in and then receive 24 hours of refresher courses each year, said Steven Combs, the director of the Criminal Justice Standards Division of the state Department of Justice. That training includes day and night combat training, target identification, de-escalation of tense situations and safe handling of firearms and ammunition.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Thousands of teachers and students from across the Triangle walked out of classes Wednesday as part of National School Walkout to honor the memory of the 17 lives lost in Parkland, Fla., one month ago.
Students and faculty from schools in Wake, Durham, Cumberland and Johnston counties, from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and other districts in central North Carolina walked out of class for 17 minutes to honor the 17 people killed and others injured on Valentine’s Day.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
This Triangle School District Might Use Armed Volunteers on Campuses
West Johnston High School in Benson, NC, was locked down late Friday morning after a group of people apparently rushed into the building. Photo Credit: Travis Long, The News & Observer.
The Johnston County school system wants to spend about $1.4 million to upgrade security measures, and officials are considering putting armed former police and military personnel at each school.
The school board will talk about the possibility of using armed volunteers during a meeting Tuesday afternoon. The discussion comes four days after police arrested seven teenagers accused of illegally entering West Johnston High School, which was locked down Friday.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Lynn Kroeger, left, CFO of Union Academy Charter School, and Ann Walters, headmaster, speak before the Joint Legislative Task Force on Education Finance Reform March 15, 2018. Photo Credit: Alex Granados, EducationNC.
A parade of charter school leaders came before the Joint Legislative Task Force on Education Finance Reform Thursday and asked lawmakers to stop shortchanging charter schools when it comes to funding.
Pamela Blizzard who led the founding of Research Triangle High School in Research Triangle Park began the day by telling legislators that her school gets about $2,100 less per student than Durham Public Schools. Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, was sympathetic to her plea but said she needed to provide more specific information.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
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.
Attention NC Educators: North Carolina Wants to Hear From You
North Carolina wants to hear from 100% of its educators through the North Carolina Teacher Working Condition survey.
The North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey is a tool that gauges NC Educators’ perspectives about teaching and learning conditions while providing education stakeholders and policymakers insights on how to improve school and classroom practices.
Take the survey March 1-31. Once you have your code you can access the survey. Learn more about the TWC survey at https://www.ncteachingconditions.org.
Report: Black Elementary School Students Being Suspended From Wake Schools at Disproportionate Rate
Photo Credit: WRAL.
There were nearly 12,000 suspensions in Wake County public schools in the 2016-2017 school year, 20 percent of them at elementary schools. African-Americans represent less than a quarter of the student population, but they account for almost two-thirds of the suspensions, according to the report by Dr. Paul Walker, Wake County public schools director. Statistics show that 61 percent of elementary school students suspended were black children in the 4th or 5th grade.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
In January, Stella’s received some refrigeration units from the state through the corner store initiative. Now she is able to carry more healthy foods, such as yogurt, eggs, and frozen vegetables. Photo Credit: Taylor Knopf, NC Health News.
One in six children in the U.S. is considered obese. And in North Carolina, the rates are on the higher end. Newer research shows excess weight on their growing frames is causing musculoskeletal problems.
When Selma White stocks her neighborhood convenience store with fruit, she can hardly keep bananas on the shelves. But in January, White received some refrigeration units from the state through the corner store initiative. Now she is able to carry more healthy foods, such as yogurt, eggs, and frozen vegetables. Supplying her community with healthier food options is important to White, and she’s particularly concerned about the neighborhood children.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
To read more news about health in NC, see the following article:
A.L. “Buddy” Collins, vice chairman of the NC Board of Education, gives an overview of the State Board of Education at the public policy conference of the NC School Boards Association. Photo Credit: Alex Granados, EducationNC.
A.L. “Buddy” Collins, vice chair of the State Board of Education, announced his intent to resign from the Board, citing his recent filing to run for election to the Forsyth Board of County Commissioners. He said in the letter to Governor Roy Cooper that he cannot do both at the same time.
“Serving the State of North Carolina as a member of the State Board of Education has been an honor and privilege, and I am grateful for the opportunity to help improve education in our state,” he wrote.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
In 1850, a Catholic orphanage called St. Aemilian was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take in children whose parents had died in a cholera epidemic. 168 Years later, that same organization — now known as “SaintA” — is still finding shelter for thousands of children who need it, often kids who have deep trauma in their young lives, and helps those kids with a revolutionary approach that’s spreading across the country.
No longer a residential orphanage, SaintA primarily places orphaned, abandoned, neglected and abused children in foster homes, and then coordinates their care. On any given day, it’s looking after some 2,000 children, almost all of whom are part of a 21st century epidemic of childhood trauma.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Brett McLean (right) credits BU’s Travis Bristol (left) with helping him achieve his dream: becoming a teacher in a Boston public high school. Photo Credit: Jackie Ricciardi, Bostonia.
Travis Bristol was just 22 when he arrived at Manhattan Hunter Science High School in September 2004, armed with a bachelor’s from Amherst, a master’s from Stanford, and a passion for introducing New York City 10th graders to the intellectual thrills of Candide, Oedipus Rex, and Othello. But by late October, school administrators were leaning on Bristol—their only black teacher—for something else: what they saw as his skill at managing teenagers—specifically, boys of color.
When a colleague couldn’t get her class under control, several boys who had been branded as “troublemakers” were reassigned to Bristol’s. “There was this assumption that I could manage them,” he says. “I was able to do that not because I was a black male, but because I was getting to know the students and designing content that was engaging and rigorous. The students weren’t the problem.”
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Your State’s Teachers Are Underpaid. Find Out By How Much.
Photo Credit: Element5 Digital, Unsplash.
West Virginia teachers recently went on strike for nine days after being told they would receive just a 1 percent pay raise and would be required to pay more for health insurance. Eventually, the governor gave in to the teachers’ demands and gave them a 5 percent raise as well as a hold on increasing health insurance premiums.
There’s the old truism that public school teachers aren’t paid enough, but this strike in West Virginia highlights a trend that we’re seeing nationwide: Public school teachers aren’t getting raises that keep up with inflation — and over time, this essentially amounts to massive pay cuts. It’s a pernicious trend because raw salaries tend to increase by small amounts, so it can be hard to detect.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
Plenty of people say yes, including scholars, journalists, and civil-rights advocates. For the first time in years, there’s something approximating a consensus: Racially divided schools are a major and intensifying problem for American education—maybe even a crisis.
There’s seemingly compelling numerical evidence, too. According to my analysis of data from the National Center on Education Statistics, the number of segregated schools (defined in this analysis as those schools where less than 40 percent of students are white), has approximately doubled between 1996 and 2016. In that same span, the percentage of children of color attending such a school rose from 59 to 66 percent. For black students, the percentage in segregated schools rose even faster, from 59 to 71 percent.
To continue reading the complete article, click here.
NCSSM Accepting Applications for an Outreach and Summer Programs Coordinator
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) invites applications for the Outreach and Summer Programs Coordinator position. Inclusiveness and diversity are integral to NCSSM’s commitment to excellence in teaching, engagement, and education. We are particularly interested in candidates who have demonstrated experience engaging with diversity through activities such as fostering an inclusive environment, working with students from diverse backgrounds, or incorporating diverse perspectives in teaching.
The Outreach and Summer Programs Coordinator is responsible for the coordination of on-site and remote summer programs and targeted outreach activities and reports to the Director of Distance Education and Extended Programs.
Teach For America – Eastern North Carolina is hosting our annual Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement Summit (PACE) on April 14, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. Teach For America’s 2018 PACE Summit is an opportunity for all of us to learn and lead together in service of a more equitable future in Eastern North Carolina. You can learn more about this year’s event here.
Volunteers Needed for NC Science & Engineering Fair
The 31st NC Science & Engineering Fair (NCSEF)will be held at NC State University’s Talley Student Union on Saturday, March 24, 2018. General Volunteers are needed on Friday, March 23 (3 pm – 7 pm) and Saturday, March 24. Click here, General Volunteer Registration, to assist with our 300 plus Grades 3-12 student researchers from all across NC with their project set-up, room and hallway monitors, awards preparation, awards ceremonies, and other needed tasks. The volunteer shifts are about 2 hours in length.
Judges from STEM-related businesses, education, and government sectors are also needed for Saturday, March 24 only. Click here for, Judges Registration.
The NCSEF is a 510(c)3 non-profit and is the NC affiliate to the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair. NCSEF’s top 12 Senior Research Projects (Grades 9-12) will advance to the 2018 ISEF competition in Pittsburgh with over 1,700 high school competitors from over 70 countries.
Kenan Fellows Program Teacher Leadership Journal Announces New Submission Guidelines
The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership is pleased to announce it has revised its submission guidelines for its Journal of Interdisciplinary Teacher Leadership (JoITL), an online peer-reviewed publication featuring original work on research, professional learning, and leadership in K-12 education. We will now be accepting articles with up to 7,000 words. This expanded word limit will allow authors to discuss their work in greater depth and provide readers with a more thorough treatment of the subject matter.
We are also changing the publication schedule. Beginning this year, JoITL will publish annually in December. We will accept manuscripts year-round but authors will be required to submit articles by the beginning of September in order to have them considered for publication.
TeacherSquared will be hosting its third Teacher Educator Institute in New Orleans from May 7-9. Join teacher educators, the teachers of teachers, from across the country for this Institute focused on Using Data to Improve Novice Teacher Practice. This institute is for new or experienced teacher educators interested in collaborating with other teacher educators to deepen their ability to use data to help the novice teachers they train get better. This Institute will be a uniquely valuable professional development experience for teacher educators in a range of roles: from clinical professors and deans to coaches and directors, in both traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs.
Click here for more details and to register today!
Burroughs Wellcome Fund Accepting Applications for
Student STEM Enrichment Program
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund has opened its application for the 2018 Student STEM Enrichment Program (SSEP) grant awards. SSEP supports diverse programs with a common goal: to enable primary and secondary students to participate in creative, hands-on STEM activities for K-12 students and pursue inquiry-based exploration in BWF’s home state of North Carolina. These awards provide up to $60,000 per year for three years. The application deadline is April 18, 2018.
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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