WttSW was in the news last week, so the word about what has begun and what we are trying to achieve is spreading.  Despite ongoing posts and comments about which political party we are complaining about, WttSW needs to stress that education in the state of NC has been neglected for many years, and across many party lines. We are not targeting this specific administration, however, cumulatively have had enough.

The purpose of what we do is to support Public Education in North Carolina, making sure that tax payers dollars support public education and are not allocated to ANY for-profit, private schools who are not held to the same state-mandated standards (percentage of qualified teachers, state testing criteria, class size limits and staff support limits, to name a few) as the public schools. It is too easy to say that other people and places can do a better job at educating our children when they do not have to follow the same "rules" and can choose who they educate.

This movement is not to rally for continued teacher tenure or to dismiss any pay-for-performance initiatives. We are only asking that common sense, by ALL parties, not motivated by personal financial or political gain, be used when making  decisions about education in the state we live and work in.

How much sense does it make for educators to not be paid for their advanced degrees when we are mandated by the state to prepare every child for the future and a path to college?  What message does that send to our students? The argument that those teachers furthering their education are only doing so for the higher pay is absolutely correct on many levels. What other avenues are we afforded to make more of a living wage? NONE!

And rewarding the top five or even twenty-five percent of educators is a total backward approach. Why not pay every educator a decent wage, commensurate with the national average (at the very least), allowing for a cost of living/step increase every year, and dock or lower those non-effective teachers' pay who do not meet the high standards set forth by the state? 

WHY WOULDN'T THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA WANT 95-100% OF ITS TEACHERS TO BE HIGHLY QUALIFIED AND EFFECTIVE????  Wouldn't that be a more practical and common sense approach to attracting large companies to move their businesses here? 

Does the state of North Carolina put the equivalent of $4,200.00 per student into every public school child's annual education- the amount voted to be given in voucher money beginning in the 2014-15 and beyond? How can they when statistics clearly show that we are spending less per child on text books and materials than we did in 2008?!

You cannot grow something that is not nurtured. And for far too long, across party lines, Public Education has been made the scapegoat for all of society's ills. It is time for legislators to stop degrading and minimizing what Public Education is and what Public Educators do, and start treating us like the hard working, educated professionals we are!

Could doing this, rather than heading in our current direction, possibly bring North Carolina back to a place of respect as it pertains to education and our national ranking for teacher pay, teacher satisfaction, and public support?  We may never know unless teachers, parents, students, and concerned citizens do SOMETHING! 

I have chosen to start by simply walking to the sidewalk in front of my school every Wednesday and peacefully say "Teachers Matter", "Public Education in the state of North Carolina Matters".  What will you choose to do? 

Marie Calabro
4th Grade Teacher/EC Specialist
Charlotte, NC
Participant in WttSW

Thanks to Morgan Smith, South Charlotte Weekly education reporter, for a wonderfully specific article about what Walk to the Sidewalk Wednesdays is all about! 

http://www.thecharlotteweekly.com/education/2013/09/silently-wishing/

Amy Cowman, from WCNC 36, really took the time to speak to parents, teachers and students and get and accurate, positive and important information out to the public about wheat WttSW is, and why we are there! Thanks so much for coming out and doing both a live and taped segment for last Wednesday's walk! 

For those people who have asked me where I get some of the information that motivated me to begin this site, here are two great Facebook sites that get the word out about what is going on with NC Public Educationl.  They not only inform, but they inspire teachers, parents, and the public to continue to fight for ALL the children of North Carolina.  

Public Schools First NC  and  NC Teachers  - also www.ncpublicschools.org 

It is way past the time for teachers to stand up, speak up, and no longer tolerate the treatment that we have, for years, put up with.  What we do is NOT inconsequential!
It is no random, or haphazard, or on-the-fly.  

Let us be purposeful as we Walk to the Sidewalk this Wednesday, proudly holding up our positive signs, standing tall, and letting the public know that teaching is the noblest of professions, and what we do to lay the foundation for our future local, state, national and global society is priceless and well worth the blood, sweat, and tears!

 Please feel free to comment on any of my posts, and/or email me.

Sincerely, 

WttSW Staff

Dear Educators,

Across North Carolina, talented and dedicated teachers have welcomed students back to public school classrooms. Many of you probably read the news stories about the first days of school and all of the opportunities and challenges such an occasion brings for students and parents.

Among this coverage, there also were powerful stories about teachers. We read about teachers giving up time with their families during the summer to learn how to use Home Base and other technology tools. We read about teachers putting in extra hours to expand their knowledge of the state’s new standards and to share best practices and lesson plans with their colleagues. There are stories about teachers who came to set up their classrooms long before the first work day and who paid for art supplies, paper or new books with money from their own pockets. And there are the stories about how cuts to the state budget and other changes made during the 2013 legislative session will affect many teachers’ abilities to do their jobs and meet their students’ academic needs. These are the stories that matter the most. These are your stories.

You work hard to prepare each one of your students for college and a career. You are tireless advocates for your students and you make countless sacrifices to ensure our young people are learning and reaching their goals. You give so much, yet you receive more challenges and fewer resources in return. Those are just some of the reasons why some of the new legislation passed this summer by members of the General Assembly is so disappointing to educators.

By now, many of you are aware that:

·        After only a 1.2 percent raise last year and no raises for the three years preceding, lawmakers did not include a raise for teachers or other school personnel in their 2013-15 biennial budget. You will receive five days of one-year special bonus leave. There is more information about this leave here: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/ under “Annual Bonus Leave 2013-14 Q & A.”

·        Lawmakers eliminated the future salary bump for teachers who will earn master’s degrees. This means that if a teacher has not completed his or her degree and moved to the master’s degree pay scale by the end of this school year, he or she will not be able to receive the 10 percent salary increase in FY 2014-15.  Last month, I requested that the State Board of Education look at an alternative degree validation process to allow more teachers who are in the process of completing their degrees by spring to move to this scale by the end of the school year. This week, the Board approved a change in State Board of Education policy that enables all teachers who earn their master’s degree and submit the necessary paperwork to the NCDPI’s Licensure Division by May 7, 2014 to move to the master’s pay scale and avoid losing the supplement. We will certainly keep you informed if members of the General Assembly make additional changes to this policy in the 2014 legislative session.

·        Once again, there will be fewer adults in our schools serving more children. This trend has occurred over the past few years as district leaders were forced to cut teacher, teacher assistant and other positions so they could return enough dollars to the state to meet the discretionary reduction. This budget eliminates the discretionary reduction, and instead makes direct cuts to funds for teacher, teacher assistant and instructional support positions. These cuts result in the loss of thousands more positions from public schools across the state.

·        Funds for textbooks should be $68 per student in 2013-14, but were reduced to $15 per student. That is a 78 percent reduction. Dollars for instructional supplies were reduced from $57 per student in 2008-09 to $29 per student in 2013-14.

·        Up to $11.7 million will be taken from the K-12 public schools budget in 2014-15 to fund vouchers for children to attend private schools. While I support school choice, I do not believe it is fair to provide taxpayer dollars to schools that do not administer the same tests and are not held to the same level of accountability as public schools.

Nonetheless, thanks to your hard work, we transitioned to new standards and assessments last year while also reaching a record-high graduation rate. This is a testament to the quality of teachers we are fortunate to have in our state. You are not recognized or rewarded nearly enough for the valuable contributions you make to society and to our future.

The bottom line is that North Carolina’s public schools have more students and educators are facing more challenges than ever before, yet the support the state provides to K-12 education continues to fall well below the levels required to maintain a high level of teaching and learning. Public schools enrolled 33,000 more students in 2013-14 than they did in 2008-09 yet these schools actually received more than $283 million less in state dollars than they did five years ago.  At this point, it is your passion, enthusiasm, resilience, sacrifices and dedication that enable our students to succeed and thrive. I do not know what we would do without you.

Thank you for choosing this noble profession, for showing up and working hard, and for all you do for our 1.5 million public school students. You are making a difference in our state and it is my hope that one day soon, North Carolina will recognize this and return to making strong investments in you, your work, and our students.

Sincerely,

June St. Clair Atkinson





Visit us on the web at www.ncpublicschools.org. All e-mail correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.





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Week two of Walk to the Sidewalk Wednesdays......the movement is growing! 

Thanks for all the participants who came out and stood up for NC Public Education and Educators, and thanks also for South Mecklenburg HS for showing a presence! 

To hear our governor state publicly (on live radio) that meeting with one of his 12 year old constituents was "ridiculous".....

To have North Carolina teacher pay DROP from 46th to 48th in the nation....

If the time is not NOW to stand up, then WHEN???