On the latest NC SPIN, Donna Martinez of the John Locke Foundation talks with host Brad Crone about why Gov. Roy Cooper failed to announce last week — as had been promised — a plan to reopen North Carolina public schools. Martinez begins by noting that Gov. Roy Cooper didn’t seem to appreciate the follow-up from reporters about the question. Click below to watch.
JLF’s Dr. Terry Stoops puts Gov. Roy Cooper’s lack of action on reopening North Carolina schools into context here:
Delaying the announcement just weeks before the beginning of the school year has been Cooper’s biggest blunder and puts public school educators in a terrible bind. Year-round schools start this month, and the traditional calendar school year begins in around six weeks. According to Education Week, North Carolina is one of only five states to establish a statewide start date, and no state starts the school year earlier than North Carolina. Elected officials in most states have allowed school districts to determine how and when to reopen, a wise approach championed by the Republican candidate for state education superintendent Catherine Truitt, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, and others.
While the N.C. Association of Educators may be in his corner, teachers are anxious, angry, and feel betrayed. Surely, hundreds of thousands of families feel the same way.
