Terry Stoops

In “Several School Systems Rebel Against NC Calendar Law By Opening Early,” Ann Doss Helms has the scoop. North Carolina’s school calendar law mandates that public schools open “no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26.” Yet public schools in Iredell County opened last week.  After…

The Charlotte Observer reports that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education hired Earnest Winston to be their new superintendent. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board moved swiftly Friday to name acting superintendent Earnest Winston to the job long-term under a three-year contract. He becomes the district’s fifth superintendent in little more than eight years.

Reasoned debate with these folks is impossible, but I thank Mr. Parmenter for alerting N.C. Teachers United readers to my article.  Such a gentleman! And, for the record, I don’t think I have ever met Sid Baker.  …

Stories like “Teacher shortage has NC looking elsewhere to recruit” mislead when they claim that “looking elsewhere” is a “new approach to recruiting teachers.” For example, the July 26, 1999, Rocky Mount Telegram story posted below indicates that district representatives traveled to Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island to recruit teachers.  And…

WTVD has the details of the lawsuit against MVP curriculum critic Blain Dillard, A parent whose child goes to a high school in the Wake County Public School System has been sued after criticizing the math curriculum used in the district. Utah-based “Mathematics Vision Project” or “MVP,” filed a lawsuit…

Oh, Wallethub, what are we going to do with you? You tell us that North Carolina’s public schools are 31st in the nation and 4th in the Southeast, but it is so hard to trust you.  For example, ACT scores are not adjusted for participation rate, so states that…

Matt Barnum’s Chalkbeat article referenced in the title examines state efforts to provide support and resources to poor-performing schools.  Barnum writes, A few years ago, North Carolina school officials looked at a group of the state’s struggling schools and decided: we need to help. State officials designed a…

Every year, stories about the number of school position vacancies circulate online.  One reason why the stories have been popular in recent years is that they feed a familiar narrative, namely that the Republican-led General Assembly has made teaching in North Carolina public schools undesirable.  The Teaching Working Conditions…