Time Range For Action Alert:
May 20, 2020 to July 30, 2020The LWV Orange, Durham and Chatham counties supports the call from NCAE and others for Superintendent Mark Johnson to appoint a Schools Reopening Task Force that is inclusive and diverse.
There is wide agreement that the pandemic has, essentially overnight, changed the way we think about and deliver “school” now and for the foreseeable future. Even as our schools continue daily to meet the challenges of our current situation- challenges which vary widely depending on the resources of districts and families- educators, parents, students and government and civic leaders grapple with how to design and implement safe, effective and equitable instruction.
Toward this end, the NC Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mark Johnson has announced the creation of a bipartisan Task Force (Schools Reopening Task Force) intended to help guide the reopening of NC public schools during the corona virus pandemic. The LWV Orange, Durham Chatham applauds any effort that helps NC meet its obligation of ensuring all students have full access to a sound basic education. The challenges our public schools face are dynamically complex- unprecedented and changing daily. Such challenges require both creative problem solving and the commitment of significant resources, both in terms of financial and human capital. We believe that reopening our schools both in the short and long term will be made more effective and actionable when those with an intimate and expert knowledge of systems and operations are part of the analysis, design and implementation of solutions. In their immediate response and retooling of instruction our public schools have demonstrated this to be the case.Unfortunately, in reviewing the announced Task Force composition both the NC Association of Educators (NCAE) and the Guilford County school board have noted that as proposed it does not have inclusive enough representation.
NCAE president Mark Jewell observed that the "...appointed membership of 20 people is significantly weighted against actual educational practitioners, with only one active teacher, who is also a legislator, named to the task force,...Not one cafeteria worker, school counselor, janitor, school psychologist, or teacher assistant is included..."If Superintendent Johnson wants to fashion a plan to deal with the real-world impacts of COVID-19 on public education, he should include an adequate representation of educators who are actually facing those problems right now."
The LWV Orange, Durham and Chatham counties supports the call from NCAE and others for Superintendent Mark Johnson to appoint a Task Force that is inclusive and diverse. We ask the public to contact Mr. Johnson’s office to advocate for Task Force membership that includes representatives of those stakeholder groups directly involved in the day to day implementation of our public schools including administrators, teachers, student support and health services professionals, information systems and technology specialists, school cafeteria, bus drivers and plant operations staff. We also urge the public to advocate for allocation of the resources needed by our public schools as they continue to meet their mission of caring for and educating our children in ways that are responsive, safe, equitable and effective.
