Support Public Teachers, Please.

Moral Monday

I am a teacher, and as I have written many times on this blog - I believe it is my vocation and calling in life to do it.  I love teaching high school history, and I believe in the power, role, and importance of a well educated citizenry in our republic.  I am a product, and an active participant in the public schools of North Carolina.

So, as the North Carolina legislature has made changes to teacher pay this session (ending step pay increases, continuing the pay freeze, basing future supplements on student test scores, and the elimination of career status contracts) I see the anxiety that it creates among my fellow educators.  I did not become a teacher because I believed that I would make a lot of money.  But I did believe that the teaching profession would continue to get respect from the community that we serve.

This is why (well, one of the reasons) my wife and I took the kids to Asheville's Moral Monday Protest this week.  It gave our family a chance to discuss why we think it is worth leaving the house to stand up for these issues.  I hope it makes a difference.  If not, we will do it again.