I applied for the Principal Fellows Program last year. I told myself I was out of the classroom one way or the other at the end of the year. If I didn't get the scholarship, I was planning to seek employment with Jostens or one of the other yearbook companies. (I had been a successful newspaper/yearbook adviser for several years, so the transition seemed natural.)

I got the scholarship, so I'm committed to at least four more years, and I'm hoping I can continue advancing in educational leadership until I am in a position to at least attempt to affect some sort of positive change on the teaching profession.

5/8/2014 10:55:52 AM

That's awesome, man. Congratulations. My MIL's running for superintendent out west, and that's basically her attitude toward education. She's been a phenomenal teacher, AP, and principal; but she feels she can effect greater, system-wide change in leadership.

5/8/2014 11:40:07 AM

"Hey, y'all, as a part of teacher appreciation we're going to have some delicious lunch for you on Friday!"

The lunch never showed and folks left their lunches at home.

5/9/2014 12:24:10 PM

we got Jersey Mike's

5/9/2014 12:30:11 PM

We were supposed to get Mami Nora's. Peruvian!

It arrived!!!

[Edited on May 9, 2014 at 12:50 PM. Reason : .]

5/9/2014 12:33:19 PM

I appreciate all you teachers!

5/9/2014 1:38:52 PM

http://www.wral.com/judge-stripping-veteran-teachers-of-tenure-rights-unconstitutional/13650846/

5/16/2014 10:31:25 PM

does nothing for me. This was my tenure year... went through the process (scrutiny with amazing results) with no benefit.

5/16/2014 10:36:01 PM

http://www.wral.com/wake-budget-doesn-t-fund-teacher-raises/13655680/

5/19/2014 6:56:24 PM

motherfucker.

5/19/2014 11:02:10 PM

I have finally been given the green light to hire someone new into my department. Absolutely overjoyed.

5/20/2014 3:12:53 PM

http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/news/education/2014/05/27/houston-independent-school-district-nc-teachers/9629095/

5/27/2014 1:24:44 PM

^That's been making the rounds on my Facebook feed. It's crazy to me that that's all it takes, "Hey, will pay you more. Come work for us." For a single teacher with no ties to the region, I'm sure that'd be tempting.

5/27/2014 2:19:54 PM

If I were single then I'd definitely look into that

5/27/2014 3:21:28 PM

The N.C. GOP is after tenure again. Because who needs due process? -- http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Teachers-Would-Give-Up-Tenure-Under-Pay-Raise-Plan-260938571.html

5/28/2014 1:21:43 PM

so I'm curious, how does that^ jibe with this?

http://www.wral.com/judge-stripping-veteran-teachers-of-tenure-rights-unconstitutional/13650846/

Quote :

"Judge Robert Hobgood ruled that the law, passed last year as a provision in the state budget, violates the contract clause of the U.S. Constitution and amounts to an illegal taking of property under the state constitution. He issued a permanent injunction against the law and denied the state's request to stay his ruling pending an appeal. Read more at http://www.wral.com/judge-stripping-veteran-teachers-of-tenure-rights-unconstitutional/13650846/#gf4mBoIp7ROc8fr4.99"

Also, 11% would be so nice.

5/28/2014 1:35:43 PM

I'm obviously not a lawyer, but I'm betting they're counting on the idea that since teachers are voluntarily surrendering tenure for a raise, it's no longer an unconstitutional seizure of property.

I agree that the raise would be awesome, but it's messed up trying to make this an either/or proposition with unnecessary strings attached to the pay increase.

5/28/2014 2:08:36 PM

That's probably the loophole they're reaching for.

5/28/2014 3:38:39 PM

i hope this new pay plan becomes a reality. since I was supposed to get "tenure" this year (but didn't because it was outlawed) it makes no difference to me.

and "tenure" for a teacher is quite different than tenure for a college professor. all "tenure" does is give teachers a right to a hearing before dismissal (which of course is important)

5/28/2014 4:20:02 PM

If they were not being assholes they would grandfather tenure out. (not make new hires eligible, but those that have it can keep it) It really should not be required to decide to get a raise.

Anyone remotely near retirement is not going to take the raise, keep tenure, and resent the hell out of the fact they had to make that choice. (but still be working with peoples children every day)

5/28/2014 4:39:23 PM

really? if i were cose to retirement i'd take the raise without question since your pension is calculated with the last several years salary (in wake anyway)

5/28/2014 6:51:06 PM

Well I don't know about all that, most government workers biggest fear is getting screwed out of pension/retirement benefits before they vest or whatever.

5/28/2014 7:23:09 PM

^ I think the real biggest fear is that the treasurers office/state will lose the money in the retirement pot and won't be able to pay out, at which point the retirees get nothing.

You're vested after 5 years if you were hired before aug., 2011. I think it's 10 years if it's after that. After that, then the next question is whether you worked long enough for full benefits or just partial. You get full benefits if you're 65 with 5 years of service (or 10 if you started after aug. 1, 2011), 60 with 25 years of service, or any age with 30 years of service.

Also, all state employees fall under this system and everything follows you. If you're a teacher in Wake County and leave to go work as a janitor at NCSU, your years of service go with you. So does your sick leave.

What you get is based on the average salary of your four consecutive highest paid years.

I'd definitely take a shot at more money. Even just a year of it would increase your monthly benefit. If you get 4 years of that, get fired, and go be a janitor making less money, your monthly retirement benefit will still be based on the average of those 4 years.

So maybe that's not the ideal way to look at for everyone. But there are A LOT of state jobs. Especially if you're in the Raleigh area.

Personally, if I stay with the state, I'll qualify for full benefits at about 56/57. And I could purchase about three years of service (I was a full-time temp. employee for a year, and then a part-time employee for about three more). It would be costly to do so, but I'd be eligible for full retirement benefits that much sooner.

So personally, I'd probably make that trade if I were a teacher. And especially if I were close to retirement. If I ended up being fired, I'd try to find a job teaching elsewhere. If that wasn't an option, I'd look at the many other government positions in NC.

If you're in some odd situation where you feel like your principal is gunning for you for personal reasons, that would be dicey. But all tenure gives you, or should give you, is a right to due process. Basically, being given a reason for why you're being fired and a chance to appeal it if you'd like.

The one potential negative is the notion that they want to get rid of older teachers to help avoid having to pay full retirement benefits. So maybe you give up tenure with idea of making more money, then you get fired just to get you out of there. But someone with authority to do that would still have to go along with it.

[Edited on May 28, 2014 at 8:28 PM. Reason : you're/your]

5/28/2014 8:09:43 PM

i asked a few teachers i know who are mid-late career and they all said "absolutely i would take the raise" over "tenure"

5/30/2014 11:53:02 PM

Teachers should never be asked to make that choice.

5/30/2014 11:59:02 PM

I heard they were getting rid of TAs too, is that true?

5/31/2014 12:04:12 AM

They're taking a big hit. I'm new to K-5 (starting my administrative internship at an elementary school in the fall after eight years in a high school classroom), but from what I understand, the few TAs we still have are already shared between multiple classrooms in our district.

Quote :

"State funds for teaching assistants will be cut nearly in half, by $233.1 million, in the year beginning July 1. The state will fund teaching assistants for kindergarten and first-grade classes only. Teaching assistants, who are used in kindergarten through third grade, have been continuously pared in recent years."

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/05/28/4938710/questions-linger-about-funding.html#.U4lVmvldWSo

The cut is particularly ill-timed, as third-grade teachers are still trying to figure out how to navigate the new Read to Achieve initiative, which requires all kids to be at grade level in reading in order to be promoted.

[Edited on May 31, 2014 at 12:15 AM. Reason : .]

5/31/2014 12:11:52 AM

the choice isn't that huge. tenure isn't what people would like you to think. teachers can still be fired if they are bad. this is the single largest raise i think ever in NC that has been propose and the vocal minority is still protesting, which is going to fuck it up for the rest of us.

i'm glad the senate has finally decided that teachers need to be funded adequately. (and this is by no mean making any teacher upper middle class)

5/31/2014 12:32:36 AM

I'm under no illusion that tenure protects bad teachers. We need it to protect good teachers from arbitrary termination. As it stands now, I can come in as a new principal in a few years, decide I don't like the way a certain teacher is teaching and choose not to renew his contract, regardless of his performance. He's out. That's the sort of capricious action career status protects us from.

Do I think such action is going to be commonplace? Of course not. I have, however, worked with very mercurial administrators, and I have seen such action taken, so it's not just anxious hand-wringing at a purely hypothetical situation.

One of the major perks of teaching has always been the relative job security. This is a needless attack on that job security. Worse, it's purely political, a direct response to the NCAE lawsuit in which a judge found career status is a constitutionally protected property right. "Since we can't take it from you, we'll just force you to give it away, and anyone who refuses to do so or complains will be labeled an ungrateful whiner. Look, we're giving everyone a big raise!"

I appreciate the raise as much as anyone. My wife is a teacher, so even though I'm no longer in the classroom, it still has a significant impact on my household. However, education shouldn't be a political game, nor should it be subject to a vindictive General Assembly.

[Edited on May 31, 2014 at 10:52 AM. Reason : .]

5/31/2014 10:51:08 AM

Quote :

"As it stands now, I can come in as a new principal in a few years, decide I don't like the way a certain teacher is teaching and choose not to renew his contract, regardless of his performance. He's out."

Not much different from any other job. Your employer can justify your termination anyway they want really as long as it's not blatant discrimination or something.

5/31/2014 11:13:10 AM

Quote :

" I have, however, worked with very mercurial administrators, "

oh yeah i've heard stories. i'm not against tenure at all, and it isn't like it costs the state much money (if at all?) to issue.

I heard of an assistant principal that gave a 35+ year teacher (and former principal who won teacher of the year the previous year) all "developing" on the "rubric." I think this was eventually worked out though. (this came from the source, not an urban legend)

5/31/2014 12:40:42 PM

https://twitter.com/WRAL/status/474308372645564416

House passes bill repealing common core standards.

http://www.wral.com/push-to-end-common-core-in-nc-schools-advances/13697499/

6/4/2014 6:11:23 PM

i don't have much of an opinion of common core... as a hs science teacher it doesn't affect me a directly as a math or english teacher. we have had a lot of in house literacy training as a result of common core which is see as valuable in science... of course it isn't a common core specific idea.

6/4/2014 6:19:21 PM

Exactly. I don't think the standards have really mattered much. Great teaching is great teaching. I'm more concerned about the amount of money they dumped into the revamp, training, and materials development only to be rid of it a few years later.

6/4/2014 6:22:37 PM

*touting literacy in a post full of typos... ironic?

6/4/2014 6:44:43 PM

No, it was rhetorical; you're demonstrating its importance

6/4/2014 7:00:33 PM

http://www.wral.com/asset/news/state/nccapitol/2014/07/30/13854027/EXAMPLE.pdf

Here is the proposed teacher raises in detail. I like it. Every single teacher gets some sort of a raise, mostly a pretty decent one.

7/30/2014 5:09:46 PM

I'm happy that we're getting some kind of raise.

One of my co-workers said today that you can leave for another county then return after a while, and you'll be rehired at your actual step. That seems too good to be true. Any knowledge of this?

7/30/2014 5:59:32 PM

do you mean if i left the country and taught for two years, would they give me credit for teaching those two years on the steps? yes. (actually when i started teaching i taught some in grad school and earned a year experience so i started one step ahead of my public teaching career)

7/30/2014 8:50:22 PM

It's a pay cut for older teachers losing longevity pay though. My wife (7 years) will be getting a significant pay increase so I'm not complaining. Is masters' pay still going to be 10% on top of the schedule linked above?

8/1/2014 8:17:12 AM

This has been making the rounds among my teacher friends on Facebook

http://www.forum.jamesdhogan.com/2014/07/the-pay-scale-no-politician-wants-you.html?m=1

8/1/2014 12:37:48 PM

Yep. It's been making the rounds on my news feed, too.

I like the actual steps; however, I am bothered that they're using longevity pay to fund the salary increases. It's dishonest to call it a raise when you're funding it by taking away money a teacher has earned through years of loyalty.

My wife would be eligible for longevity pay next year. She'll either break even or make slightly more under the new proposal. This is hardly a victory for anyone but beginning teachers, most of whom will be out of the classroom within five years anyway.

8/1/2014 12:47:05 PM

Quote :

"It's a pay cut for older teachers losing longevity pay though. My wife (7 years) will be getting a significant pay increase so I'm not complaining. Is masters' pay still going to be 10% on top of the schedule linked above?"

people keep saying this but it is absolutely NOT true. Even with the loss of longevity, every single teacher will still be getting a raise, some of them very good. (although yes, teachers late in their careers won't get as large of a raise as newer teachers)

And yes, i think everyone would have been better off if they had not frozen the steps 7 years ago, but this budget does a lot to close that gap.

[Edited on August 1, 2014 at 1:39 PM. Reason : ]

8/1/2014 1:38:06 PM

Down to just 3 classes. My first school had me teaching 6. Life is good.

8/2/2014 6:46:23 PM

^^ I think it's still a pay cut if you adjusted the 2008-2009 salaries for inflation

[Edited on August 2, 2014 at 7:18 PM. Reason : nevermind, posted above ]

8/2/2014 7:18:02 PM

i live in the real world of 7 years with no raises. not the fantasy world where the perdue administration never started the teacher salary freeze.

8/2/2014 7:46:35 PM

^

although im in TN now

8/2/2014 10:19:27 PM

will be interesting to see if they can even sustain the raise through 2015. They are using a lot of one time funding sources and there is already a projected $700 million shortfall. This is just to get them through November.

8/3/2014 9:49:52 AM

Quote :

"McCrory urges businesses to hire teachers in summer so they can make money and learn what students need to be work-ready."

@WRAL
https://twitter.com/WRAL/status/499914676218519554

8/14/2014 12:44:56 PM

that would be an awesome thing. i always have worked in the summer, but not anything related to my subject.

8/14/2014 2:58:23 PM