My friends Terry Stoops and Lady Liberty have already blogged on this story. I’m chiming in because parents need to know about it.
Last week USA Today reported about the poor quality of systems tracking teacher discipline around the country. The systems are so bad that teachers or educational staff can frequently flee one area and get a job in another. The article ranked states on the quality of their systems for checking teacher backgrounds. North Carolina was one of the worst offenders. It received a failing grade, F.
If you want to know how this issue plays out in districts across North Carolina read an excellent article by Tonya Maxwell of the Asheville Citizen Times and reprinted in USA Today.
The problem is bad enough, Sadly we’re all familiar with the horror stories of teachers with questionable backgrounds — or worse — showing up in different districts. What’s worse is that it didn’t have to be this way.
Some background.
When Katie Cornetto became a staff attorney with the State Board of Education in 2008 she saw a less than stellar system for checking teacher licensure and backrounding. She pushed for a task force to address licensing and ethics issues.
In 2010 Superintendent June Atkinson received the task force report. The report contained 15 recommendations including hiring more investigators to prosecute teacher misconduct, fingerprinting and allow the state board to share background information with local school districts.
It’s now 2016. And, none of the recommendations have been implemented.
Why? News reports covered the release of the report. The State Board of Education and DPI say the brutal murder of State Board of Education member Kathy Taft and budget concerns pushed the issue to the sidelines.
That was six years ago.
If DPI is truly concerned about ensuring our children are safe and our classrooms have high quality teachers, you have to ask: where’s the evidence?
The inaction speaks — no screams — louder than words.
(hard to believe an Asheville Citizen Times reporter would delve into this, so
surprised kudos to her!)
Good grief! How much longer do we have her here?
I am guessing our last governor shelved it and our current governor knows nothing about it. Maybe it’s time he was informed.
As State Superintendent, I appointed the task force to study this issue. Some steps have been taken to ensure the identification of people who should not be in the classroom or get licenses. For example –an electronic licensing system that incorporates automatic check with a national data base, effective this fall. There other steps–tune in to the March State Board meeting.
The real question here is why does NCCIVITAS hate public education…
…and concerning, “My friends Terry Stoops and Lady Liberty have already blogged on this story. I’m chiming in because parents need to know about it. ”
What are the public education credentials of Terry Stoops, “Lady Liberty”, and Bob Luebke?