A lot of the businesses that do so do it if the course of study is considered relevant: if the company is trying to get people with ABCD certificates, a course of study leading to such a certificate will be reimbursed; if foreign-language skills are considered a plus, foreign-language certifications will be reimbursed, etc.
Never saw a company policy which said “the company will reimburse any and all advanced degrees”.
The big districts are closing.
Lexington City was first, a small district but on their game.
Then in rapid succession we got Durham, Chapel Hill/Carrboro, and Orange County.
Guilford just closed a few minutes ago (that’s Greensboro).
Charlotte/Mecklenberg and Wake County (Raleigh) are looking to make a joint decision in the next couple of days.
The way we’re putting in our request for district closure is by requesting personal days. In NC, teachers can ask for a personal day, and as long as it’s 5 days out, don’t have to provide a reason. The request can only be denied under specific circumstances, and the only one that would possibly apply here is a lack of substitute teachers.
So right now we’re asking folks to put in their personal leave request. I’ve already heard that nearly half the staff at my school have put in their request, and another 20% have committed to doing so (I’ve been busy). Meanwhile, Charlotte’s reporting over 1,200 requests. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna call it by Friday.
Momentum!
But if they wanted to make a stink about it, wouldn’t that one be pretty easy to apply? If the sub population is, say, 10% of the full-time population, then as soon as the first 10% of teachers put in their personal days, couldn’t they say “not enough subs” for all of the rest?
That “if” is a really big “if.” Thing is, folks involved in public education tend to support education, and are aware of how damaging the budget cuts have been in terms of resources, morale, and (most importantly) student success. Overall, it’s an easy sell to district leadership.
“Overall” is also an important word, though. There are plenty of districts with very conservative leadership, and by “conservative” I mean “Republican partisan.” Our president of the senate, Phil Berger, just came out with a long statement decrying the march as an aspect of the Democratic election campaign, and that’s the spin of his ilk, and plenty of folks buy it.
It’s nonsense, of course, but that’s never stopped him before.
As a result, while the big districts are closing, one by one, some of the smaller districts are much more hesitant. One school board proposed last night that each school appoint 2 representatives to go to the march and that everyone else stay at work. Another said that teachers should recruit parent volunteers to go in their place to the march.
And in those districts, you’re right–they can absolutely deny the personal leave requests.
I’m perfectly willing to admit when I’m wrong.
Charlotte hasn’t said anything.
But WAKE COUNTY IS OUT.
It’s going fast, now.
But who is it who’s making the decision whether to raise a stink? Is it the people who are actually involved in education, or is it politicians who may or may not care about schools?
EDIT: I mean, obviously, there are some people who have a say in how education is handled but who don’t care about education, or this demonstration wouldn’t be necessary.
Districts close in one of three ways:
In a very few districts, like mine, the BoE is appointed, and then conceivably the county commissioners could put pressure on them. But the three ways I listed are overwhelmingly what happens.
It’s up to the local district what to do. That includes making the decision about whether to deny personal leave requests due to a lack of subs.
This morning, Charlotte/Mecklenberg declared an optional workday for May 1.
That’s Greensboro, Winston Salem, Charlotte, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh–the six biggest cities in the state.
What happens May 2?
I don’t know. I’d say 90% chance we’re back at work, and 10% chance there’s a sustained movement not to be. But I pulled those numbers out of my butt.
I certainly hear some folks saying it’s time for us to go out and stay out. But I personally don’t think we’re ready for that.
In a lot of states, it’s not legal for public workers to strike, so what we’re doing is, legally speaking, not a strike: we’re just coordinating our legally-requested days off, and then our school systems are legally choosing to shut down for that day. If we coordinate going out without pay, without requesting the time off in advance, then we’re in a different territory.
In NC, public sector strikes are considered a misdemeanor along the lines of assault with a deadly weapon: six months in jail, $10,000 fine. It’s no light matter to choose to strike.
But we’re doing this before the legislature writes the budget. So maybe what happens on May 2 is that the NCGA looks warily over their shoulders and moves some bills out of committee that otherwise would’ve died there.
While this involves the actions of an elected body, it is not exactly an Elections issure.
Moved to Great Debates.
I live here in coastal North Carolina, and whenever anyone talks to me about improving the educational system here I always say “It’s North Carolina; I’m not counting on any of these kids growing up to cure cancer. I’m not even counting on these kids growing up to spell cancer.” But seriously, I support those goals and the teachers job action. Good luck with it.
yo I’m way on board. How can somebody in the Asheville area help?
Two weeks later, a week out, and 28 districts are out, more than half the student population of the state. My district, a couple of hours ago, was number 27.
I’m not happy about kids missing school, but I’m thrilled that so many teachers will be able to make the trip either to Raleigh or to satellite rallies.
As for someone in Asheville–if you check out the Asheville City Schools Facebook page, I put some information there on the announcement of closure :).
(I also co-wrote a column in a local paper, but am a little bit worried about making it too easy for someone to dox me. It’s easily done for anyone that really cares, but worry about making it that much easier).
My cousin is a middle school teacher and coach in the Craven County school system. I’ll be with you, and hopefully him*, in spirit!
*Well, he is a Republican. But he’s not stupid, not mean-spirited, and devoted to his students.
I was in high school during the very long New York City strike of 1968, and we survived. For one day the kids will get more out of being forced to face these real world issues than being in school for a day. Inspiring even 1% of kids to be activists is going to do more for the world than 5 more spelling words.
Good luck to you from California.
If I didn’t live in the opposite corner of the country, I’d join the demonstration. My district froze our salaries for the last 10 years I taught there, not even a COLA, which means we teachers effectively lost money.
Wyoming (where I taught) is also one of the states that refused to expand Medicare. And my district’s insurance plan was terrible. Insurance went up something like 150% in less than two years (It was partially self-funded. What a nightmare.) What those two statements meant was that few paras (IA’s in your world), custodians, or bus drivers could afford health insurance: they either got coverage through their spouses (if married to a working spouse) or were uninsured. They simply couldn’t afford the premiums. So the call for the expansion of Medicaid would have been an excellent demand from our union. Oh, wait, we couldn’t have a union. Wyoming is a so-called Right to Work state.
Raise the flag high!
Last night, my wife said, “did you know that South Carolina teachers are walking out tomorrow?”
I replied, “You mean North Carolina teachers?”
No, she meant South Carolina. My wife is FB friends with a college friend from USC* who is teaching in SC. According to my wife’s friend, SC teachers are walking out today. My wife hadn’t known about NC, so I gave her the Cliff’s Notes version of what I’ve learned from LHoD in this thread.
*That’s University of South Carolina, thankyewverymuch, not University of Southern California. No Trojans can contain our 'Cocks! 
Possibly related, this morning I got a message through a teacher job-hunting site I recently joined desperately searching for teachers in South Carolina.
I’m with you in spirit as well. One of my closest lifelong friends is a high school teacher in Forsyth County. She teaches in a school in an underprivileged area and she’s had the job for 35 years. She also does private tutoring, drives for Uber and rents a room in her house on AirBNB to make ends meet.