Supporters rally for school changes
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 26, 2018 3:05 AM
Teacher Tiffany Kilgore and other members of Red4EdNC in Wayne County Friday afternoon held a kickoff rally to push for policy changes for the education system.
Kilgore said she had invited all of the local legislators to whom she directed her comments.
No elected officials showed up.
Two candidates did -- David Brantley, Democratic candidate for state Senate District 7, and Wade Leatham, candidate for the nonpartisan Wayne School Board District 6.
The rally, held at Cornerstone Commons, attracted about 20 people, as speakers declared Red4EdNC's grievances with the current state of education policy to elected state leaders and called on the legislature for action.
While the numbers were small, their voices were heard, Kilgore said.
"Somebody heard our points of view, opinions and that right there is where we have got to start," she said.
This past May more than 2,000 teachers from across the state marched in Raleigh to demonstrate their massive level of discontent with the General Assembly's lack of commitment to public school, she said.
On July 4 Red4EdNC, a nonpartisan organization, issued a declaration in defense of the state's school children, she said.
It lists grievances and provides clear solutions, Kilgore said.
Kilgore read from the state constitution outlining the state's responsibility for providing a general and uniform system of free public schools.
"The signers of the declaration that we are handing over to the elected officials of our fair state today make it plain that we believe that the educational opportunities are neither adequate or equal for the children across the state of North Carolina," she said.
Similar events were planned for the same time in Macon, Buncombe, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, Wake and Pitt counties, Kilgore said.
Quality public education provides students the opportunities they deserve while lifting up the child and the community and ultimately the state, she said.
Kilgore said the group wants legislators to know what reality teaches will face when they return to class.
It includes overcrowded classrooms and a lack of nearly 7,500 teaching assistants cut by the General Assembly during a recession that ended years ago, she said.
Teachers also will be purchasing supplies because the budget for those items has been cut by 55 percent since the 2009-10 school year.
Teachers and cash-strapped parents should not be relied on to fill the gap, Kilgore said.
They will return to schools lacking adequate supplies of textbooks because of decreases in funding and to buildings badly in need of repair or replacement, she said.
"For reasons that are incomprehensible to us, the General Assembly denied the voters of our state an opportunity to affirm a $1.9 billion school bond this November," Kilgore said.
"If our economy is to continue to grow, if we are to produce a 21st century workforce and demonstrate respect for the tender souls in our care, then we need classrooms built in the 21st century rather than continuously patch old, hot, cold, leaky, cramped, crumbling classrooms."
Science teacher Joe Beamon, who has taught for 15 years, spoke about state budget cuts that have resulted in a shortage of textbooks.
Fourth-grade teacher Kathy Drew, who has taught for more than 20 years, expressed frustration at the emphasis placed on assessments when teachers should be teaching.
Beamon quoted philosopher Edmund Burke who said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
"I am not saying anyone is evil in this, but by inaction there is an evil being perpetrated on students," he said. "I understand when the recession hit things had to be cut back. I understand that there was no choice.
"But the recession is over, recovery has been happening over and over, and we haven't gotten back what we have lost, nowhere near what we have lost."
So if no one stands up, such as what was done at Friday's rally, then no one in Raleigh is going to want to change things, he said.
"So I am trying to let them hear our voices, let them know that hey the people who voted for you want these changes -- please help us," Beamon said. "Help us educate the children. Give us the resources that we need."
It is not about a power grab or a money grab, it is just about getting the needed basic resources, he said.
"Which we are not getting," he said. "We are having to buy stuff for the kids. It is those extras that I am worried about. Some kids can afford the basics I know, but those extras ... .
"So that's why I am doing it to basically get the resources, and to do something so that I won't be able to sit back and say that I didn't do anything."
Teacher and community activist Mark Colebrook said teachers have to get their colleagues out here because there is power in numbers since elected officials aren't going to listen to them with just four or five people.
"So what we have to do is make sure that we take care of home," he said. 'We collectively shut down the entire Wayne County school system, got on the bus, went to Raleigh and now it (rally) is in our back yard, and we don't have time for it?"
The issues must consistently and aggressively be placed in front, and people have to be ready to fight for the children, he said.
The fight can no longer be behind the scenes, people have to come out, Colebrook said.
As a community activist, Colebrook said the small turnout was frustrating since the excuses for not attending had been taken away.
"These organizations that have been doing all of these backpack drives, where are they?" he said. "I can't continue to give a child a backpack to go to an education system that is not equipped to equip their mind.
"We have to do better. The legislature will listen to us in collective numbers. We had great momentum (after the Raleigh rally), and then we come down here and we couldn't even get the educators to go to City Council or county commissioners to fight for a supplement."
The old saying is that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, Drew said.
"So we are squeaking now," she said. "Maybe somebody will give us a little bit of oil.
"I think not only our legislators, but our community needs to know the injustices that are being committed against our students in the public school system."
Teachers can do only so much, and that is why the community's backing, and that of legislators, is so vital, she said.
It is needed to help teachers do the best for the children so that they are prepared for the 21st century, Drew said.
Teachers cannot do their jobs properly without that support, she said.
"We take money out of our pockets," she said. "We work extra hours to make sure that things are done. We spend so much time trying to help those who are low because our classroom sizes are so big."
It is difficult to meet the needs of all the students in large classes, she said.
"I am out here in hopes that someone will hear what we are saying -- someone will think, 'You know what? I didn't know it was that bad. Let's see what we can do to help to fix it,'" she said. "That is what I am hoping for."