Redistricting - My View

 

      As for my thoughts on the matter, I am deeply disappointed in the efforts to redistrict.  Why?  Redistricting is what a Party in power does to insure that they stay in power.  Democrats do it!  It is never totally equitable.  It is not intended to be.  But at the end of the day, it should be done with an eye toward giving fair representation to the citizens.  Here in North Carolina, it is being done with little regard for equitable representation of the people.  In fact, the NC Republican Chair of the committee on redistricting said that his greatest concern was that they (Republicans) redistrict in such a fashion as to make a court challenge impossible. 

 

That sort of comment can be taken two ways.  One could claim that Republicans want to be fair and therefore Courts would have no interest in listening to a challenge of their efforts.  OR, one could claim that Republicans are unconcerned with equitable voting districts that roughly match and run along County lines.  (To me, Republican efforts to tie Buncombe and Gaston County together is an egregious violation of ethical  boundary making!)

 

I am new to politics, but know that elections have consequences.  (Our President said that, not me.)  Well, the Republicans have been out of power for generations in North Carolina and they seem to want to make certain that now that they are in power, they remain in power.  I know that when Democrats lost here in North Carolina, we expected that eventually redistricting would be on the table.

 

     I suspect that if the table is ever turned, Democrats will  begin redistricting straight away.

 

     The Republicans came into power promising no new taxes and special attention to creating jobs.  NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators) estimates that State wide over two thousand teachers will lose their jobs because of the Republican budget.  Other State agencies will also lose positions.  How will that help education and how will that help the State's economy?  Moreover, how is education and the State's economy of less importance than redistricting for the next election.  I find the Republican priorities befuddling!

 

                Democrats are committed to lead our State in improving the educational lot of our students.  Since the days of Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt this State has moved education forward, making it one of the most admired educational systems in the United States.  That is why North Carolina was selected for Federal Race to the Top funds.  The Federal government believed in our progressive programs.  Instead, it is clear to me that Republicans want to lead us in the Race to the Bottom!  Per Pupil funding now places us 49th out of 50 States!  

 

     With the concerns over jobs and the economy, the Republicans seem to have cynically made the need to ensure control of the legislature more important than the day to day needs of the people, more important than jobs and more important than education!

 

     I believe deeply in the Democratic vision of tomorrow.  We believe that education, for example, is critical to the strength of our County, State, and Nation.  The business world wants educated employees.  For NC to attract industry we need to spend money on education! 

 

     I know and respect many Republicans.  I know that they are as deeply committed to their vision as I am to mine.  We all love and care about our State and Community.  We just, clearly, disagree about the priorities.

NCLB - What does it mean?

The initials NCLB stand for the No Child Left Behind legislation written into law during George the Second's presidential administration.  Its purpose was noble.  Through the study of data gathered back in those days, it was learned that some groups of children in school were performing worse on State End of Grade testing than other children.  The Federal Government determined that our country had a responsibility to close this gap in learning.  In other words, those who wrote the legislation wanted No Child Left Behind. 

Some things about this legislation were good.  It helped educators identify those groups of children who were not doing well.  Some examples of those groups of children are  African American children, Hispanic children, exceptional children (special needs children), Asian American children, and so on.  It helped State's design testing that would, in a decisive fashion, identify what children know and what they don't know.  Test results can help teachers focus on goals and objectives that need instructional strengthening.  Testing also insured that teachers teach the Standard Course of Study (SCoS).  The SCoS is 'bible' of education - what educators are supposed to teach children at every grade level and in every class as identified by each State's Board of Education.

Some things about NCLB were not so good.   Every few years the Federal government has chosen to raise the percentage of children expected to pass each of the tests.   They raise the bar.   That sounds good, doesn't it?  Well, in just a couple of years, NCLB legislation expects every child in school to be doing math and reading on grade level.  That sounds like a wonderful goal.  Only  a couple of  problems there!  That goal include children who have been speaking  English for only few years.  That goal also includes children with cognitive disabilities.  If every child had been intellectually gifted equally, then that would be a much more reasonable goal.  However, even the most cynical of us realize that we are, all of us, individuals with differences in how we learn, how fast we learn, and even our capacity to learn.  

If all we did was test the children and learn about them, and used that which we learn to improve instruction, that would be great.  BUT ... there is more tied to test results than that.  When NCLB came along the concept of high stakes testing came along, too.  Money became tied to it.  Test results became the measure of a school's success and a school system's success.  It even became the way to measure the success of individual teachers.  The stress level for children is incredible.  The stress level for their teachers is equally high.  I could go on and explain what it means to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or to not make AYP.  I could tell you what it means to be  a 'taken over, school' or to be in School Choice.  But that would be TMI (too much information.) 

I love teaching, teachers, and children (not necessarily in that order.)  The teachers I know work hard to achieve Federal and State goals, but more importantly, they remember that school is about people and relationships.  Federal law may conspire, albeit with the best of intentions, to put the importance of the relationships that grow between teachers and their students on the back burner, but they will never succeed.  You see, teaching isn't only a science, it is also an art.

Educators know that there are more important things than testing.  When a child comes in the room hungry, or crying because mommy and daddy were arguing, or because someone has been mean on the bus, the best teachers know that teaching lessons about life come before reading, writing and 'rithmetic!  Public education is magical and miraculous.