Up & Coming Weekly

September 13, 2022

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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4 UCW SEPTEMBER 14 - 20, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Jason Brady Chayenne Burns Laura Browne Katrina Wilson Jyl Barlow INTERN R. Elgin Zeiber CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Donna King, Jim Garamone, Dr. Shanessa Fenner, Cynthia Ross, Rabbi Dov Goldberg COVER Design by Isaiah Jones Photo courtesy Community Concerts MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Published weekly on Wednesdays, Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers Yellow buses are rolling across North Carolina as kiddos return to school for the first "normal" school year since 2018-2019. But wait! "Normal" is not the correct word, because thousands of students, including some in Cumberland County, will find them- selves in classrooms without certified teachers. Teachers have been resigning and retiring in droves, again including teachers in Cumberland. e reasons, of course, are unique to each individual educator, but there are many commonalities. Teachers are increasingly stressed, and with good reason. e pandemic shut down schools almost three years ago, sending teachers and students into virtual learning scenarios, ready or not. e result has been thousands of students performing below grade level and teachers now expected to "fix it." In addition, staffing shortages mean teachers must cover for each other as well as for other school em- ployees who have also left for greener pastures. It amounts to less support and more work. But wait! ere's more. In the early 2000s, North Caro- lina's teachers were looking at rising salaries and growing respect for their work as professionals. Not so today. North Carolina's teacher pay ranks 34th out of 50 states, according to the National Education Association's an- nual report. is, according to the Economic Policy Institute, is almost 25% below what the average teacher would earn in the private sector, the so-called, "teacher wage penalty." And, like everyone else, teachers are also losing out to inflation. In all honesty, would you put up with that from your employer if you had a choice? And, if all that were not enough to send teachers running for the door, layer on the Republican-controlled General Assembly's latest proposal for teacher pay based on perfor- mance as judged by student test scores, student surveys and principal and peer evaluations. Really? Even when student per- formance depends on far more than teacher input and when evaluations can be highly subjective, not to men- tion vindictive? Included in the proposed plan as well are provisions to allow individu- als to enter the teaching profession without an education degree. Top off all the proposed changes with the reality that Republican legislators are accusing teachers of indoctrinating students with facts and ideas about race and gender that the right wing does not agree with, transforming classrooms into politi- cal battle fields with students as can- non fodder. Even if we assume there may be merit in some of these ideas, the stressful fall of 2022 is hardly the time to press for them. ere are no easy remedies to these complicated issues, but adequate pay and professional respect would go a long way, especially since the Gen- eral Assembly is sitting on a $6 billion surplus stockpiled by cutting taxes on the upper income earners and corporations. e General Assembly is almost lit- erally and personally walking teach- ers out the door. It is high time for legislators and would-be legislators to put their money where their mouths are and pay teachers what they are worth and show them professional respect. It is also high time for voters to consider such reckless and damag- ing decision-making on the part of legislators when we go to the polls on November 8th. Really. PUBLISHER'S PEN Yes, it really is about the money and the respect by MARGARET DICKSON MARGARET DICKSON, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

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