Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators: Proudly Serving Charlotte-Mecklenburg Educators

Vision

"A Great Public School for ALL Students"

 Mission

" To be a strong, powerful and guiding force in making a difference in public education; improving and strengthening our professional status through collective actions and in developing students as global citizens"

CMS Board of Education Meetings for 2012

The Board of Education will hold Regular Board Meetings on the following dates.  Board meetings are held on Tuesday with the exception of Wednesday, June 6.   Location is Government Center, 600 East Fourth Street, Charlotte, NC 28262.  Meeting start time is 6:00 p.m.

 

 MONTH

 DATE
 January 10
  24
 February 14
  28
 March 13
  27
 April 10
  24
 May 08
  22
 June (Wednesday) 06
  26
 July 24*
 August 14
  28
September  11
  25
October  09
  23
 November 13*
December 11*

 * One board meeting scheduled for the month.



CMS NEWS - A Must SEE Video

YouTube-Video

Legislature Retaliates Against NCAE

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Karen Archia, (800) 662-7924, ext. 214
karen.archia@ncae.org

January 5, 2012

Press Conference Statement of NCAE President Sheri Strickland

Raleigh, NC -- “At 1:12 a.m. this morning, the General Assembly voted to eliminate NCAE’s ability to collect dues though payroll deduction,” said NCAE President Sheri Strickland at a press conference held today at the NCAE Center. “The Association believes the passage of this legislation – an override of Governor Perdue’s veto -- to be a retaliatory action against NCAE for standing up for public school students and educators.

“The message from the legislature is clear – if you stand against cuts to public education, we will teach you a lesson.

“If you point out that they have taken North Carolina to nearly dead last in per pupil funding, you will be bullied.

“If you say that we are short-changing our students, we will try and silence your voice.

“Our message back to them is we will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced, and we will not back down. NCAE will stand up to the clear attempt to silence the many thousands of educators across the state.

“No other organization has been affected by this legislation. As most of you already know, NCAE has been singled out – targeted. They tried to the hide the facts, but the truth came to light. Here’s the audio recording of legislative leaders plotting and planning to try and hurt NCAE -- which members of the media captured during the last session.”

NCAE President Sheri Strickland played an audio recording of Speaker Thom Tills talking about plans eliminate payroll dues deduction for NCAE through upcoming legislation.

“We didn’t back down then and we won’t back down now,” Strickland said.

“What legislative leaders did early this morning is the end result of a concerted effort to silence thousands of educators across the state, because we stood strong for schools. And we believe the legislature has acted unconstitutionally.

“The Association’s next steps are to pursue legal action within the next few days and to simply move our members to alternative ways to pay their dues.

“We will continue to speak forthrightly in support of public schools; we will continue to act as a professional organization that advocates to reduce class size and help build a quality education workforce --- and we will continue to stand up against efforts to bully us into submission. Our children are too important to give up the fight.

“On May 3, we brought thousands of concerned citizens, parents, students, and educators together to speak in one voice against cuts to education. This move today to silence NCAE is also a move to silence those thousands of voices of North Carolinians who spoke up in that rally. Anyone who cares about public education in North Carolina should feel incensed at today’s action in the Legislature. “

NCAE is the state’s largest education association representing active, retired and student members. 

Time to take ACTION!!!!

Lets Take ACTION!!! Lets Take ACTION!!!

Subimt your Nomination today!!!

The time has come for you to nominate any ESP personnel at your school location that you feel has done an exceptional job.

Please note: ESP members may nominate themselves. In order for an individual to be considered for the NCAE ESP of the Year, each section of this nomination form must be completed. If necessary, attach additional sheets. Please type or print (blue or black ink only) all of the requested information on this form. Incomplete or illegible applications will not be considered. The application deadline is Thursday, March 1, 2012. This form may be duplicated.

Download
NCAE ESP of the Year Nomination Application
NCAE ESP OF THE YEAR NOMINATION APPLICAT[...]
Adobe Acrobat document [203.7 KB]

Pro Public Education Candidates & Issues Win Big Last Night

 

Photo by News & Observer photographer Robert Willett   

Wake NCAE endorsed school board candidate Kevin Hill applauds the Wake NCAE volunteers at the victory party last night.  Photo: Rhonda Riggins (background in red NCAE shirt), Nancy Masteller (brown jacket), & Paulette Jones Leaven (blue NCAE jacket).
 

  Click here to see last night's video story on WRAL on the Wake County School Baord runoff election.
 

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Other good news includes a victory in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools School Board race
by NCAE member and former local president Mary McCray. 
 
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In Durham, a 1/4 cent sales tax increase will help Durham Public Schools by $9 million. 
(Durham Association of Educators President Kristy Moore shown with DPS Superintendent Eric Becoats at last night's victory party.)

          

       

Below is the follow up story on the Wake County School Board runoff posted today on WRAL. 
(Click below and you can view two interviews from Kevin Hill and Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata.) 

The victor of a closely watched runoff for the Wake County Board of Education called Wednesday for board members to put the election behind them and to pull together, so they can make small changes to a new student assignment policy and prepare to deal with a looming budget shortfall.

Kevin Hill, the incumbent for the school board's District 3 seat, defeated his Republican-backed opponent, Heather Losurdo, Tuesday. Democrats will have a majority on the school board once he and four other Democratic-backed candidates elected in October take office in December.

"I don't know that I want to talk about working with Republicans versus Democrats," Hill said. "We need to talk about coming together as a school board and not talk about party, but talk about what nine of us can do for all our kids in Wake County."

The central issue of the campaign was the work of the current Republican-majority school board to overturn the student assignment policy of busing students for diversity in favor of a policy that gives parents more input in where their children go to school.

Hill said Tuesday night that although he voted against the assignment plan, he has no intention of returning to the district's old way of assigning students.

He said he likes the new plan and thinks it can work with some tweaks. He wants to ensure classroom seats in high-performing schools are reserved for low-performing students.

The new assignment plan will soon go into operation, when the selection process for magnet schools starts on Dec. 5, Superintendent Tony Tata said.

"I'm very confident in the plan. It's a good plan," Tata said. "We are moving quite rapidly, as we need to, so that parents understand what their choices are."

John Tedesco, the school board's vice chairman, said Tuesday night that he will keep an open mind about the new board, but he will fight hard against any attempts to undo accomplishments from the past two years.

"We'll have to see what their agenda is," he said of the new board members. "If they are willing to support Tata, and if they're willing to leave the new assignment plan that we've put in place alone and work to move forward on other issues of student achievement, then I am willing to work with them on that."

Tata, a retired Army general, said his three decades in the military have accustomed him to deal with "changes in command."
"The one constant is that you just remain focused on the mission and everything will be OK. And our mission is to improve student achievement and take care of parents," he said.

After the immediate concerns about student assignment, Hill said, the school district needs to focus on the budget.
"Budget's (the) No. 1 (issue) really," Hill said. "I think the budget is going to be crucial in the coming year or two in terms of having money to provide good programs for our children."

Tata said the district faces a "$28 million funding cliff" for the 2012-13 budget when funds from a federal stimulus program, EduJobs, dry up. Hill said that shortfall is a major concern.

"The last few years, we've been cutting pretty tight to the bone as it is, so I do think that's the top issue that we have to worry about," Hill said.

Tata said he's been meeting with his business manager and budget team and plans to propose a budget dealing with the shortfall in March.
"We're finding ways to mitigate that and to get to where we need to be next year with a good budget submission," he said.

Reporter: Kevin Holmes
Photographer: Jamie Munden
Web Editor: Anne Johnson

The Real Facts: Policy Report Features NCAE President

 




Policy and Progress Report Features NCAE President
"The position is gone, but the work still must be done"
 
 
With the headline "Budget Cuts Threaten NC Student Performance," a special  Policy and Progress report included in a recent edition of the N&O featured NCAE President Sheri Strickland's very pointed remarks about the effects of budget cuts.
 
"There are more students in many of our schools than last year, and yet we haven't provided any funds to account for that growth, " Strickland said in the report. "As we have more students but fewer adults in the school, the adults that are there are going to have to do more than they've done in the past. The losses of teachers, teacher assistants and support staff mean students may receive less individualized attention, classrooms may have to be kept clean and safe by the teachers themselves, and fewer courses will be available to students. The position is gone, but the work still has to be done."
 
A quarterly publication of the North Carolina Justice Center, the Policy and Progress Report highlights an important and startling statistic: 76 percent of the school employees who have lost their jobs since the economic downturn were teachers and teacher assistants.
 
It also includes a fascinating look at the budget by telling readers what $459 million dollars for the year, which breaks down to 2.5 million dollars per school day, could have done for public education. Did you know that if we had just one day's worth of the money cut from education we could have purchased 3,000 computers for students or replaced 31 aging school busses with new fuel efficient, 66-seat buses? Or, the 459 million dollars in total could have built 32 brand-new, 100,000 square foot school buildings without issuing any debt or hired 9,800 teachers to reduce class size in grades    K-8.
 
"This is a report all of our members need to keep on hand and share with their friends, families and colleagues, " Strickland said. "It paints a bleak picture, but this portrayal outlines the true impact of the decisions made by the North Carolina General Assembly this year. It's not just opinion that North Carolina schools, children and educators are bearing the burden of bad decisions and misplaced priorities, it is very, very real." All NCAE Board members received a hard copy of this report at their October meeting.

See the full Policy and Progress Report here



One Voice Rally for Public Education

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When Laid off......Turn to SECU

State Employees' Credit Union understands the importance of helping members improve their financial status! It is their mission and philosophy of "People Helping People" that urges them to help during this challenging phase. Listed are some of the products and services they offer during this time.

  • Budgeting
  • Mortgage Assistance
  • Auto Refinancing
  • Health, Life, Auto and Home Insurance
  • Retirement Planning
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Taxes
  • Credit
  • Debt Counseling
  • Support Services

Please visit the State Employees' Credit Union website for more information.

 

We Are One Rally 4-4-11

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School News

Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive

The Right Moves for Youth club at Carmel Middle School sponsored a food drive for their community service project. The club members decided to collect jars of peanut butter and jelly and donate them to Loaves and Fishes food pantry. The club's peanut butter and jelly drive was a huge success with a total collection of 250 jars.

Look who joined the Band-Aid Parade!!!!

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CIAA 2011

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AFFILIATIONS

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association (CMAE) is proud to be part of the National Education Association (NEA) and the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE).