Editor's note: The following commentary was written by Alexa Roberts. Alexa Roberts currently serves on the Whispering Pines Village Council, but makes these comments as a private citizen, parent of a MCS student, Moore County taxpayer, and advocate for our public schools. She can be reached at her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/alexa.mammolito
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Before the most recent school board election, I did not know any board member’s registered political party affiliation. Why? Because education is non-partisan.
Despite the claims from a few of the board members, there has never been a leftist indoctrination happening in our schools. How do I know this? Because I worked in our schools as a substitute teacher. I volunteer in our schools. I joined the PTA and got involved. I joined the Parent Advisory Committee and got involved. Here’s what I saw (and see) happening in our schools:
-Our classrooms are filled with students who are eager to learn. Some more eager than others, but they all are willing to learn and our educators are there to help them.
-Students arrive to school hungry and unprepared. Our educators ensure that their students have something in their bellies (often by providing food that they personally purchase for their students), and make sure all students have any needed supplies (often by providing supplies that they themselves purchase, or that have been donated by generous community members).
-Teachers work from their own lesson plans, that get developed with their grade level teams and professional leadership teams and align with our district wide curriculum- which are all based on state wide curriculum standards. Teachers then “differentiate” their lesson plans to accommodate for the different learning styles and achievement levels of each student in their classroom.
-Our educators pause lessons for fire drills, tornado drills, and lock down drills. Our educators pause lessons for announcements, knocks on the door, questions, and behavioral disruptions in the classroom. And then quickly regain control of their classes and recap what they did before the pause and return to the lesson - until the next interruption.
-Our educators spend hours of their day wearing many hats. They clean classrooms, sanitize desks and surfaces, take out trash, sort recycling, deal with injuries and illnesses, comfort students when they fight with their friends or have issues at home, help students get clean clothes and shoes and coats when needed, serve as a mediator, answer parents calls and emails and Dojo messages, keep track of students being pulled out for resource or AIG or specialized therapy, keep track of allergies and potential allergens, make sure kids get to the right bus or into the right car, and so much more.
Don’t believe me? Go spend a day working or volunteering in a school- any school. Working in an elementary school? Make sure you get there by 7am to make sure classrooms are ready, the supplies needed for today’s lesson plan are prepped, and begin welcoming students at 7:10am. Bring your lunch, cause you will eat with your students (if you actually get a chance to eat after cleaning up the morning and getting ready for after lunch lessons). Don’t drink too many liquids, cause you may not have a chance to use the bathroom until after students leave…
Regardless of decisions made in a board room in Carthage or in Raleigh, the JOB of our educators remains the same. They take care of our children while they teach. They do this not to get rich or to get accolades. They do it because they are called to do so and they are skilled and qualified professionals. I trust our teachers to be trained qualified professional educators who have the best interest of their students at heart. I do not trust that politicians and legislators have that same goal.
Partisan politics do not belong in our schools. They do not belong in our school board rooms, either.
#TakeBackOurSchools from partisan politics