Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WUNC's education coverage is led by reporters Dave Dewitt and Reema Khrais. Dewitt has been with the station since 2003. Khrais is focused on Education Policy Reporting. Browse recent stories here.

Teachers Demonstrating Against New Policies With 'Walk-in'

Teachers demonstrate Monday morning outside Riverside High School in Durham
Dave DeWitt

Teachers are gathering outside of schools across the state Monday in protest.

The “teacher walk-in” is being staged before and after the school day by those who feel disrespected by changes to education policies in the most recent legislative session. 

Those policies include the elimination of tenure, discontinuing salary increases for teachers who earn master’s degrees, and no money in the budget for textbooks.

"It’s a whole slew of bad legislation and bad policy that was shoved into the budget. It’s just bad practice. It’s a bad way to do business on behalf of this leadership," says Rodney Ellis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.

The leadership, including Senate Leader Phil Berger, condemned the walk-in in a statement last week. He said it jeopardized student safety. Other Republicans say teachers are using schools to make political statements. Teachers are prohibited by state law from going on strike or collective bargaining.

State rankings from the National Education Association show that North Carolina teachers currently rank 46th in the country in average salary.

Dave DeWitt is WUNC's Supervising Editor for Politics and Education. As an editor, reporter, and producer he's covered politics, environment, education, sports, and a wide range of other topics.
Related Stories
More Stories