We’re frequently disappointed in the lack of academic focus that members of the Alamance-Burlington school board demonstrate, and no more so than this week.
The school board gave in to a weak recommendation from superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming to throw up their hands and let teachers skip school on Friday so they can go protest in Raleigh.
No question about the teachers’ purpose, as always: “we want more money.”
The local teachers’ union (known as the Alamance Burlington Association of Educators) has 40 voting members. No, that’s not a typo. Only 40 members out of more than 2,000 employees.
So in an assessment about doing right by the almost 23,000 students, their parents, and the taxpayers of Alamance County versus a small, militant coterie of union members, who should prevail?
The school administration and school board sided with the union.
Who cares about the other needs of the state?
The union mob doesn’t have to balance all the needs of North Carolina’s various government agencies and departments (and the ongoing costs for Hurricane Helene recovery efforts) with the revenues available from its taxpayers.
Educators think state budgets should “prioritize” them – i.e., give them higher and higher salaries, more and more benefits.
Some of the state’s public school employees insert themselves as a supposed proxy for school children and more state funding as a proxy for educational services. Neither is accurate.
The superintendent said he had various options that he could have recommended to the school board.
Of course, he picked the most liberal and lenient, with the least amount of accountability: let the teachers’ union and its supporters trundle off to Raleigh for a meaningless but expensive protest.
He could have still let teachers “skip school” but at least required them to make up for it later (June 8 was the date he had listed as an option).
Or he and the board could have been a real hard nose, denying all requests for leave and requiring the use of sick leave with documentation (i.e., a doctor’s note) in order to be absent from their jobs.
But, no, the superintendent and school board decided to allow teachers – the supposed educational leaders within the school system – to simply walk away from their jobs, so they could go to Raleigh to lobby for higher pay.
And lobby who, exactly?
Well, actually no one, since the General Assembly isn’t even in session tomorrow.
So the real purpose is simply a media stunt, to show a big march on Raleigh.
We think another of Dr. Fleming’s options should have included at least requiring employees to prove they even went to Raleigh. How many who claimed they will be absent will actually just stay at home, feet up, slacking off for the entire day?
The reasoning used by proponents of this day off was absurd, although we have to confess having a difficulty determining which were the most irresponsible.
Let’s give our readers a multiple-choice test vote for which of these statements was the most ridiculous in defending the “right” of school teachers to abandon their jobs on Friday, in order to march on Raleigh.
- “I think we should allow our educators to have that space to go down and advocate for themselves.”
- “At the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do.”
- “That’s your First Amendment right to go down there and raise sin.”
- “I want to be make it very clear, I support all of our teachers, administrators, and other personnel in advocating for our students.”
- “We are going, not to disrupt learning, but to defend it.”
We can hardly believe that there was a single school board member who had the temerity or courage to buck the administration, fellow board members, or the three union members who spoke Monday night.
The closest thing to an objection, to her credit, came from Tameka Harvey, who noted that Friday is “decision day” for college seniors to make their choice of where to enroll next fall.
Instead, like lemmings, all seven school board members capitulated to the mob.
And then, of course, they’ll all expect the public to forget this incident entirely when the latest school performance grades come in a few months down the road.
When teachers return to school on Monday, they’ll be just a few weeks out from administering state year-end exams that determine the school performance grades for 2025-26 and whether ABSS continues to be labeled as a low-performing district for a second consecutive year.
We’ll remember this quote from the superintendent. “We don’t like interrupting student days because we know where we are when it comes to academics and where we are with the data; I still believe we’ll be okay.” [emphasis added]
Says the superintendent of one of the 20 lowest performing school districts in the state, according to last year’s test scores.
“We’ll be okay.”
Let’s hope so.
Not that one day, alone, will make the difference, but we think it’s a reflection of the values and priorities of teachers, administration, and the school board that they gave in to these unreasonable demands.
And as for leadership, ABSS is one of fewer than two dozen school systems (out of 115) that gave in to union threats and demands by canceling school tomorrow. No wonder other school systems will surpass ABSS results.
Addendum: oh, the utterers of the trite assurances above:
- School board member Seneca Rogers.
- School board chairman Sandy Ellington-Graves.
- School board vice chairman Dan Ingle.
- School superintendent Dr. Aaron Fleming.
- Tabitha Boswell, vice-president of the Alamance Burlington Association of Educators.
