Welcome
If you are surprised to hear that school districts have jobs available for the 2011-2012 school year, you need a vacation from the mainstream media. With the exception of the Charlotte Observer, North Carolina’s traditional media outlets have ignored the solid demand for public school personnel. It does not jibe with the job loss narrative they have spent considerable time and resources to create.
So, how many jobs are available? Read this week’s CommenTerry to find out.
Bulletin Board
- Learn what politicians, left-wing economic professors and the liberal media don’t want you to know about economics, all without the confusion and clutter of complicated mathematical equations. Attend the Civitas Institute’s Free Market Academy on Saturday, August 20 from 9 am to 3 pm at the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, NC. (Please note: There will be an hour break for lunch.) Cost is $5.00. Register online at http://www.nccivitas.org/events/ or call 919-834-2099.
- The John Locke Foundation is sponsoring a Citizen’s Constitutional Workshop on Saturday, September 10 from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm at Grace Christian School in Sanford, NC. Historian Dr. Troy Kickler and political science expert Dr. Michael Sanera will discuss "What the Founders and the State Ratification Conventions Can Teach Us Today." The cost is $8.00 per participant, lunch included. Pre-registration is strongly suggested. For more information or to sign up for the event, visit the Events section of the John Locke Foundation website.
- The North Carolina History Project would like educators to submit lesson plans suitable for middle and high school courses in North Carolina history. Please provide links to NC History Project encyclopedia articles and other primary and secondary source material, if possible. Go to the NC History Project website for further information.
- Visit the "Taj Mahal of Research," also known as JLF’s research newsletter archive.
CommenTerry
The bottom line: As of Monday evening, North Carolina’s traditional public schools had at least 600 teaching positions available.
School districts throughout North Carolina require teachers to report to their school this week to prepare for the arrival of students next week. Although the beginning of the traditional calendar school year is right around the corner, hundreds of teaching and administrative positions remain available.
On Monday evening, the North Carolina Public Schools Application System (NCPSAS) listed 728 traditional public school jobs available. (Note: Charter schools jobs are not posted on the site.) Approximately 275 of these were classroom teacher positions. The following is a more specific breakdown of the vacancies:
- 457 Licensed positions (includes teachers, principals, counselors, media supervisors, social workers, and speech language pathologists)
- 245 Classified positions (includes instructional assistants, office support, custodians, food service personnel, and maintenance staff)
- 13 Substitute positions
- 13 Bus drivers
NCPSAS is not a real-time computer system. Job postings on the website are maintained by local school districts, so districts have already filled some of the vacancies listed on the site. Moreover, districts may choose to post only a portion of their available positions. This may account for why there are few substitute and bus driver vacancies listed. School district officials know that it is unnecessary to launch a statewide search to find qualified individuals to fill these positions.
A number of school districts link directly to the NCPSAS from their website. For example, Lee County Schools requires applicants to follow a link from their website to the state listing. If you were wondering, Lee County has 26 open positions. Tell ’em that Terry sent you.
The state application system does not include every public school district in the state. The two largest systems in North Carolina, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), maintain their own job listing and application systems. On Monday evening, Wake County listed 136 open teaching and instructional positions, while the Charlotte-Mecklenburg had approximately 225 teaching vacancies listed on their job board website. I did not include 14 "Facilitator" and 4 "Dean of Students" positions listed in the CMS instructional category because I do not know how much teaching they actually do. Actually, I am not sure what they do, period.
One more thing: The NC Department of Public Instruction currently has 21 jobs available, 15 of which have a maximum salary of more than $80,000 a year. Five of the positions have the potential to exceed $90,000 a year. Eat your heart out, lowly teachers!
Random Thought
Welcome back, NFL football. You complete me.
Facts and Stats
NC General Statute 115C‑307. Duties of teachers.
(a) To Maintain Order and Discipline.
(b) To Provide for General Well‑Being of Students.
(c) To Provide Some Medical Care to Students.
(d) To Teach the Students.
(e) To Enter into the Superintendent’s Plans for Professional Growth.
(f) To Discourage Nonattendance.
(g) To Make Required Reports.
(h) To Take Care of School Buildings.
Mailbag
I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].
Education Acronym of the Week
EDDIE — Educational Director and Demographical Information Exchange
Quote of the Week
"There are employment opportunities in NC public schools from the coast to the mountains!" — Work 4 NC Schools website
Click here for the Education Update archive
