Welcome
Public schools throughout North Carolina are preparing for the 2012-13 school year. Although the start of the traditional calendar school year is right around the corner, hundreds of teaching and administrative positions remain vacant.
Bulletin Board
- President Thomas Jefferson and President John Adams will address the public in the majestic auditorium of the North Carolina Museum of History on Monday, September 17, 2012 at 7:00 pm. Two of the nation’s finest historical interpreters, both associated with Colonial Williamsburg, will bring the presidents to life. Bill Barker is the nation’s premier Jefferson interpreter and has performed at the White House and the Palace of Versailles. Steven Holloway is a veteran actor who interprets Adams with power and verve. A reception will follow the debate.
- The Civitas institute and the Friedman Foundation invite you to a luncheon to report results of a statewide education poll and policy implications for North Carolina. Come join Paul Di Perna, Research director for the Freedom Foundation, education policy experts and state lawmakers as they share views on how to improve educational opportunity in North Carolina. The event will begin at 11:30 am on Tuesday, September 18 at the Raleigh Crabtree Marriott Hotel in Raleigh NC. Cost is $10.00.
- Join Byron York, Brad Crone, Marc Rotterman, and John Hood on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at noon for an inside look into the 2012 Election. The event will be held at the DoubleTree Brownstone Hotel in Raleigh. Cost is $30 per person.
- The North Carolina History Project would like educators and homeschool parents to submit lesson plans suitable for middle and high school courses in North Carolina history. Please provide links to N.C. History Project encyclopedia articles and other primary and secondary source material, if possible. Go to the N.C. History Project website for further information.
- JLF’s research newsletter archive believes in the Pittsburgh Pirates.
CommenTerry
As of Monday morning, the North Carolina Public Schools Application System (NCPSAS) listed over 1,000 traditional public school job openings, at least 600 of which were teaching positions. Charter school jobs are not posted on the site.
The following is a more specific breakdown of the vacancies:
- 680 Licensed positions (includes teachers, principals, counselors, media supervisors, social workers, and speech language pathologists)
- 351 Classified positions (includes instructional assistants, office support, custodians, food service personnel, and maintenance staff)
- One substitute and 16 bus driver positions
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.
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, WCPSS listed 167 open teacher and teacher assistant positions, while the CMS had 219 instructional vacancies listed on their job board website.
If you are looking for higher pay and prestige, the NC Department of Public Instruction currently has 13 jobs available, eight of which have a minimum salary of more than $50,000 a year.
Schools are hiring more teachers this year than they did in 2011. Last year at this time, the state listed 728 traditional public school vacancies. Approximately 275 of these were classroom teacher positions. There are a number of possible explanations for the increase — additional revenue, a more productive allocation of resources, higher turnover, school reform efforts, etc. But that is a discussion for another time.
Random Thought
You know that a movie is bad when IMDB lists "memorable quotes" like these:
- Beat it, Brucey! Go home and play with your wooden dolly!
- Hey, ain’t no shelves built to stop THIS dancin’ machine.
- Yeah, right!
- I’m the best!
The above quotes are from No Retreat, No Surrender (1986), starring Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It may be the worst movie ever made.
Facts and Stats
Lumberton Senior High School is looking for a varsity softball coach and a varsity basketball coach. Both listings say, "teaching responsibilities to be determined." In other words, coaching ability is a must but teaching skills are an afterthought. Splendid.
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
NCPSAS — North Carolina Public Schools Application System
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.
