Hickory is becoming much more racially and ethnically diverse, and clear disparities exist between different groups on a spectrum of educational, economic and other metrics.
With evidence mounting that schools can operate safely amid COVID-19, the General Assembly will soon consider a bill that would require North Carolina classrooms to be open for in-person instruction.
The legislation, expected to be filed in the next few days, would mandate that every school district offer in-person learning in some capacity, while also giving parents the option of all-virtual instruction. Currently, school districts have a hodgepodge of policies, while many of the state’s largest districts are completely remote.
“Among all the COVID tragedies, the most preventable is the lost learning potential that, for some kids, will last a lifetime,” Sen. Deanna Ballard, R-Watauga, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, says in a statement. “After hearing from so many parents and teachers, we have to act immediately to return children to the classroom to stop further damage.”
A N.C. State Board of Education meeting Wednesday, Jan. 27, became a flashpoint in the national debate over racism and American identity. Some Republicans complained proposed social studies standards were full of negativity, identity politics, and social agendas. Democrats argued that systemic racism exists, saying children should learn multiple perspectives on their country’s history.
The proposal changes three words “systemic racism” to “racism,” “gender identity” to “identity,” and “systemic discrimination” to “discrimination” and introduced a directive to “compare competing narratives of the historical development of the U.S. and North Carolina in terms of how each depicts race, women, tribes, identity, ability, and religious groups.”
Republican appointees to the State Board of Education (SBE) fired a volley of criticism at the state’s new social studies standards Wednesday, charging that the language in the revision is “divisive” and “politically charged.”
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson led the attack, doubling down on complaints he made earlier this month about the new standards, which the state board could approve next week.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson
“I do not like the tone of these standards, what’s written in them,” Robinson said during a special board meeting Wednesday. “I think they’re politically charged. I think they’re divisive, and I think that they, quite frankly, smack of a lot of leftist dogma.”