Bring High Quality Instructional Materials to every teacher and student in NC.

Connecting students to real world application outside of the classroom like the the Wake county STEM Challenge

Diversity within the school system. The types of classes and the partnerships like the CCP program that enables high school students to enroll in college classes for free while they are still enrolled in HS

Tools for schools to help teachers with supplying their students with classroom resources

Access to primary and secondary education for all students regardless of background

If there are future programs that the state is looking to begin, please ensure there will be consistent funding for years to come to ensure the continuation of programming, instead of maintaining something for a short period and then cutting it. It creates confusion and frustration for those of us in schools trying to communicate up-to-date information to students and families.

solution: increase pay

Teachers are held accountable for the progress of the learning progress of their students. Administration (both in schools and in central positions) are seemingly not held to the same standard of outcomes. Effective administration allows teachers and staff to support students. We have to identify and take seriously struggles finding substitute teachers, mistakes in payroll, major mistakes in budgeting, and teachers struggling to get invoices paid.

Another challenge is communicating with school boards and school leaders. A lot of issues fall through the cracks due to unanswered calls and/or emails. Several school and district leaders are always unavailable to speak with concerned parents, educators, and community leaders.

Potential solutions would be to hold administrators to a higher standard within their district and also an easier way to contact leaders/administrators.

So many challenges…..

Funding:

Stop cutting public school funding

Release the LEANDRO funds.

Stop private school vouchers.

Cap the charter school expansion, especially for-profit charters.

Pay teachers at least the national average.

Restore masters pay

Restore longevity pay

We need more Instructional Assistants

We need to expand mental health teams in each school. We see so much anxiety in our students.

We need more remediation teachers to help our students that are struggling in reading & math.

More trained specialists to address students with disabilities.

Bring back the Teaching Fellows Program like it was before they gutted it.

Our pipeline to teaching is drying up. We’ve got to be able to recruit & retain teachers.

Solutions: Most of the above are state issues. Most solutions to the above require funding. We need legislators that are public education friendly. NC to needs vote better.

https://www.dpi.nc.gov/educators/home-base/goopennc#FAQs-4237

Education was a second career for me. I came into education after 15 years in the corporate world. i went through a lot of corporate management training. I have found a lot of admins lack training on how to manage people. They lack leadership skills.

I would like to see better managerial & leadership training for administrators.

If these tests are done away with I am willing to add on more licensure area if they are done with.

More magnet schools that focus on the arts.

I would like to see a way that better acknowledges their experience. Allowing a certain number of years of teaching to bypass the need for a portfolio/student teaching experience so that teachers can be awarded a CPL or IPL until they pass additional requirements.

These are three different functions with three different skillsets. Split them among specialists in those skillsets.

-Tammy Sneed Early Childhood Education Advocate

No high stakes standardized testing for students.

Get rid of EVASS-terrible way to evaluate students, teachers & schools.

• With learning differences such as ADHD or dyslexia, students often don’t get the support they need. As I have several friends diagnosed with these learning differences, I often observe that they don’t get the support or acknowledgment they need. They receive minimal extra help and are expected to live with it, not grow with it. I often have to help one of my friends who has dyslexia in science when we are supposed to read a passage because she learns better when read aloud too. And her mother is a teacher and has helped her adjust and accommodate to this learning differences such. I can’t imagine how hard it is for someone who doesn’t have access to these resources. I would like to see more easily accessible resources for these widespread learning differences.

• One other thing I want to point out is the use of devices in school. Blocking game websites or using platforms like Go Guardian is not a solution. Students will always find a way around it and administrative services are wasting resources trying to prevent this. Students in my class are constantly getting distracted by games and websites. In top of this, people are often using smartwatches to text their friends during class. We need to restrict the use of devices.

I agree with the gentleman on the year round schedule. I currently teach on a single track year round schedule. It is wonderful! Less learning loss, less re-teaching of material. Better behavior. More opportunities to remediate during the break if needed.

BeYOUU is here to support schools in those resources. We currently host our L.I.F.E. Mentoring sessions here at Northern and plan to expand across the school system for In school and after school programs

I also love what the young lady said about implementing trauma informed care to teachers and staff but I too agree that it is needed and we also are working on providing those resources as well.

I recommend that DPI adopt standards of social workers services in the school that actually has some teeth to it, I.E. one social worker per x number of students.

I recommend that DPI establish a memorandum of understanding with the court system to reinstate charges for parents of extreme ly truant students, especially elementary and middle school students.

Thank you for coming and listening.

Zenobia HatcherWilson

Retired School Social Worker

It was truly a pleasure to meet you last night. I texted Bill McNeal to share that I had the honor of meeting you as well and he was happy to hear that your listening tours are going well. In addition to supporting NC with implementing HQIM, I am particularly interested in both assessment practices/accountability and innovative scheduling, as I listed on the Padlet.

Last night, I created a 4-Day School Week Example that I feel would be highly advantageous for NC to pilot in the 2026-27 school year.

I would love to speak with you and/or members of your staff to determine ways in which I can continue to support HQIM, assessment practices/accountability, and innovative school scheduling. As a former Comprehensive Support Specialist at DPI and administrator in Durham Public Schools, I am highly invested in the future of education in North Carolina.

I look forward to hearing from you and your team!

ANNETTE SHAKINOVSKY, MSA

Senior Learning & Development Designer

greatminds.org

The DPI and the entire executive branch of government in NC needs to think creatively and pursue any means at its disposal to (a) curtail these efforts and (b) illuminate what these people are doing, why they are doing it, and why it's bad for North Carolina.

There is not robust evidence to support suspension as an effective solution in either the short or long term, even for the students who are left in a classroom when other students are suspended. In fact there is ample data showing connections between suspensions and multiple negative outcomes, including poor health outcomes, dropping out of school, contact with law enforcement, and imprisonment. The American Academy of Pediatrics in 2024 released a report outlining the ill effects of suspension and calling for action by policy-makers.

It is too easy for educators and administrators to just suspend a student. Sometimes you have to take a tool away or severely restrict its use before people realize that there are other ways--ways that maybe weren't as hard as they thought, and that are better for the student, the school, and the community.