BY DEBBIE PAGE

Leaders from Mooresville Graded School District and Mitchell Community College, town officials, parents, and teachers gathered on Thursday morning to discuss the district’s legislative priorities as well as challenges faced by the school district.

In introductory comments, Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney said that MGSD is a great economic development tool for the town because of its great reputation and excellence in training the workforce. The town has worked with the district to make safety for kids a top priority.

“Telling parents that their child will be safe during the school day is the most important thing for the town,” said Carney.

Town officials are working with Mitchell President Tim Brewer ensure young people and adults have an opportunity to learn trades such as plumbing and HVAC.

Carney said the town has put the brakes on residential growth, noting that Troutman and Statesville are approving many more projects. The town is working on growing jobs rather than residential growth.

“We don’t want to stack ‘em and pack ‘em,” said Carney.

Mooresville has a population of about 58,000 people, with its ETJ raising the population to 85,000, according to Carney. A total of 125,000 to 150,000 people from the town and surrounding areas regularly utilize town services and patronize local businesses.

N.C. Sen. Vickie Sawyer said in the new legislative session, her focus will be on helping victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina and on increasing funding for transportation infrastructure.

The cost to repair Hurricane Helene damage will decimate the state’s rainy day fund, Sawyer said. Some of that money will be reimbursed by the federal government, but the dollars must be spent first.

State Rep. Todd Carver, as a freshman legislator, is still learning the ropes, but he wants everyone to know that his purpose is to serve the people of Mooresville, where he has lived his whole life. He promised to be responsive to his constituents and find answers to their questions, not leaving his office every day until the inbox is empty.

Carver volunteered for the K – 12 education committee in the legislature because of his interest in public schools after serving on the Iredell- Statesville School Board and serving as chair his last year.

“I have never viewed public education as the enemy, and I will work to protect it as best I can,” he said.

Brewer said that Mitchell’s enrollment continues to grow each year by 10 to 13 percent. The student body is represented by about 50 percent high school students and 50 percent adults. While many colleges are experiencing a decline in enrollment, Mitchell has been lucky that the county’s growth helped to avoid that issue.

The college is working with MGSD on a plan to build new facilities for an early college, including two new classroom buildings for expanded trades and workforce development. Mitchell also plans to focus on providing healthcare courses to serve Iredell County’s growing and aging population.

Because the county is responsible for school and community college construction and maintenance costs, Mitchell and MGSD will have to work with county commissioners to get funding, which necessitate a bond requiring voter approval.

LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

After officials concluded their introductory remarks, MGSD Superintendent Jason Gardner shared the district’s top legislative priorities. The first priority was raising salaries so the district can offer competitive compensation to educators.

MGSD has a history of selecting and retaining highly effective teachers and support staff. However, the overall landscape of public school hiring and retention has become challenging over the past few years, which also impacts historically high performing school districts like Mooresville.

In order to meet workforce development demand, the district needs “a corresponding structure that demonstrates a significant investment in employee compensation,” he said.

“The pipeline is broken, and it will take aggressive action to repair and allow MGSD to ensure we can recruit, grow, and retain quality staff members,” Gardner added.

Another issue related to salary is that in some areas of the state, like Mooresville, the cost of living is higher. Added state supplements are based on an economic wellness tiered system, but many teachers in poor areas who are receiving these supplements have much lower cost-of-living than Mooresville.

Another challenge is hiring teachers in some curricular areas, such as science and math, because compensation is much greater in the private sector. The district has added stipends and supplements to help fill these positions, but Gardner said the district has stretched it as far as it can in this area.

The second priority was increased local control and flexibility. Local school boards are accountable to the taxpayers and parents that they serve, creating transparency and responsiveness to local concerns, but boards are hindered by state laws and mandates that limit the district’s local control and hinder its ability to best serve the needs of students, staff, and families, the superintendent said.

In recent years, the N.C. General Assembly has increased school choice options through charter school expansion and by earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars for private school vouchers. In order for public school districts to compete and provide the best environment for students, they are requesting the same flexibilities that the charter schools receive.

Gardner said the system welcomes the competition from charter and private schools because he believes that public schools have the best product. If charter schools and vouchers are to stay, Gardner said the district wants the same flexibility they have so the district can compete on a level playing field.

Gardner conceded that charter schools are appropriate in places where students’ educational interests are not being well-served, but the Mooresville area has many great options for students.

Charter schools were initially meant to be “labs” to test various instructional strategies and curriculum and then spread them to public schools, he noted.

As well as having local control of calendars, Gardner also asked that public school districts have the same level of freedom with their budgets. Most money that schools receive under the current system is restricted to specific uses.

“We need the flexibility to spend money where we need to meet the needs of staff and students,” he said.

The district’s third priority focuses on students’ wellness and safety. Students are facing increasing safety, social, and emotional challenges, requiring public schools to support the whole child.

“The needs of students are evolving and changing, and the impact of the pandemic is still being felt. Teachers are having to do a lot of counseling,” added Gardner.

The N.C. General Assembly has added funds to increase the physical safety of schools, and Gardner asked that the funding continue, but he also requested that the same attention be given to students’ mental health as well.

MGSD partners with community agencies and receives grant money to help fund the services, but the funding is not guaranteed and can delay support for students in crisis. Consistent funding is essential for the physical safety and mental health of students, he said.

The final legislative priority for MGSD is reforming the current accountability model, which gives every school a letter grade A through F and is focused solely on achievement data.

The adoption of the North Carolina Portrait of a Graduate program (https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/operation-polaris/portrait-graduate) shows that the success of students goes well beyond academic data. To give an accurate picture of achievement in public schools, MGSD supports an overhaul of the current accountability model, which does not match up with this public school graduate expectation, Gardner said.

State officials should use feedback from educators who best understand what student and success is when revamping the state’s accountability measures, the superintendent said.

Also, MGSD officials believe the use of public tax money for the expansion of opportunity scholarships should require that any private school or organization that receives these taxpayer funds be required to participate in the state’s accountability model.

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION

Vouchers and Charter/Private Schools

MGSD board member Kerry Pennell commented that since vouchers are not going away, the situation needs to be equalized between charter public and private schools. She also believes that there should be a lower income ceiling on receiving the vouchers.

Board member Monica Bender decried the use of millions of taxpayer dollars going to school vouchers instead of to improving lower performing schools.

Sawyer responded that less than 1 percent of funds spent on public education actually go toward the vouchers and that the funding for vouchers comes from a different pot of money. Sawyer also said that public education is held harmless from declining enrollment if a charter school enters their area, meaning that their funding will not be decreased.

Sawyer pointed to the amazing job a private school in Charlotte was doing with the minority population it serves. These children and parents were grateful for a better educational choice.

Sawyer added that a lot of private schools refused to take vouchers because they do not want the state involvement that goes along with accepting the money.

Town board member Lisa Qualls commented that the southern Iredell area is at its saturation point on charter schools. Since these students are driven to school, they are creating even more traffic on already overcrowded roads, she said.

Sawyer said that the state should be looking at the number of charter schools in an area before adding more.

Mayor Carney has observed that the nonprofit charters, such as Pine Lake Prep, are better at educating students and providing them opportunities than the for-profit charters, where much of the taxpayer money goes to an out-of-state corporation.

Pennell also noted that a nearby school district — Iredell-Statesville Schools — is asking the state to put several schools into the Restart program, which will give the district more flexibility in curriculum and spending than public school districts do not normally have. She found it ironic that failing schools are allowed flexibility but successful schools are not.

Carney said that he will continue to be a strong supporter of traditional public schools. He believes that the state’s school districts need more flexibility because each area and situation is unique.

MGSD Chief Communications Officer Tanae McLean questioned why the state wants the voucher system to be successful, noting that it budgeted $1 million to market the program. She also shared her concern about lack of oversight on charter schools.

Compensation and Recruitment

In terms of making salary dollars stretch farther in the expensive Mooresville area, Carney said the town is working to provide affordable homes for public service employees such as police officers, firefighters, and teachers within neighborhood developments to avoid creating isolated sections of affordable housing.

The town has already partnered with developers to get 60 affordable houses built, and they are expecting an additional 100 on the market soon, with teachers and town employees given first consideration for purchase.

Teacher of the Year Aracelis Perez shared that the district is losing great teachers, even though they are happy in the district, because they can make more money working at a restaurant than they can in the classroom.

Perez also said that she was not being compensated for her master’s degree, which adds value to what she does as a professional in the classroom, but is not recognized with additional pay for her achievement in North Carolina.

Perez also talked about the toll of the social-emotional learning components on teachers, who work hard to help children navigate their feelings.

“We serve students as a whole, not just in the academic area, but we are not counselors. I would love to see more,” she said.

Chief of Human Resources April Kuhn said that in exit interviews, some teachers said they would like to stay but have job offers with sometimes as much as $20,000 more outside of the classroom, as well as more flexibility in their workdays.

The other demands of teaching are also difficult. Children have so many individual needs, and teachers are not trained to meet them. Ten years ago, Kuhn said that the district would get 20 applications for a job. Now she will receive zero to one for some posted vacancies.

If successful school districts like Mooresville are having issues getting teachers, Kuhn imagines that less successful school districts are having even greater challenges.

MGSD Chief of Schools Michael Royal said the district is broadening its net, going to states such as Pennsylvania to recruit teachers. The pipeline for education majors is not there anymore, and Royal believes longevity and master’s pay need to be reinstated to attract more applicants and encourage students to enter university education programs, which have falling enrollment.

Superintendent Gardner also expressed the need to harness the talents of retired teachers and get them back in the classroom to help alleviate shortages and prevent the burnout of excellent teachers, many of whom now teach without planning periods to cover staff shortages.

The state used to allow “double dipping” so that retired educators could return to the classroom without losing their retirement benefits, but the state eliminated this practice after several years.

Hiring retired teachers has advantages because they are already covered under the retirement healthcare plan and add a great deal of experience back into the classroom, he said.

Teacher Becky Snyder said that teachers entering the profession in North Carolina no longer receive health benefits in retirement. The state also stopped paying for National Board Certification costs.

Longevity pay has also been taken away, and single teachers with only one income to live on really struggle financially, she added.

McLean said that low salaries showed disrespect to teachers, who were often told “you didn’t get into this for the money.” However, McLean said that does not mean that teachers should not be respected and valued for their skills.

Mental Health Concerns

Several spoke about the need for more mental health professionals in schools. Carney said that parents are always worried about what’s going on in kids heads. He compared the current mental health funding levels to Little League versus Major League Baseball. He urged greater funding to meet these needs, especially at the middle and high school levels.

Gardner said the addition of social media in students’ lives has made bullying much more public. He cited the need for more mental health professionals, including nurses, psychologists, counselors, and social workers to support students.

“The district is paying for 10 positions with local money to meet students’ significant needs, but it’s hard to get the resources and help. Some are just tossed around without getting the help that they need.”

Chief Student Services Officer Sandy Albert said the district partners with Children’s Hope Alliance to provide mental health services, but CHA is also having staffing issues. She noted that district school counselors average 400 kids on their caseloads.

Social workers have even more demands with the district’s two social workers covering all 6,000 students. The state recommended ratio is 1 to 500 students, not 1 to 3,000.

“We need our own mental health employees so that we can train them and give them the experience and licensure that they need to be on the ground every day helping our students,” said Albert.

MGSD Chief Operations Officer Scott Smith said that the “See Something, Say Something” app and the use of the Gaggle student computer monitoring program has alerted district officials of problems such as self harm, suicidal ideation, and other issues, sometimes even arising in the middle of the night.

“We didn’t know about these issues before having these tools. Now we’re responsible to help. It’s a tragedy that society is now the way it is,” he said.

Carney believes that the addition of Duke Health, which is purchasing Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, will present opportunities to partner to provide more services geared toward students’ wellness and mental health.

The healthcare system is excited to be entering this area, Carney said, adding that Duke is planning to build more facilities and make a real impression on the community.

Educators Shape Society

Parent and volunteer Monica Donaldson said that teachers are important both to children’s development and to the cultivation of society because of their pivotal importance and the time they spend with children.

“We should want to bring the absolute best in the classroom. In my opinion, we disrespect the profession by undercutting their value in how we compensate them. I just can’t make sense of it.”

“For the State of North Carolina and the town we are proud of and love to live in to continue to be great, to not have the education system we need and to see it on the cusp starting to crumble, I just really don’t understand how we are not seeing the big picture of what that could mean.”

“Education is the equalizer. That is the one thing that can pull you up out of circumstances that were no fault of your own. To risk your future fellow citizens, to not have that opportunity for excellent education, it’s just not a good long-term plan,” she added. “In the State of North Carolina, education has just not been funded and shown the importance that it has in other parts of the country.”