Former NC Teacher of the Year James Ford weighs in on education in Charlotte. Should we be concerned?
Former NC Teacher of the Year and founder of the Be More Foundation, James Ford, joins the CharlotteFive Podcast to discuss the current state of education in both Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and North Carolina.
These questions and answers have been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
We’re 41st in the country in teacher’s pay. As a state, North Carolina determines teacher’s salary. How do you attract all these superstars when it doesn’t look like the greatest field to be in?
The simple answer is, it’s going to be expensive…The market demands it…You’re going to have to pay top dollar for top talent, frankly. With the understanding that it’s an investment, and you’re going to get a return on that. Not only does it help develop the students, it even influences worker productivity. Part of great teachers is diverse teachers. You don’t have to trade off excellence for equity.
Five years from now, are we in a better education spot in the city, on our current trajectory?
To be honest, I don’t think the school reassignment plan put us in a position to be better, educationally. In a lot of ways, it didn’t break up concentrations of poverty by in large. Those schools are still going to have to (be) weighed down with the baggage. Unless you do something to disrupt that, it’s going to be hard. In five years, I feel like we’re going to have a lot of conversations to say ok look, this didn’t work. We have no choice if we really are about what we say we’re about, than to really be like radical in the way we’re approaching education. Hopefully we can begin.
At what point does this city get past just an honest conversation? When do you feel like action can take place?
I don’t know, man. I don’t have much of an appetite anymore. I’m really frustrated — not with Charlotte, I think it’s a reflection of America at large. On the one hand there’s this wave of anti-political correctness. But the moment somebody raises something controversial like race, then you start pulling out this lexicon of words that are used to shut conversations down…Are we going to be honest or not?
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This story was originally published April 18, 2018 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Former NC Teacher of the Year James Ford weighs in on education in Charlotte. Should we be concerned?."