Stuart Egan, a high school teacher and public school parent in North Carolina, wrote the following letter in response to the legislature’s mass layoff of thousands of teaching assistants in the state’s elementary schools:
When public education has to defend itself against the state’s General Assembly in order to function effectively, those in government should reassess their priorities as elected officials.
Take for instance the political cartoon published in the Winston-Salem Journal on July 9, 2015 which parodies the iconic advertisement for the movie Jaws. It brilliantly depicts the NC Legislature as the man-eating great white shark lurking in the waters ready to devour public education. John Cole, the artist from ncpolicywatch.com makes reference to the battle over charter schools, vouchers, veteran teacher pay, retirement benefit cuts, and the latest development in the assault on public schools: the elimination of teacher assistant jobs.
Arika Herron’s front page news story in the same edition of the WSJ states, “By some estimates, the Senate cuts could mean as many as 8,500 fewer teacher assistants in elementary classrooms” in the state of North Carolina. When study after study published by leading education scholars (Ravitch, Kozol, etc.) preach that reaching students early in their academic lives is most crucial for success in high school and life, our General Assembly is actually promoting the largest layoff in state history.
As a voter, I am disappointed that the last three years with this GOP-led NCGA has fostered a calculated attack against public schools with more power and money given to entities to privatize education. By eliminating teacher assistants, the NCGA would simply weaken the effectiveness of elementary schools further and help substantiate the need to divert my tax money to segregate educational opportunities even more.
As a teacher, I am disheartened that my fellow educators are being devalued. Yes, teacher assistants are professional educators complete with training and a passion to teach students. With the onslaught of state testing, curriculum changes, and political focus on student achievement, these people fight on the front lines and advocate for your children and your neighbors’ children.
But as a parent, I am most incensed by this move to eliminate teacher assistants because my own child has tremendously benefited from the work of teacher assistants. Even as I write these words, my seven-year-old red-headed, blue-eyed son, who happens to have Down Syndrome, walks through the house articulating his thoughts, communicating his needs, and sharing his love to explore. And I give much of that credit to those who teach him in school: his teachers and their assistants.
When my wife and I explored educational pathways for our son two years ago, we talked to both public and private schools about how they could serve our child. Interestingly enough, we were informed that really the only option we had was public schooling; most private schools will not take a child with Down Syndrome. Simply put, they were “not prepared” to teach him. But his current public school not only welcomed him, they nurtured him and valued him. And it is because of the people – the teachers and the teacher assistants.
The rationale for eliminating teacher assistant positions actually reveals the disconnect that our elected officials have with public education. Last month in the Greensboro News and Record, Sen. Tom Apodaca said, ““We always believe that having a classroom teacher in a classroom is the most important thing we can do. Reducing class sizes, we feel, will give us better results for the students.” The irony in this statement is not only obvious; it is glaring.
That’s what teaching assistants already do. They mitigate class size by increasing the opportunities for student interaction. More prepared people in a classroom gives more students like my son the opportunity to learn. Sen. Apodaca suggests that having two classrooms of 25 students with a teacher and an assistant is weaker than having two classes of 22 students with just a classroom teacher. That’s not logical.
Oddly enough, Sen. Apodaca and his constituents should already know the value of assistants. He himself has three on staff according to the current telephone directory of the General Assembly. Sen. Phil Berger has fifteen staff members, three with “Assistant” in their title and five with “Advisor”. Maybe dismissing some of these “assistants” would offer some perspective.
Public schools are strongest when the focus is on human investment. People committed to teaching, especially experienced professionals, are the glue that holds education together. Eliminating jobs so that some political agenda can be fulfilled really is like forcing a bleeding public school system to swim in shark infested waters.
And we already have had too many shark attacks in North Carolina.
Stuart Egan, NBCT
West Forsyth High School
And Parent
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“But his current public school not only welcomed him, they nurtured him and valued him. And it is because of the people – the teachers and the teacher assistants.”
This.
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What you said.
😎
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That caught my eye also.
Most folks have no clue what goes on in public schools in regards to special needs students. They also don’t realize the resources-money, time, space and human that it takes to help ALL CHILDREN learn to their own capabilities. Most have no clue how to figure out what those individuals’ capabilities are.
I applaud all the sped teachers, but more so all the aides that work with the individual students as without the aides the teachers couldn’t do their jobs. The aides are the angels of public education!
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Good morning, Diane,
I enjoy your blogs. Many of them refer to the American scene, but we often joke that when the USA sneezes, we catch the cold.
i am a school trustee in British Columbia, Canada and I can tell you that BC caused lay offs of these assitants fiver years ago in many school districts. Our provincial government has been cutting back on public educaiton for years, at the same time adding funding to private schools. Last year my district had to cut $2 million, same this year and projected for the same next year.
Public education in today’s market driven economy is just not on. the money taken from public education is gong to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporate sector.
It is to weep.
Cliff Boldt, School Trustee Comox Valley School District #71.
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Interesting. I always viewed Canada as more progressive and less prone to the silliness of the U.S. government. While we have Canadians that walk amongst us down here, I never hear enough of what is really going on up North other than that former mayor of Toronto.
Keep posting!
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Thank you Stuart Egan for putting it out there so well. Here in North Carolina we are hemorrhaging teachers and this will further send them out the door. Our students need our TAs. I have seen in the last few years what the effect has been with truncated coverage because of cuts in our TA population. They really help glue our cracks and keep us from falling apart.
My mother use to say, “Cut your nose to spite your face” and our legislators are doing just that. We are in some serious trouble here.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
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OK, i’ll trial a counterpoint here. Two out of my three kids had IEP’s. I’ll grant you that a co-teacher (SpEd aide in a large class) was somewhat helpful. But only somewhat, & often minimally helpful.
Both my IEP guys charged ahead once they were in ‘self-contained’ classes — which in our well-endowed district meant classes of 6 – 8 kids max. The teachers for those classes were not necessarily brainiacs– they were simply gifted with the ability to nudge the kid to keep on truckin’ at what he was good at. One of them was singled out as a possible failure at HSPA-math (the NJ math test for h.s. Grad), & was req’d to do back-to-back math classes sr yr (he passed).
Both my IEP kids made it thro’ h.s.& college. This was not due to the ‘co-teaching’ model of SpEd aide plus teacher, but rather to the tiny-class ‘self-contained’ class model.
So what I’m saying is co-teaching in a large classw/a SpEd aide doesn’t hold a candle to self-contained [small!] classes. For what it’s worth.
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@Bethree5, self contained classes most often have teacher assistants due the physical and/or educational needs of the children. I work in a public school, and I’ve never seen a self contained class without an assistant in it. Did you mean “resource” class?
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