Wake County Public Schools To Close For Teacher's Rally Next Week

RALEIGH, NC — All schools in the Wake County Public School System will be closed on Wednesday, May 16 for a teacher’s rally in Raleigh that day, the district announced on Monday. Monika Johnson-Hostler, head of the county board of education, wrote a letter to parents on saying thousands of educators from across the state are expected to attend the rally at the General Assembly to call for better working conditions and classroom opportunities for kids.

Roughly 2,500 Wake County teachers have asked to take off to participate in the demonstration, Johnson-Hostler said, and more requests are expected in the coming days.

"Our principals can not longer ensure regular instruction and supervision," she wrote.

As such, May 16 will become an "optional teacher workday," she said. Students will not have to make up the day.

The district is working to figure out accommodations for modified food service and high school exam schedules. That information is expected in the coming days.

"We are extremely aware that disrupting family routines puts a burden on parents," Johnson-Hostler said. "At the same time, the voices of our teachers need to be heard. Year after year our teachers are asked to do more with less."

She asked that parents support the teachers in their decision to rally and shine a light on the needs of both teachers and their students.

Organizers of the rally, dubbed the "March for Students and Rally for Respect," said in a listing for the event on Facebook that demonstrators will march from the headquarters of the North Carolina Association of Educators — the state's largest public school worker organization — to the General Assembly to greet lawmakers on opening day. The event will start around 10 a.m. and finish at 3:30 p.m. with a "Rally for Respect," the event listing said.

"North Carolina is one of the worst in the country in the amount our elected leaders spend per student, more than $3,000 behind the national average," organizers say. "Imagine what $3,000 per student could mean for our children. However, we have the lowest corporate tax rate in the country for states that have one--and it's set to go lower again. North Carolina ranks 35th for teacher pay, about $9,000 behind the national average. When adjusting for inflation, educators are losing money(almost 12 percent)---the third worst rate in the country."

The Wake County school district is the largest in the state with about 160,000 students.

Durham, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will be closed on May 16.

The Charlotte Observer reported that with both Wake and CMS closing, nearly a quarter of the state's public school students will not be in school that day.

The North Carolina rally follows a slew of others that have swept across the U.S. recently. In Arizona, teachers held a historic six-day protest that ended when the state boosted education spending by $100 million, giving Arizona teachers — some of the lowest paid in the country — a 20 percent pay bump over the next two years. Teachers in West Virginia walked out of the classrooms for nine days, prompting the state to give them a 5 percent raise.

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