newsobserver.com projects - Ray Rapp - Comments

Re: NCAE: We won. Really.

amedinaoh — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:11:16 -0400

They did nothing and that is why I quit my membership. I have 26 first graders when I should have no more than 24. My county will ask for a waiver and they will likely grant one. So...where did they win? I have my step increase frozen and even if the children did well on the testing, no bonus money. I can understand some of this but then why do I have more students, more work, but less compensation and they want to claim a victory?

Re: NCAE: We won. Really.

PoliticalJunkie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:43:39 -0400

Real motive is covering the behind of the Democrats that just voted to layoff thousands of teachers.

But the problem, superintendents say........

domewatcher — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:32:18 -0400

"Local school officials are expecting to receive federal stimulus dollars to help avoid layoffs. But the problem, superintendents say, is that it's a risk to hire teachers based on money they don't yet have in hand."

"But the problem, superintendents say,......" I would think that there is more than this problem. Will these federal stimulus dollars last forever.....or are they like the "temporary tax?" Will stimulus dollars now become a part of local school funding? And if so, won't the feds want to have some say in the local schools?

The schools have many problems....by and large. And the stimulus money, by and large, may solve the problem in the short term, but not, by and large, in the long run.

We won........bring out the fatted calf 'cause it's party time!

Re: NCAE: We won. Really.

cthayes75 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:27:52 -0400

It's good to see the true motives of the NCAE. Winning = jobs, not educating children.

Re: SEANC airs two more ads

troubled — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:27:28 -0400

Good for you SEANC. I would add my vote to making both Representatives Holliman and Gibson "priors"......
Neither has any intention of any kind of serious
reform to the state annexation law.
They don't care about the little old ladies that will lose their homes. They don't care about the children and families that do not have insurance now because times are so bad.
They don't care about the children wanting to go to college and
their parents not being able to afford it.
They don't care that the Chappell's family farm near Rocky Mount will have to be sold because they cannot pay for the main water and sewer lines that this annexation will allow the city to run around their property at a cost to the Chappells of $217,000.00. This the Chappells will be forced to pay, even though they don't need water and sewer.
They don't care that Mr. Chappell is fighting cancer also.
They only care about staying in good standing with The League and being informed by The League. before the session is even over, that they can continue with the annexations in their districts.
They only care about allowing cities like Charlotte to have bragging rights about being among the fastest growing cities in the nation.
Charlotte's own Chamber of Commerce said that Charlotte didn't really grow, they just annexed.

Re: Teacher furloughs punted upstairs

penfisher — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:46:42 -0400

What? The kids get a day off when their teacher gets furloughed? Anybody out there awake? Ever heard of "substitute teachers"? Do you think the kids get the day off and the subs work for free? Whatnell are these people thinking? A family member is a first-year teacher who has taken a $75 hit per paycheck but continues to go to class. I'm 62; when I went to elementary and high school (no middle schools existed then) the school year began Sept. 1 or thereabouts and ended June 1. Now the school year begins about the fourth week of August and will end June 10. Why? Teacher "work days." No teacher work days existed in the 1950s and 1960s and students and teachers managed to survive, got out for a full three months of summer vacation where kids could go on a week vacation, usually week of July 4, and had a great time at the beach or mountains (the teachers, who worked summer jobs, came back to school one week before classes began) and everybody was happy AND we got a first-class education (I can read and write the English language). As George Wallace so aptly put it, now education is being run by the smarter-than-us "pointy-headed intellek-shuls" on college campuses and the guvmint and what a fine mess we're in. Somebody should ask Obama to wave his fairy godmother's wand over this and cure public education's ills.

Re: Teacher furloughs punted upstairs

kevin_smith5 — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:13:40 -0400

Would this be in addition to the House Proposal to shorten the school year by those same amounts? If so it would mean shortening the school year by 20 days over two years. We'd have the shortest school year in the country. Maybe the world....how about we cut their per diem to zero instead?

Re: Bill laments graduation project

stoops — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:59:46 -0400

Kudos to Love, Bryant, and others who acknowledge the serious problems that will come with a large-scale implementation of this silly idea.

The fact that the NCAE likes the idea indicates how out of touch they are with actual teachers. Teachers already feel overburdened by the machinations of DPI, US ED, and LEA bureaucrats, and the graduation project would make matters worse.

Re: Rapp still pushing furlough bill

mountainman — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:54:41 -0400

The people of Rapp's district should go to work immediatly to put this guy out of office. He is a glory hound, who will stop at nothing to push his personal agenda.

Re: Fired, or furloughed?

docemployee — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:12:12 -0400

How many times does the question need to be asked? Why would anyone give the task of deciding which employee should be furloughed or terminated to the very people that made the incompetent decisions that got us into the financial mess we are in. Look at the Depart. of Correctons, Western Youth Institution, Mroganton. Ask why WYI has the only Operations Department in the state that works 8AM to maybe 3:30 or 4:00 PM with lunch lasting a min. of 1 hr. 15 min. : never work on holidays or weekends. Could it have anything to do with the fact that the Assistant Superintendent was Captain of Operations and now runs the entire institution.

Re: Fired, or furloughed?

docemployee — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:11:48 -0400

Re: Fired, or furloughed?

time4change — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:02:47 -0400

This is the time to get rid of those positions in state government that are not needed and have no value to the betterment of our citizens, i.e. teachers and education administrators at state developmental disability centers. We can save millions.

Re: Fired, or furloughed?

c0d3rman — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:15:03 -0400

Laying off unqualified or under-performing workers is not inhumane - actually it is far more humane than letting them continue their time in a job that doesn't create any real value for the state.

Re: Fired, or furloughed?

AquaMan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:10:34 -0400

the truely humane choice is to quit the bureaucratic blunderland.

Re: Furlough bill would set guidelines

olst2005 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:36:12 -0400

I agree with mountainman. I make just over $30,000 and cannot afford to lose 20 days pay any more than the person making under $30,000. It should be all non-essestial employees, not just a select few. They should look at the fine line of who is considered essential and why they are condsidered essential. Some of them may also be able to furlough.

We talk about health insurance in the article too. As a working person I keep putting off medical procedures because of the cost and you want to take my money away and make me pay more. Please give us a break, we are the one's trying to work for what we have, not living off society.