In the past few weeks, school districts across the state have struggled to implement provisions included in Senate Bill 49, also known as North Carolina’s version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
In recent years, mental health and wellbeing has become increasingly relevant in discussions around education, both in K-12 and university settings. According to a recent study, roughly 70% of students in bachelor’s degree programs contemplate dropping out of college due to emotional stress.
Students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been busy over the last several weeks demanding that legislators in Raleigh take action to stop easy access to guns and find a way to deal with gun violence across the state.
In recent years, extremist groups have set up shop in hundreds of school districts in the U.S. – pushing the wave of book bans, erasure of school curriculum, and measures targeting Black and LGBTQ+ students.
For the longest while in North Carolina, K-12 public schools have been on the struggle bus.
Last month, Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system became one of the first districts in the state to implement measures from North Carolina’s very own version of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Classrooms across the state, particularly in Wake County schools, are feeling the impact of inadequate investments. For years, state Republicans have failed to pass state budgets that include meaningful investments towards the public school infrastructure – leading to numerous school districts facing out of date facilities.
The decision to ban the book “Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, And You” was made after a five-hour public hearing where the district superintendent and assistant superintendent argued against the ban.
At a roundtable discussion last week, local education leaders and Governor Roy Cooper called for state lawmakers to include meaningful investments towards public schools in the budget.
The Alamance-Burlington School System had to delay the start of the school year two times due to toxic mold present in at least 25 of its 37 schools.