Conservatives have formed an alternative to NCAE. Will NC teachers be interested?
Conservative activists have formed a new statewide teachers association that they want to become an alternative to the North Carolina Association of Educators.
The Carolina Teachers Alliance was launched this week with what organizers say is the goal of empowering educators “to provide the highest quality, unbiased and achievement-driven education to all children.”
Amy Marshall, the alliance’s president, says her group is needed because “20% of our teachers are represented by groups who want to use children to forward their radical agendas.” She says her group will represent teachers who are “focused on traditional education.”
“We support America, we support patriotism and we want protection for the teachers who want to focus on academic content,” Marshall said in an interview Tuesday with The News & Observer. “If a teacher is harassed for not teaching something political or (for not teaching) critical race theory, we want to support the teacher.”
NCAE has been an advocate of teaching about social justice issues, such as Black Lives Matter, and has been a supporter of mainly Democratic politicians. NCAE says it’s in a much better position than any other group to represent teachers.
“The North Carolina Association of Educators has been the voice for all educators in North Carolina for more than 50 years,” Tamika Walker Kelly, president of NCAE, said in a statement Tuesday. “We are the largest and most effective education association in the state, and as an affiliate of the National Education Association, we have an unmatched ability to bring resources to bear on behalf of our members, public education, and most importantly, students.
“Others may claim to be the voice of educators in North Carolina, but only we can prove it.”
Allying with Mark Robinson
Carolina Teachers Alliance has aligned itself with Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who recently announced the formation of a a task force to collect complaints from parents, students and teachers about “indoctrination” in the classroom. Robinson charges that the “radical left” wants to indoctrinate students.
“There is a need for an alternative NC teacher association, one whose focus is on forwarding the academic achievement of North Carolina’s children without indoctrination in the classroom. Carolina Teachers Alliance has my full support,” Robinson is quoted as saying in the group’s press release.
But Conrad Pogorzelski, Robinson’s chief of staff, said in an email Tuesday that the quote did not come from Robinson or the lieutenant governor’s office.
Marshall said Wednesday that the endorsement comes from a personal conversation she had with Robinson.
Advocating teaching of patriotism
Marshall was a science teacher in the Wake County school system from 2014 to 2019. She says she resigned because of the way she was treated for refusing to attend a school district training session about white privilege.
Marshall, the parent of three Wake high school students, went on to form the Wake Conservative Parents Alliance.
During this school year, Marshall has submitted multiple written and verbal public comments at Wake school board meetings. Topics have included asking Wake to accelerate the pace of school reopening, questioning why the Pledge of Allegiance isn’t being recited, asking why the U.S. flag isn’t being displayed and questioning expansion of anti-discrimination protection for transgender students.
A frequent topic has been accusing the school district and individual teachers of promoting a politically biased and inappropriate curriculum.
Marshall said she wouldn’t label the new group as being conservative. She said people can look on its website (www.carolinateachers.org/) to see what it stands for.
“Our Teachers need to have the freedom to teach patriotism and love of country, and should not be forced to deliver biased political indoctrination,” the group says in its “about us” section.
Some educators say that the new group wants to whitewash what students learn. How schools should teach about history was a major part of the debate about the adoption of new North Carolina social studies standards.
“You can’t intellectually claim that you’re for ‘unbiased education’ and want teachers to teach patriotism to their students,” Jared Speight, a middle school teacher in Asheville City Schools, tweeted Tuesday. “Those two things are mutually exclusive.”
Aiming to become ‘voice’ for NC educators
The membership goal of the Carolina Teachers Alliance is to represent the majority of the state’s 94,000 teachers, according to Marshall.
NCAE refuses to publicly say how many members are in the group. NCAE also refuses to respond to an annual state report required by the Republican-led General Assembly on the membership counts of employee associations.
The latest state report shows 6,083 educators have payroll deductions for NCAE dues. However, many NCAE members may not use the payroll deduction option. Additionally, NCAE membership is open to all public school employees and to retired ones as well.
NCAE’s membership has been declining, according to Mike Antonucci, a conservative watcher of the NEA. Citing data from the latest NEA financial statements, Antonucci says NCAE was down to 28,725 members in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
Marshall says her new group will offer the same benefits as NCAE, such as professional development and liability coverage, but at a lower cost. The new group is also open to parents and community members.
Marshall declined to say how many members it now has in the group. She said kickoff events will be held across the state April 17.
“We want an unbiased, academically sound education for all children,” Marshall said. “We want to be the voice for all North Carolina educators.”
