10:16
Brief
There’s a lot of education news this week, so here’s a roundup of happenings for your Tuesday morning.
Guilford County suspends tablet program
A significant number of defective tablet computers has forced Guilford County Schools to suspend their highly anticipated technology initiative that would put tablets in the hands of thousands of middle school students.
GCS spent more than $3 million in federal Race to the Top funds on the one-to-one technology initiative. Amplify supplied the 15,000 tablets, of which thousands developed broken screens, came with unsafe chargers causing tablets to melt, and students reported problems with cases.
Read the News & Record’s story here.
K12, Inc. outsources student essay grading to India
The Idaho Virtual Academy, operated by K12, Inc., outsourced thousands of student essays for grading by reviewers in India, reports Idaho Education News.
This isn’t the first time K12, Inc. has been outed for outsourcing instructional work to laborers outside of the U.S.
K12 said this was just a pilot program to offer teachers more support. Another K12 teacher in Pennsylvania discussed how she was overwhelmed trying to grade the papers of the 300 students she was assigned for just one term.
State Board of Education member calls for increasing teacher pay to the national average
Veteran school board member John Tate called for a resolution at last week’s school board meeting to raise teacher pay to the national average.
Board chair Bill Cobey called his move out of order and tabled it for discussion at next month’s meeting.
North Carolina was in the middle of the pack for teacher pay as recently as 2008, according to the National Education Association. Today the state ranks 46th in the nation.
Are Charter Schools a Threat to Traditional Public Schools?
This WFDD story considers the conflict between state support of charter schools and the needs of the public school system in advance a WFDD-hosted community forum on school choice, charters and vouchers.
The forum is tonight at 7 p.m. at the Kulynych Auditorium in the Wake Forest University Welcome Center.
Election Day school bond
It’s Election Day, and the contentious $810 million Wake School bond is on the ballot for voters to decide on today. The bond would provide funds to build new schools, renovate others and provide for improved technology as the district looks forward to increased population growth.
Opponents of the bond question the accuracy of the county’s enrollment projections and worry that residents will be burdened by both the 10-percent property tax increase and the additional debt they’ll incur if the measure passes.
The News & Observer has loads of coverage on the bond issue here.
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