Who shall teach in years ahead?

Here's a good answer to that

Thanks be to Johnston County Schools, Johnston Community College (JCC), and N.C. State University for joining forces to educate future teachers, starting here at home, and then encourage them to practice their profession right back here where they started.

By now, we all should be aware of the present-day challenge of convincing more young people to become school teachers. But let's see it stated once more:

"We need to continue to strengthen the talent pipeline for North Carolina teachers," says Lisa Chapman, chief academic officer with the N.C. Community College System. The local partnership, just announced, "will engage potential teachers early in their high-school career, will ensure they understand the available teaching opportunities in Johnston County, and understand what those opportunities require in terms of preparation and what they provide in terms of a career," Ms. Chapman explains.

According to the JCC news release about the partnership, Johnston residents will complete their Associate in Science degree in teacher education from JCC. If they complete the program with at least a 3.0 GPA (grade-point average), they will enter the teacher preparation program at N.C. State. As they work toward their bachelor's degree there, they will get their "field-based experiences" here.

It's not hard to imagine how that can benefit Johnston County Public Schools.

This program is the first of its kind within the state's Community College System, Ms. Chapman notes, "and will serve as a pilot to help prepare teachers who serve rural communities in the state."

This is especially welcome news in light of the N.C. General Assembly's recent discounting of the teaching profession.

First the Legislature eliminated the statewide Teaching Fellows Program, started in 1987 but allowed to expire after the Class of 2015 graduated. Yes, the General Assembly restored the program in 2017, but it's now restricted to those who will teach either STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math) or "special education" students. And it offers less tuition aid than the original program provided.

Also during the past decade, the General Assembly has allowed North Carolina's ranking in teacher salaries to fall after we had made good progress to get closer to the national average. Yes, the Legislature has begun raising those salaries again, but at last report (from the National Education Association) our teachers are earning an average of $50,861, almost $10,000 less than the national average of $60,483. That ranks us 37th among all states.

We ought to do better than that.

More about new houses in Smithfield

My report last week about the first new residence under construction in South Smithfield "in more than 20 years" turned out to be inaccurate. A friend reminded me that he and his wife had moved into a newly-constructed residence in that part of town in 2006. I had overlooked it as I thought about the neighborhood I've known most of my life.

At my request, Stephen Wensman, the town's planning direction, provided reports on new-home permits in Smithfield for the past two years. Within the town's corporate limits:
• 37 permits in 2018
• 32 permits in 2017
And only four of those 69 were for houses valued at more than $200,000.

Within the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction (up to two miles beyond Smithfield's corporate limits), the totals were even less:
• 11 permits in 2018
• 8 permits in 2017
Five of those 19 were for houses valued above $200,000.

Those numbers pale in comparison to what's going on to the west of us.

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