Lisa Espy has been working in public schools for over 22 years, and is currently the Vice President of the New Hanover County Association of Educators. She said Friday’s rally was validating and inspiring, adding that while the school board and the superintendent have advocated for additional funding from the state, that's fallen on deaf ears.
“They see the problem, they know what's going on, and they know the help we need. But them politely going and having meetings, what has it done? Me showing up and obediently teaching my students, what has it done?” Espy said. “And I'm not saying just because we did this, we're automatically going to get what we want, but we need to show people how serious we are about this, because being quiet is seen as complacency and compliance.”
Educators are advocating for Raleigh to pass a state budget that includes pay increases for employees such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, class-size reductions, changes to the staff allotment formulas, and a halt to funding the private school voucher program.
As a school counselor, Espy said she wishes the state would, for example, adopt the student-to-counselor ratio recommended by the American School Counseling Association: one counselor per 350 students. At her school, Murrayville Elementary, there are around 550 students per counselor.
Espy adds that this doesn’t have to be a partisan issue — and that she looks forward to meeting with state legislators over the next couple of months, hoping they don’t decline a meeting with them.
She cited the appearance at the rally of a high-profile Republican, Sam Page, who defeated longtime Senate leader Phil Berger in the March primary.
“The fact that he was there, willing to speak to anyone who approached him, and he outright said, ‘Look, I get what my party is, and I stand by my party. However, public schools are important, and we need to fund them.’ That was wonderful,” Espy said.
Page’s strategy contrasts with that of current Republican legislative leaders, Dustin Hall and Berger, who were dismissive of Friday’s rally; however, both have signaled the need to pay teachers more.
While New Hanover County School Board Republican members Pat Bradford and Josie Barnhart said teachers and school districts across the state need more funding from the state legislature, they, too, saw this as a politically liberal movement that didn’t put the needs of students and their families first.
Espy responded, “For 185 to 190 days, we have been getting up, coming to school, and faithfully doing everything we can to support our students. There's not a single teacher I know who hasn't spent money out of their own pocket to ensure that students have what they need when the school system or their parents can't provide it. So no one has the right to say we don't care, and with us showing up every single day.”
Bradford wrote to WHQR that she “enjoyed herself” volunteering at Ashley High School on Friday, May 1, while some staff were out for the rally.
She also sent a letter to media outlets on April 30, writing, “Claims that board members who voted against changing the school calendar for the planned May 1 teacher walkout do not support our students or teachers are false and unfair. I support our teachers, our staff, our students, and our families. I also believe the Board of Education has a responsibility to protect instructional time, respect the school calendar families have planned around, and advocate for funding solutions through the channels that can actually produce results.”
WHQR also reached out to the district about operations on Friday, May 1, to confirm the number of teachers who called out, and has yet to hear back.
Espy also wanted to make the point that NCAE and NHCAE told educators to either take a personal day or a day without pay, which require advance notice, not sick leave, which doesn't require giving the schools a heads up (but for which staff can be asked to provide a medical note). Espy said that would give schools a better chance to plan ahead for absences; she also said she did not condone faking sick leave.
“We've learned that when we do this, it takes a lot of planning. So to be fair, if we wanted to, we could easily just wait until the day of to call out and go. We didn't do that because we put in the thought of how much we care about our school system, our staff members who couldn't go, and the students who go to our schools,” she said.
One of the teaching assistants who boarded the bus with NHCAE last Friday showed WHQR their W-2: their wages are $33,877, before Social Security and Medicare taxes.
Espy said that this TA, who doesn’t want to be named, “Does not make the mandatory minimum to qualify for a house for Habitat for Humanity. So as a state employee, there's no path to home ownership for them, and they didn't want to take a second job, because when they get off work, they watch their grandkids.”
She shared her own predicament that, when she retires from the school system, likely in 2033, “I've got to keep working. My retirement check will not be enough, given the rate of inflation that we see.”
