13 ARRESTED AS POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN RETURNS TO NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Thirteen protesters were arrested Monday afternoon outside the offices of top legislative leaders. The North Carolina Poor People's Campaign, part of a national movement and in some ways a continuation of the "Moral Monday" movement in North Carolina, held a chanting, singing sit-in outside the the office suites of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore. This was week two of a planned six-week campaign in the state. Last week, protesters closed Jones Street outside the statehouse, and nearly 50 were cited. Today most, if not all, of those arrested wore yellow armbands, signaling their willingness to be arrested. Others dispersed as police ordered, then stood aside and cheered those led out in plastic zip-ties, again much like the Moral Monday protests.
https://www.wral.com/chanting-protesters-arrested-at-general-assembly/17570113/

LEGISLATORS CAN DECLARE COOPER'S BUDGET 'DOA', BUT IT RESPECTS NC'S NEEDS: North Carolina’s legislative leaders pronounced Gov. Roy Cooper’s budget D-O-A. It would have been a bit more appropriate, even polite, if the diagnosis came AFTER he’d proposed it. Before the budget is relegated to the recycling bin, state Senate leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore and their lieutenants should enlighten themselves and give the budget a look. They might even consider joining Cooper to show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the many North Carolinians and issues they’ve neglected for the last seven years while lavishing the state’s corporations with excessive tax breaks. Legislators would go a long way toward appropriately honoring North Carolina’s education, health, public safety, rural communities, growing businesses and working families, by adopting the priorities that Cooper laid out last week.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-legislators-can-declare-cooper-s-budget-doa-but-it-respects-n-c-needs...

HEADMISTRESS AT RALEIGH PRIVATE SCHOOL IGNORED YEARS OF SEXUAL ABUSE: Nicholas Smith, a former math teacher at a private school in Raleigh, is accused of grooming a ninth-grade student into a sexual relationship — first texting her, then kissing her and finally having sex with her at school, her parents' homes and during a field trip. When school leaders heard complaints about Smith's behavior and told him to avoid inappropriate interactions with female students, he is accused of turning his attention to the girl's younger sister. A complaint filed in Wake County Superior Court in January paints a haunting picture of sexual abuse allegations at The Montessori School of Raleigh, which serves students from pre-school through 12th grade. It also accuses the school and its headmistress of turning a blind eye to the accusations of abuse, which spanned from August 2012 to June 2016.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article211270739.html

NC SUPERINTENDENT LITERALLY DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM TEACHER RALLY: As thousands of teachers gather in Raleigh on Wednesday to push state lawmakers for more education funding, North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson will be more than 100 miles away, meeting with school officials near the coast. Johnson said last week he "absolutely" supports teachers but won't attend the rally because it's on a school day and will affect students, parents and other school workers who are forced to deal with schools closing that day. At the time, nearly a dozen school districts had announced they were closing due to the teacher rally, and Johnson said he hoped no others would follow. Since then, the number of school systems closing has ballooned to 42. As many as 15,000 teachers from across North Carolina are expected to march, rally and meet with lawmakers Wednesday to ask for more education funding, including higher teacher salaries.
https://www.wral.com/as-thousands-of-teachers-rally-in-raleigh-nc-superintendent-will-be-100-miles-a...

MAJORITY OF NC'S TEACHERS EARN LESS THAN REPORTED "AVERAGE" SALARY: More than half of Wake County's teachers make the state's average teacher salary, $51,214, or more, according to November 2017 salary data the district provided to WRAL News. Less than half of Durham Public Schools' teachers make the state's average teacher salary, $51,214, or more, according to data the district provided. About a third of Cumberland County teachers make the state's average teacher salary, $51,214, or more, according to data the district provided. Clay County, in the far western part of the state, is one of four North Carolina school districts where teachers get no supplemental pay. A majority of their teachers do not make the state's average teacher salary, $51,214, or more, according to data the district provided. Like Clay County, the majority of Graham County's teachers make less than the state's average teacher salary, $51,214, according to data the district provided.
https://www.wral.com/nc-s-average-teacher-makes-51-214-how-many-teachers-make-that-/17542690/