McCrory's 3Rs: Results, rewards, respect

Gov. Pat McCrory said Thursday he'll soon unveil a strategic plan for education that focuses on three Rs:  Results for students,  rewards for the best teachers and respect for  "families, educators and local communities."  And of course he brought up a fourth big R earlier in the week: Raises.

McCrory at Charlotte school choice rally

The governor didn't offer details,  and that's where the challenge lies.  Efforts so far to reward teachers have met with more controversy than celebration,  whether it's the legislature's plan to give small raises and four-year contracts to 25 percent of qualified teachers or McCrory's earlier talk of offering $10,000 stipends to 1,000 master teachers  --  about 1 percent of the 97,000 teachers working in the state.

McCrory said he'll roll out his plan  "in coming weeks."  And the legislature's advisory panel on teacher pay and effectiveness is finally ready to schedule its first meeting,  now that the senate has appointed members.

Meanwhile,  on the respect theme,  organizers of Wednesday's Education Summit urged the 400-plus participants to show support for educators by tweeting messages of support to @CMS_schools using the hashtag #CMSappreciation, emailing appreciation@cms.k12.nc.us or posting pictures and videos to the CMS Facebook page.

I'm curious about what teachers think of such mass appreciation efforts,  including an earlier push funded by state Board of Education member John Tate and other local backers that got a long list of tributes posted to http://thankstoateacher.com/.  Do these kinds of messages boost morale?

I'm inclined to favor personal contact.  It doesn't even have to be the big  "you changed my life"  letter, though I'm sure those are welcome.  I bet parents can provide a much-needed boost to teachers just by shooting them an email when the kids come home excited about a lesson or proud of mastering a skill they've struggled with.

Rumor buster, hot topics and CMS en Español

No one can accuse Heath Morrison of being stingy with communication.

The superintendent's web page has added a "Heath's Hot Topics" feature,  with graphics suggesting someone was drinking a lot of caffeine during the design. Early topics include the budget process, an update from Raleigh and the threats at Hough High earlier this month.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has also added a "Rumor Has It" feature for district officials to address questions and controversy.  I can claim the distinction of kicking it off;  the first entry was in response to my reporting on a Providence employee who was still listed on the CMS payroll 10 years after he left on worker's comp.  Other posts have addressed questions about extra pay for National Board Certification and the raises proposed for 2013-14.

(The item about  "selective raises" reminded me of the flap over last year's market-adjustment raises,  which bumped up some salaries by as much as $17,000.  Chief Financial Officer Sheila Shirley says there are no market adjustment raises in the 2013-14 plan.)

The CMS web page has also added a prominent link to  "CMS en Español,"  with several key documents translated.  It's a recognition of the growing international population here,  with Spanish speakers as the largest language minority.  It'll be interesting to see whether CMS adds options for some of the other 165 languages spoken by students.  The Portland Public Schools site,  for instance,  has links for Chinese,  Russian,  Somali,  Spanish and Vietnamese.