Dear Readers:
I have decided to suspend my blog indefinitely while I concentrate on helping my home state of North Carolina regain its reputation for great public schools supported by thoughtful public school policy. I cannot sit on the sidelines while teachers and education support professionals are demeaned, demoralized, and devalued.
Children deserve to be taught by adults who are empowered to use their professional knowledge to teach effectively. Quality teaching, not quantity testing, should be the vision for our schools. Change must come soon to save my profession, but change for teachers and students will not come without a change in policy makers, those who have used their political positions to undermine our public schools.
I have spent my entire professional career in the classroom teaching the most challenging students, in the streets organizing the comunity to support public schools, and in the halls of government convincing those who ran for office to stand up for what is right. I cannot let those skills atrophy when they are the skills most needed in the current environment.
I thank all of you who have tweeted my blogs, posted them on Facebook, promoted them on your websites, emailed them far and wide, and posted your comments pro and con. Without you, there is not much reason to blog. I hope that you saw your sentiments expressed and heard your voice in my blogs.
I am forever grateful to Education Week for allowing voices from all corners of the education community to share opinions and information. We are all blessed to have this wonderful newspaper to promote, challenge, and inform the world about American education. Executive Editor Ginny Edwards is a visionary who has kept Education Week thriving for all of us. We are indebted to her leadership. Elizabeth Rich convinced me to do the blog, provided support for all my technical challenges, and encouraged me to keep writing. She does her job well as do all the people on the small but mighty staff at Education Week.
As I step aside from blogging, let me encourage you to continue to share your opinions through social media, letters to the editor of your local newspapers, op-eds, and in every public forum. Those of us who care about public schools are in the majority, and we should leverage our numbers to improve public education for this and future generations of children. See you in the trenches.
In Solidarity,
John Wilson, still unleashed