Dr. June Atkinson, North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, visited Davidson County Schools Tuesday touring schools, talking with students and gathering input from educators.
“I appreciate the opportunity to be here,” Atkinson said. “I’ve visited the county many times in the past, and it’s been a while. I’m just really grateful for being here. I had such a great time at all the schools.”
Dr. Lory Morrow, superintendent of Davidson County Schools, invited Atkinson to the system because she said it was important as the state superintendent that she sees the district’s success, its struggles, and has time to interact with all the stakeholders.
“We had a very positive visit,” Morrow said. “Dr. Atkinson was able to see top-quality instruction at the elementary, middle and high school levels, interact with students and teachers, and learn about our successes and areas we’re focusing on. Dr. Atkinson advocates for all school districts in North Carolina, but today we were able to demonstrate to her all the excellent things going on in our schools.”
A roundtable discussion touched on testing, school report cards, more flexible calendar laws, teacher evaluations, state final exams, Read to Achieve and administrators’ pay.
Atkinson told the educators that everything discussed she was already familiar with because educators from around the state are asking the same questions and voicing the same concerns. She even encouraged everyone to develop a great relationship with their state representative to communicate issues.
“You don’t need to underestimate how powerful your voices are. Keep talking,” she said.