ABSS will be welcoming our local delegation on May 15 as part of the inaugural Bring your Legislator to School Day.
The entire North Carolina General Assembly has been invited to participate. Alamance Representatives Steve Ross and Dennis Riddell along with North Carolina Senator Amy Galey will visit Alamance-Burlington Schools.
Ross plans to visit Smith Elementary. Riddell will tour the recent Education Bond improvements made at Southern Alamance High School, and Senator Galey will tour Graham Middle.
“Bring Your Legislator to School Day is an important opportunity for General Assembly members to connect with educators in their communities, build relationships, and learn more about education from the classroom perspective,” said Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance.
The initiative is a joint effort between N.C. Regional Teachers of the Year and Principals of the Year, the Public School Forum of North Carolina, and a multitude of legislative co-sponsors. The goal is to push legislators beyond talking policy and into the classrooms in their district.
“All state lawmakers can benefit from spending a day in our public schools to see the hard work and innovations occurring to ensure the success of our K-12 students, and it also will help them see the needs they can help address,” said Katherine Joyce, executive director of the North Carolina Association of School Administrators, in a press release.
Talking to teachers, principals, and students directly shows legislators first-hand the impacts of their decisions. The hope is that experiencing a day in the classroom and seeing the needs of students lets them make informed choices when they are voting in the future.
The initiative has bipartisan support with sponsors in the Senate and the House.
“I am a proud sponsor of ‘Bring Your Legislator to School Day’ because we, as legislators, have a moral and economic responsibility to show up in our local schools and listen to the needs of our students, teachers, and parents,” said Sen. Rachel Hunt, D-Mecklenburg.