Moms for Liberty in Raleigh: Children need more discipline
North Carolina’s education system was in the spotlight at a Moms for Liberty townhall event in Raleigh on Wednesday evening, where panelists expressed concerns over student proficiency levels and disciplinary barricades.
Over a third of North Carolina’s $30 billion state budget is spent on education, but it’s still not enough to keep teachers around. The conservative group’s co-founder, Tiffany Judge, moderated the event and said that discipline and violence issues are the number one reason why teachers continue to exit the profession in North Carolina.
Panelists discussed the 38% increase in acts of crime and violence at school as compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic. Brooke Weiss, Chair of Moms for Liberty Mecklenburg County, said she left teaching after a student threatened her for an entire year and eventually attacked her partner teacher.
“Children need consequences. Restorative justice has been an utter failure. You can’t just send a kid to an office to talk it out and send them back to class with a lollipop, which is what happens,” Weiss said. “Children need to be told no, and they need to face consequences for their behavior, or they do not learn. We are seeing out in society now what happens when kids don’t learn.”
Annette Albright spoke of an experience in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, where she wanted to reach kids earlier on than her prior job in the prison system. One day, she instructed a group of students to get to class, prompting one student to slap her. She pushed back at the girl, and the group of eight teenagers went at her.
“They all just started attacking me. I still did not get help until a student opened the door and said, ‘help, they’re jumping Ms. Albright.’ I had a concussion. I had scratches. I had bruises, so many bruises through my head.”