BOONE, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina superintendent is getting praise for his social media post shaking off critics of public schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
“To all the public school haters, social media stars/self promoters, and critical friends: we appreciate all the advice about re-envisioning education but right now we’re busy loving on our students and feeding the community,” Watauga County Schools Superintendent, Scott Elliott, posted on Twitter Saturday. “We’ll catch back up with you in the fall.”
Elliot, whose district serves nearly 4,650 students, told The Charlotte Observer that he wrote the post after seeing many messages saying the pandemic should be a catalyst for reforming “broken” public schools.
“At a time when teachers are working twice as hard as normal and our child nutrition workers and bus drivers are delivering thousands of meals a day, they don’t need to be told that they need to be fixed,” Elliott said.
North Carolina’s 115 school districts, helped by food banks, churches and volunteers, have served over a million meals, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said. Districts are also providing students with computers if they don’t have access to one at home. State officials said grades can’t be issued unless all students have equitable access to remote learning.
“Maybe they just needed to hear someone else say that it’s okay right now to ignore the critics and to stay focused on the students,” Elliot said. “It’s my job to lift them up and buffer them from the nonsense and the noise.”
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