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Several Triad Schools Will Close For May Teacher Rally

Educators fill Bicentennial Plaza during a teachers rally at the General Assembly in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Many students in the Triad will have a day off on May 1st. That's the date of a planned educator's rally in North Carolina's capital city. 

There's been an overwhelming demand by teachers to close schools so they may attend the gathering in Raleigh.

So far six school districts have opted to make May 1st an optional workday. In the Piedmont Triad, those include Guilford County, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, and Lexington City schools.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports that teachers have outlined a number of major requests they want to present to the General Assembly. Chief among them are a $15 minimum wage for all school personnel and a 5 percent raise for teachers and administrators. They would also like to see state retiree health benefits restored, an expansion of Medicaid, and the implementation of national standards for social workers, counselors, and nurses.

Thousands of teachers attended a rally in Raleigh last May to demand better wages and funding for public school classrooms.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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