By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS — When Kannapolis parents found out 118 of the school system’s employees were given pink slips to help fill a $2.4 million budget hole, they decided it was time to take a stand.
They started calling, emailing, snailmailing and talking to anyone who would listen.
And when they heard about the North Carolina Association of Educators’ rally in Raleigh, set for next week, they began making plans to car pool and bus local residents to the event.
But with a start time of 4 p.m., Laura Patenaude, a member of the Parent/Tea-cher Organization at Forest Park Elementary, said many parents simply couldn’t make the trip.
“People couldn’t take time off work because they are already worried about their jobs with the economy the way it is,” she said.
That’s when the parent organizations decided to host their own rally, right in their own backyard.
Organizers hope to draw 4,000 people to the event, which will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. May 13 at A.L. Brown High School.
Patenaude said information about how to contact state legislators will be available during the rally.
“We’re finding that the community and parents are not informed about what’s going on with (state) budget cuts,” she said. “One of the biggest reasons for the rally is to inform them about what they can do.”
House budget-writers have proposed cutting public schools by 9 percent.
Elizabeth Freeman, PTO vice president at Forest Park, said the rally will not only be more convenient to local parents, but also more effective.
“We thought it would be more powerful to have a large group of parents and community members together to make a visual impact to our legislators,” she said. “We want to show Raleigh that the community in Kannapolis cares about our schools.”
Patenaude said the rally is also a way to stand behind teachers.
“We want to show teachers how much we support them and that we’re trying to do everything we can to keep them from being cut,” she said. “We’re all fighting for them.
“This is just the community coming together and recognizing that this is something we’re facing together.”
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Freeman has been working to secure corporate sponsorships for the rally for a couple of weeks.
She said she’s had great response from the community, with Lady’s Funeral Home and Ben Mynatt Chevrolet chipping in the most.
Kevin Clark, vice president of Lady’s, said he’s hoping the rally will serve as a wake-up call to local residents.
“Hopefully this gets their attention and spreads to other school systems,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you have kids in the school system or not, it’s going to affect you down the road …”
Clark’s children — Aaron, 7, and Rebecca, 11 — attend Forest Park Elementary and Kannapolis Intermediate schools.
“I’m concerned about the lack of funding,” he said. “We can’t sit back and be quiet, we’re got to let our voices be heard.”
Patenaude says the provision that completely nixes funding for technology worries her.
She said without funding, technology could become outdated. Although the PTO is supplementing those funds now, the parent-teacher group won’t be able to meet 100 percent of those needs.
The teacher-student ratio is another concern for parents.
“If that goes down, students won’t be getting as much attention,” Patenaude said.
Clark agrees that the effects of layoffs will be felt in the classroom.
“It hurts,” he said. “It hurts them, it hurts their families and it also hurts my kids when a teacher relies on a teacher assistant to help in their class and they’re no longer there.”
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During the rally, 118 luminaries will light up the stadium stands at A.L. Brown, symbolizing the employees who will be losing their jobs.
Freeman said a sound stage will be set up for speeches from administrators as well as business and community leaders.
Students in band and choral programs throughout the district are also set to perform.
“We want to really showcase the great things going on in Kannapolis City Schools,” Freeman said.
The theme for the rally will be “Our Schools, Our Communities, Our Future.”
“I would encourage people t o come out and let their voices be heard and to show how much education means to our community,” Freeman said.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.