By James B. Carter

Special to the Salisbury Post

The shift is on in Rowan- Salisbury Schools. As the new year gears up, teachers are making lesson plans, buying supplies, eagerly awaiting students and dealing with anxieties stemming from the Renewal Status bestowed upon the district by the state. With little more than a flow chart featuring “who is in charge of what” shared with them so far, many teachers may be asking themselves exactly what they are in for during the 2018-2019 school year.

Many have been told they will have more curricular freedom than ever before. Some may be excited to try new things to finally engage students beyond the limits of a strictly standards-based, data-driven education. With change comes risk, of course, and I wonder how many area teachers want to try new and exciting things but fear doing so may put them at greater risk of parent complaints, administrator rebuff or general reprimand.

While surely the district will share more structural information in the coming weeks, Dr. Lynn Moody and others have been clear to say that while the Renewal offers much, none of us knows what it will look like and there will be times when we muddle through it.

The Renewal Status is an experimental model. Mistakes will be made. Teachers will get things wrong. Some activities might work; other curricular shifts may fail miserably. Such is an expectation in a culture of experimentation and innovation. However, teachers are just like students in that most do not like to fail. Nor do they enjoy being called out on a failure when simultaneously being asked to innovate, especially if the perceived failure may affect their performance reviews and annual evaluation.

Particularly anxious teachers may be risk-averse and asking, “If I do make a shift and it doesn’t work out, will my leaders and my district have my back?” Indeed, in times of change, we all seek security.

One way for area teachers to give themselves a little extra assurance — professional insurance, if you will — is to join the Rowan-Salisbury Association of Educators, the district’s branch of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). Joining automatically offers membership into NCAE and the National Educators Association. While dues can be costly, membership offers advocacy help and legal services that can take the edge off of worries tied to trying new things and taking new risks in an uncertain professional landscape.

With some district leaders on video embracing the idea of the Renewal by talking about how money can be saved and allocated in new ways, and some of those ways being hiring inexperienced — maybe even uncertified — teachers at cheap rates, even seasoned professionals may find comfort in knowing they have a set of new friends upon whom to call if innovation becomes irritation or experimentation begets exodus.

James B. Carter is an area teacher and vice president of the Rowan-Salisbury Association of Educators.