Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s a week in review: New CEO: Amy O. Cooke has joined the John Locke Foundation as its new CEO. Cooke is also the new publisher of Carolina Journal. Before joining...
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s a week in review: Amplify v. Istation hearings: Jonathan Shaw, an N.C. Department of Information Technology hearing officer, presided over the first round of hearings beginning Jan. 13 in the...
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses several interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s a week in review: McKissick resigns: Sen. Floyd McKissick Jr., D-Durham, has officially resigned from the N.C. General Assembly. McKissick was appointed to the N.C. Utilities Commission in October but...
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional news and comment A court has rejected an attempt by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and Istation for it to intervene in a dispute over a K-3 reading tool contract. On Tuesday, Jan. 7, Wake County Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Tally said the court...
State Superintendent Mark Johnson isn’t happy with how the N.C. Department of Information Technology has handled the dispute between Amplify and Istation for the K-3 reading contract, and he’s taking the matter to the courts. The N.C. Department of Public Instruction has formally petitioned the Wake County Superior Court to review DIT’s stay blocking the...
Each week, staff at Carolina Journal looks back at the week in N.C. politics and chooses what we think are some interesting, relevant stories you may have missed. Here’s a week in review: Tucker out: Garland Tucker III will no longer challenge U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in the upcoming Republican congressional primary. The Raleigh...
The school year may be halfway over — or more — before the contract dispute between competing reading diagnostic companies is resolved, leaving students at public schools in limbo. On Oct. 1 and Oct. 3, lawyers representing the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and rivals Amplify and Istation made their cases before a state...
State Superintendent Mark Johnson is challenging a temporary stay against implementing Istation, the state’s new reading diagnostic tool. “I’m the N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction, but I’m also a lawyer. That’s a good thing on weeks like this one,” Johnson said in a news release announcing the motion to dissolve the injunction. Johnson claims N.C....
As most N.C. public schools prepared to open a new academic year, teachers have temporarily lost access to a key diagnostic tool to evaluate students’ reading skills. The N.C. Department of Information Technology Monday, Aug. 19, granted Amplify’s motion to temporarily stay the implementation of Istation while the dispute over the reading diagnostic contract is...
The Department of Public Instruction has reaffirmed its decision to award the K-3 reading diagnostic tool to Istation, despite a chorus of criticism from some Democratic lawmakers, educational activists, and the previous contract holder, Amplify. Istation announced the decision July 26 in a late-afternoon news release. “We are grateful, but not surprised, to learn that...
A dispute over a K-3 reading contract is heating up after the company at the center of the controversy, Istation, sent a cease-and-desist letter to three people who have publicly criticized a decision to grant the contract to Istation. “The cease and desist notices provided are a lawful and appropriate starting point to end the...
