February 9, 2017

The Honorable Betsy DeVos,

Secretary

U.S. Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20202

Dear Secretary DeVos:

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your new position as the nation’s education secretary. I have many friends whom I have known over the years who hail from Michigan. Their love of country as well as their commitment to the welfare of others has always inspired me.

Having seen first-hand the ancestors of Dutch Michiganders combating poverty and illiteracy in the Mississippi Delta during the 1980s, I fully appreciate those who reach out to the less fortunate and those who genuinely care for the welfare of others.

For over 20 years, I was involved in private education, having served as a teacher as well as a Christian school principal. Ten years ago, I left private education and began teaching in the public schools in my hometown of Kannapolis, N.C. Now I am privileged to teach at my high school alma mater.

When I was a private school educator, I did not understand the needs of public school students or teachers, even though I was educated in public schools until I attended college. I love my students, and I do not regret having made the change from private to public schools. For me, it was the right choice at this point in my life.

We are not a community or school of privilege. In fact, we never have been. For a century, we were a cotton mill town, with a humble citizenry doing the best we could. The textile mill is no more, but we are currently a community reinventing itself as a research center, with several universities having a presence upon the very ground where the once-proud mill stood on two hundred acres.

We are classified as a Title One school because most of our students qualify for free lunch. Not all of our students are poor, and not all of our students come from poverty, but most of them are economically disadvantaged.

This does not mean our students are not capable of success, however. Last year alone we sent one student to West Point and another to Annapolis. Two of our graduates are currently attending Ivy League schools.

Our community provides us with state of the art facilities, for which we are thankful. But the fact remains, the majority of our student population does not perform well on standardized tests, and because of that they are unfairly judged. We have also welcomed immigrant children into our schools with open arms. Their work ethic is unmatched by anything I have ever witnessed.

Our state, led by governors from two different political parties during the past eight years, has not treated teachers very nicely. Many teachers are not paid for their masters degrees, which came at great cost and expense, and are denied these remunerations because of erroneous judgments in our own Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh.

I met with the North Carolina chairman of our state school board in 2015 to express some of my concerns. Although he graciously granted me a conference, I was saddened to realize even he did not understand the plight of educators in his own state. I appreciated his availability and his listening ear, but he had no idea of what the real issues are that teachers face each day. He basically wished me well and sent me on my way.

I trust that you will reach out to those of us who serve our nation’s public schools and make an effort to understand us, and see how passionate we are for all children who come from all types of neighborhoods and backgrounds. I pray that teachers could have some assurance that you are going to promote education for all students and for all schools.

Please do not simply patronize us or tell us you care without showing us. We desperately need tangible encouragement. The last thing we need is for Washington to turn its back on those of us who are using our lives to change the lives of others for the better.

I understand that my job is ultimately to serve God. The best way I can do that is by teaching and loving all His children.

Sincerely,

Larry D. Efird, teacher

A.L. Brown High School, Kannapolis