New pitch to CMS teachers

After last spring's surge of distrust and discontent over performance pay,  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders are trying again to get teachers on board for changing the way educators are hired,  trained,  evaluated and paid.  This year's effort is dubbed the Talent Effectiveness Project.

Details will be publicly unveiled at Tuesday's school board meeting,  but CMS has circulated some information sheets outlining parts of the plan.  Here's the outline of the teacher working teams they're recruiting for,  and here's a look at some of the measures that might be used to evaluate and pay teachers.

A lot of this sounds like what officials and teachers were working on last year.  The introduction to the Talent Effectiveness Project says officials listened and learned:  "The initiative was first known as Pay for Performance,  but it has grown and renewed its focus after more than a year of research,  discussions and input from staff members across the district."

Berry responds

Twenty years after North Carolina's deadliest workplace disaster, state officials overhauled N.C. OSHA and expanded it into one of the nation's largest workplace safety programs.

Now, however, there are signs that the safety focus has waned. Safety inspections and citations are at their lowest level in years.

In response to the Observer's questions, N.C. Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry provided this written statement.

- Ames Alexander