Congressman Brad Miller knows teachers are under appreciated. So he paid his respects Thursday, giving teachers at Wendell Elementary School an apple and praise.

“The apple is a symbol, but they’re also edible,” Miller said with a smile. “And I think they all get eaten.” Miller handed out the fruits to a leadership team at Wendell Elementary who had just returned from a two-day work retreat..

They were finishing up work, budgeting Title One staff development funds, said Principal Winston Pierce. Miller told the teachers that many of the Congressmen he serves with had fathers who also were in Congress.

“I’m in office because of public education in North Carolina,” he said.

Miller said his mother was a bookkeeper for the public school cafeteria system in Fayetteville and that she died when he was a boy.

He said teachers have a big responsibility reaching all students. He said it was easier for children of professionals to go on to become a doctor or a lawyer, and that teachers have to work especially hard to make sure the child of someone in prison doesn’t end up in prison himself.

Pierce said while the No Child Left Behind legislation enacted with the intent of closing the achievement gaps like those helped with because teachers have addressed the problem with new strategies. Yet she also said it gives schools an unfairly bad reputation.

Miller said he NCLB needs to provide more funding and be more flexible, two changes in the legislation expected to come up next year.

The test program requires that students in subgroups such as students who receive free and reduced lunches, students who speak English as a second language must average a passing score in order for a school to pass the evaluation.

Pierce said Wendell Elementary was in “school improvement status,” and was considered a failing school for two years in a row.

But Pierce noted that students’ academic achievement had improved according to the state ABCs test program. Wendell Elementary was distinguished as a “high growth” school in terms of progress.

She said teachers are working diligently to close the achievement gap on nights and weekends.

While school take an unfair hit in how the public views their efforts and success, Pierce said the legislation had done some good in focusing teachers on closing the gaps in achievement.