Gov. Cooper visits a New Hanover County school for teacher appreciation week

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Governor Roy Cooper was in the Cape Fear area on Thursday to celebrate teacher appreciation week. 

He visited Snipes Academy of Arts and Design in Wilmington to promote 2024 as “the year of public schools.” He stopped by several classrooms, greeting both students and staff and sitting in on Thursday’s lessons. 

Cooper is urging teacher pay raises in the upcoming state budget. 

“The way to really reinforce the proclamation is to make sure that we give our teachers a decent pay raise in order to be able to attract and retain the very best public school teachers,” Gov. Cooper said. 

Cooper also said that during President Biden’s visit to Wilmington last week, conversations came up about rebuilding the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.  

“We’ve applied for a federal grant,” Gov. Cooper said. 

He added that it will cost more than $400 million dollars to build a new bridge.