Heres an email fellow WCS parent Kim Henke sent to the school bd today regarding efforts to pass an anti-common core resolution at the meeting Thursday. Worth a read: I’m not sure who wrote the anti-Common Core resolution presented Thursday night, but after you’re sworn in Monday, you wont be able to continue working as a separate block. I know you’ll work hard to become a cohesive team singularly focused on supporting our outstanding public schools over the next four years. It is disappointing that you started the work session so nobly talking about improving public dialogue and having a “more constituent-friendly atmosphere” and then tried to ramrod this resolution through before Governor Haslam’s 9/18 education summit. That would have meant voting on the resolution at Monday’s School Board meeting only four days after some board members had seen the resolution and with no public input whatsoever. Beth Burgos said, I think for us to bring this out after the summit is anticlimactic. That sure sounds like a political maneuver to me. Please be careful saying that you speak for the general public. Being elected by 10% of the registered voters does not indicate resounding support of your politically-charged agenda. You definitely had a groundswell of support among homeschoolers, 912ers, private Christian school parents and Victoria Jackson supporters. A new Williamson County Homeschool Coalition was even created to endorse you during this election cycle. I’d love to know how many actual WCS parents and teachers voted for you. Did you take into account the WCS Administrator Survey when you wrote your resolution? 84 principals and assistant principals were asked this summer, Do you believe the common core state standards are an improvement on Tennessees previous standards? 75% of the said YES; 6% said NO. Have you asked Dr. Looney to consider polling the teachers on their view of the Common Core State Standards, which were adopted in 2010 and fully implemented in the 2013-14 school year? I have plenty of teacher comments and letters to the editor if you’d like to see them. Thank you, Ken Peterson and Bobby Hullett, for speaking up for teachers who would be put into a precarious situation if they continued to teach to the standards after their own governing body expressed disapproval. This reader comment [in] the Williamson Herald hits home: “Ken Peterson is absolutely right when he says, ‘For the last four years, this has been (the school districts) educational standards. I think we are putting teachers, students and staff in a terrible position.’ If we are going to get rid of our standards to make a political statement; we dang well better know what is going in their place.” What standards will we use? Dan Cash suggested using what we use now. Hmm, WCS has been using the Common Core State Standards since 2010. It would be wonderful if you would refocus your anti-efforts to high-stakes testing. I think everyone could get on board with that – WCS parents, teachers, students and staff. Kim Henke WCS Parent
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 15:14:21 +0000