Police Confront Parents for Opting Kids Out of Common Core
Last week in Marietta, Georgia parents were shocked when they were confronted by police as they walked on to their child’s school campus for a meeting with the principal. Why would police force be needed in a meeting with a pair of concerned parents? According to the police officer it was because “they were considered to be “potentially trespassing” on school property because they were in opposition to the normal school process.” The process they were opposed to was Common Core testing.
Even in a red state like Georgia, parents can’t get away from the far reaching grasp of the federal government and their education standards.
Tracy and Mary Finney, whose children attend West Side Elementary School, have decided to opt their children out of the state mandated testing. The test has been given in Georgia for years and is called the CRCT. This year is the last year the test will be given, but many parents don’t believe it’s a fair measure of what their child has learned because the state has aligned to the Common Core, and the test was not written with the Common Core in mind. It is with those thoughts in mind that the Finney’s chose to opt their children out of testing – and that should have been the end of it. But of course, it wasn’t….
“On Monday morning, we wrote a letter to our principal, forwarded to the other district administrators and teachers,” he continued. “We said that we refuse to allow our kids to take this test, and that we wanted them to be provided with other things to do during the test period, so that they were not going to ‘sit and stare.’”
Finney said, however, that he received an email from the assistant superintendent of the district, “telling me he reviewed my letter and that I’m not allowed to opt my children out or refuse testing.” …
Meg Norris, an organizer of United Opt-Out Georgia, told Breitbart News she is “shocked” at how the mandates to test children are being enforced in Georgia.
“It’s happening in schools all over Georgia,” Norris said. “Even children who are autistic must be tested.”
“Because of federal mandates, they are putting children through this,” she continued. “One child missed the first day of testing and the entire class was refused ice cream, leading to that child being bullied by his classmates.
Norris, a former teacher, said she taught the Common Core standards for 18 months and could see what it was doing to her students. She added that Common Core has become a major issue in the elections this year.
“I just won’t vote for any politician who supports the Common Core standards,” she said.
Folks, it’s time that we all start seeing the Common Core (also No Child Left Behind and every other federally mandated education initiative) for what it is… a power grab by the federal government. Any federal plan for education takes power from the states and places it in the hands of politicians and lobbyists in Washington, D.C. While having our children’s education run from state capitals, like Atlanta, may not be much better, the accountability can be much greater. When the power does not lie in the hands of the federal government, it is much more likely to be found in the hands of parents and local schools and districts.
We must fight the Common Core because it is the continuation of failed liberal policies that have been steadily weakening American education since the Soviets launched Sputnik. The progressive bent of American education has seen our students drop from the best in the world to middle of the pack and in comparison to other industrialized nations – we are raising a nation of dunces. The fault for this lies with the way the government has involved itself in our lives – but at the end of the day it is the American voter (and parents) who have let this happen. It’s time to end the era of government raising our children. Rise Up parents, take back our kids futures.
Harold
ACGR's "News with Attitude" 