Yesterday, Governor McCrory finally made his Common Core commission pick, Ralph Andre Peek. The pick came 16 days beyond the date for the first meeting as laid out by the bill McCrory signed into law.
Strike one.

The first meeting is slated to take place this coming Monday, at the Department of Public Instruction.

The inaugural meeting will be held on Monday, September 22from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the State Construction Office conference room, fourth floor of the Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC.

The bill McCrory signed into law for this commission prohibits this. “Section 2.(a) – The commission shall be located administratively in the Department of Administration…”.
Strike two.

McCrory’s pick appears to be pretty much Pro-Common Core.
Ralph Andre Peek is businessman from the upper echelon of IBM who is tied to Pro-Core Teach for America, The NC Chamber’s Pro-Core ‘Hire Standards’, and the Pro-Core North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE).

Mr. Peek is listed an ‘unaffiliated” in political party registration. What is it with this Governor’s habit of not appointing folks from his own party? I can see 2016 now: Pat McCrory (U-NC).

It’s noteworthy that IBM has been a big Common Core Supporter and signed onto the list of committed businesses collected by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Peek’s wife works for SAS, which is also heavily invested in promoting Common Core.

I was unable to locate any information on any children Peek might have. Perhaps that should be known and if they do have any that are school aged – what school are they attending? Public or SAS’s Cary Academy which doesn’t use Common Core?
Strike Three.

Read about all of the conflicts of interest Mr. Peek has in his profile located here.
A clean copy of the screenshot within the profile can be obtained upon request to TheLL1885@gmail.com.

More commission profiles:

• Profiles for the Senate and House appointees can be found here.
• State Board of Education bios are located here.

To Recap: Wow. We’ve already got three strikes and the commission hasn’t even met yet.

Not a good start.

The fears that CCSSO President and NC Superintendent June Atkinson, Governor McCrory, Bill Cobey and the NC Chamber of Commerce were going to use this commission as a dog and pony show to just rebrand instead of replace Common Core are arguably now confirmed.
Citizens need to attend these meetings and remind the commission the intent of SB812 was to REPLACE not REBRAND.

Here’s the press release (below) that went out yesterday from the Department of Administration. The release includes the list of names and the information on the first meeting.

RALEIGH – September 16, 2014

The NC Department of Administration announced the 11 members of the Academic Standards Review Commission today and provided notice of its inaugural meeting. The appointments were made in accordance with Senate Bill 812 and were apportioned as follows: four members appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; four members appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; two members of the State Board of Education to include the Chair or the Chair’s designee and a member appointed by the Chair; and one member appointed by the Governor.

The appointees are:

House Appointments

• Ms. Tammy Covil, New Hanover
• Dr. Jeffrey Isenhour, Catawba
• Ms. Katie Lemons, Stokes
• Ms. Denise Watts, Mecklenburg

Senate Appointments

• Ms. Ann B. Clark, Iredell
• Dr. Laurie McCollum, Rockingham
• Ms. Jeannie A. Metcalf, Forsyth
• Dr. John T. Scheik, Wake

State Board of Education Members

• Chairman William “Bill” Cobey, Durham
• Dr. Olivia Oxendine, Robeson

Gubernatorial Appointment

• Mr. Andre Peek, Wake

The inaugural meeting will be held on Monday, September 22, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the State Construction Office conference room, fourth floor of the Education Building, 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC. For more information, please contact Loretta Peace-Bunch at 919-807-3403.