Invasive Student Health Assessment Bill Already In #NCGA Senate

Posted on March 26, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Two bills are flying through the NC General Assembly unchallenged right now. One is a vaccination bill, which I’ll write about later today. The other is HB 13, titled, Amend School Health Assessment Requirement.

I wrote about this bill once before and given the speed with which this bad bill is flying through the General Assembly, I find the need to write about it again. Yesterday, it passed the first reading in the Senate and was referred to the Rules committee.

Let me stress this point: The health assessment document being mentioned in this bill is incredibly invasive.  It includes medical data that is none of the school system or state’s business — it is information that should be between your family and your doctor.

An argument could be made for HIPPA and FERPA violations. However, without a doubt, this assessment and permanent retention of it in the student’s record is violating state statute 115C-402.5 (c).  [See the current state statutes and previous health assessment bills here.]

This health assessment was apparently developed by the NC Department of Public Instruction and the Dept. of Health and Human Services.  Note that this health assessment document at some point was revised from the less invasive version that Charlotte-Mecklenburg is using on their website as of March 2015.

See the document yourself below.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NCGA | Tagged | 5 Comments

“Great Leaders” Bill Is Just BEST NC’s “Vision”.

Posted on March 25, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

“Editor’s Note:  BEST NC is a supporter of EdNC.”

The PR machine for SAS’s BEST NC has cranked out another article out tied to the “Vision 2020” recommendations (see pages 17-20).

Excerpt:

“The bill is titled, “Great Leaders for Great Schools/Study,” and the primary sponsors are Democrats Rep. Tricia Ann Cotham and Rep. Cecil Brockman, and Republican Rep. Craig Horn.

Cotham said she came to the General Assembly as one of its only licensed principals, and she says North Carolina faces a crisis.”

Note the use of the the term ‘crisis‘.

Cotham and Horn were both involved in the BEST NC secret meetings held at SAS last year. Cotham was on the K-12 Recruiting and Training workgroup. Coincidence? Not likely.

The article lays out these key points of the bill:

  • Recruiting the best performing leaders for administrative roles
  • More flexibility and autonomy for principals over school decisions
  • Compensation that will draw and keep principals and assistant principals at schools with the lowest achievement
  • And professional development to help them turn around low achieving schools

HB 216‘s title reads:

AN ACT DIRECTING THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE TO STUDY STRATEGIES FOR PROVIDING NORTH CAROLINA WITH GREAT LEADERS FOR GREAT SCHOOLS.

 

Questions:
Who will be supplying the ‘strategies’?
What will this ‘study’ end up costing taxpayers?
Isn’t this the job of the Dept. of Public Instruction? What exactly does DPI do these days with their ginormous staff and budget?

Related:

RELATED ARTICLES:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NCGA | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

NC Joins States Filing ‘Convention of States’ Bills

Posted on March 24, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

North Carolina has joined multiple states in filing a ‘Convention of States’ bill House Bill 321 was filed on 3/19/15 and is short and to the point.   Sponsors of the bill include Jones,  Millis,  Riddell,  Pendleton, Cleveland,  Conrad,  Hurley and  Whitmire.

The purpose of calling a convention of states is for the purpose of amending the Constitution with the purpose of empowering the citizenry and local legislators.
See: Get Your Liberty On: Convention of States

Text of HB 321:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT APPLYING TO CONGRESS FOR AN ARTICLE V CONVENTION OF THE STATES WITH THE PURPOSE OF PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

Whereas, the Founders of the Constitution of the United States empowered State Legislators to be guardians against actual or potential abuses of power by the federal government; and

Whereas, the federal government has increasingly usurped legitimate roles of the States; and

Whereas, the federal government has created a crushing national debt through unsustainable budgeting and spending; and

Whereas, it is the solemn duty of the States to protect freedom and opportunity for our citizens, including the generations to come; and

Whereas, Article V of the United States Constitution authorizes a process to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States through a Convention of the States to place clear restraints on these and related abuses of power; Now, therefore,

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  The North Carolina General Assembly hereby applies to Congress, under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention of the states limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that (i) impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, (ii) limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and (iii) limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.

SECTION 2.  The application set forth in Section 1 of this act constitutes a continuing application in accordance with Article V of the Constitution of the United States until the legislatures of at least two‑thirds of the several states have made identical or substantially similar applications as the one set forth in Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  The application set forth in Section 1 of this act expires September 30, 2015, if the legislatures of at least two‑thirds of the several states have not made identical or substantially similar applications as the one set forth in Section 1 by that date.

SECTION 4.  The Secretary of State shall transmit copies of this act to (i) the President and Secretary of the United States Senate; (ii) the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives; (iii) each member of the North Carolina delegation to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives; and (iv) the presiding officers of each of the legislative houses in the several states, requesting their cooperation with the purposes of this act.

SECTION 5.  This act is effective when it becomes law.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Government, NCGA | 2 Comments

Will Local Media Finally Report On Who The CCSSO President Is?

Posted on March 24, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The D.C. trade groups, CCSSO and NGA, along with, Achieve, brought us the Common Core Standards.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation largely funded the standards; the US DOE sealed the deal with Race To The Top Grants that came from the Obama administration’s Stimulus. [For more, read: A brief audit of Bill Gates’s Common Core Spending.]

The CCSSO received millions from the Gates Foundation alone to create and promote Common Core.

The most recent grant was for $6,148,749  and was used to support the CCSSO’s “strategic plan”. For over $6.1 million, that’s one helluva plan??  Try Googling that term: “ CCSSO 2014-2015 Strategic Plan”.  Did you find a copy of it?  Try the CCSSO site. Did you find it?

 

Media Blackout of Dr. Atkinson’s CCSSO Ties
To date, no local media reports on the Common Core standards or the debate in North Carolina surrounding the standards have bothered to mention that NC’s Superintendent is also the President of the CCSSO.  This is a clear conflict of interest, yet not a word has been said about it in the press.

Dr. Atkinson just gave the “State of the States” address — chock-full of ‘career and college ready’ propaganda and warm, fuzzy buzzwords.

 

From the press release:

“No nation has ever put forth the goal of career and college readiness for all students,” she said in prepared remarks. “Public schools today are shaping the future of our states and the entire country. So yes, career and college readiness for all students is an ambitious goal, and it is imperative that we do whatever it takes to reach it.”

It’s “imperative” that “we do whatever it takes to reach it”.   Why didn’t she just say ” by any means necessary” outright?

CC June False WitnessLike shutting down parents who question Common Core? Accusing them of ‘bearing false witness‘ against Common Core?

Like sabotaging any opposition to the standards with smear campaigns?

Like hamstringing the funding for the Commission to replace Common Core by tying it to the controversial coal ash debate?

Like working behind the scenes and out of the public eye with unelected and unaccountable groups to keep the standards in place either as Common Core or under a new name?

Like slow walking Freedom of Information Act requests for documentation related to the standards? Where’s the transparency?

From the prepared remarks, Atkinson stands by the Common Core talking points that have been pushed since the beginning and of which still have no proof to back them up:

Whether you are for or against the Common Core, we can agree that most states and students are better off than they were before. The introduction of the Common Core pushed states to more closely examine the standards that they had in place and to ask, ‘Are these standards truly aligned with what graduates will be expected to know and do in the 21st century?’

For many, the answer was no. Even for the states that have moved to another set of standards – whether it was Common Core or a similar set of standards – their new standards are still higher and better aligned with college and career readiness than the standards they had before.

The majority of states are now holding all students to a higher learning standard, and this is a victory for public education in our country.

Atkinson repeatedly mentions the federally funded NAEP and, frankly, uses it like some kind of shield throughout the speech.  The repeated use of NAEP as some kind of validity marker ignores that the NAEP has been considered ‘fundamentally flawed’ for a long time. See here, here and here.

In 2007, a ‘validity’ study of the NAEP math assessment was done… by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). That report included one of the three main Common Core math writers – Phil Daro. Another Fun fact: AIR is now responsible for the Common Core tests for the Smarter Balanced Testing Consortium.

In the press release, Atkinson also urges the reauthorization of ESEA — of which the states have to participate in the NAEP in order to obtain Title 1 funds.  So, of course the CCSSO’s President is going to use the NAEP as a shield.  Money. It’s all about the money.

So — Will the NC media report Atkinson’s CCSSO connection now? Will they ask how much it costs NC tax payers for the CCSSO membership dues? Will they question the conflict of interest here?

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Guest Post: NC education’s March Madness: A 3-Ring Hypocrisy Circus

Posted on March 24, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

GUEST POST ICON

From the mailbag, we have a guest post commenting on the ‘hypocrisy circus’ going on in North Carolina Education

The following articles are in support of the guest post below:

  1. Guest Post: A Rebuttal To Dr. Atkinson’s ‘State of Education’
  2. Military Leaders, Mission Readiness Is Back Pushing Common Core
  3. News and Observer Shills For BEST NC

NC education’s March Madness: A 3-Ring Hypocrisy Circus

It was no coincidence that three pro-Common Core propaganda events occurred the same week that national education standards experts Drs. Stotsky and Milgram appeared before the ASRC. Having already testified before similar panels in a dozen other states, the  highly credible opposition by these experts to Common Core is a threat to those who run education policy in North Carolina, both in and out of government.

1. State Superintendent of Schools Atkinson’s “State of Education” message to just one SAS-funded pseudo-journalist, complaining about non-NC experts who don’t agree with Common Core while she serves as the president of a DC-based lobbying organization (CCSSO) that co-owns the Common Core standards and has received $90 million from The Gates Foundation.

2. Retired generals/admirals who work for a Gates-funded DC-based “charity” (aka Gucci-loafered lobbyists) going to the NC History Museum (but not to meet the governor or legislature) to threaten closure of NC military bases if the state does not adopt Common Core. Meanwhile they are not threatening to close huge TX and VA military bases, even though those states did not adopt Common Core.

3. The N&O Sunday editorial telling the little people (aka NC citizen parents) to let the unelected, unaccountable adults who know best at the Chamber of Commerce-funded BestNC Astroturf group to make education policy for NC (hint: accept Common Core and  allow data reporting of student test scores to prospective NC employers).

Only a conspiracy theorist would assert that these three events, occurring the same week Drs Stotsky and Milgram testified before the ASRC, were connected.

…Or anyone who has observed how funding from the Gates Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, and federal Department of Education has attempted to influence the manipulation of public opinion in other states where Common Core is being hotly debated.

As Academic Standards Review Commission  co-chair Tammy Covil said last week at their March 16th meeting, it is difficult to find anyone who supports Common Core who is not somehow funded by Bill Gates or the federal Department of Education.

North Carolina parents should send thank you notes to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and to the NC Chamber of Commerce for providing us all free tickets to their  3-ring education propaganda circus.

 

*This article has been updated.
Posted in Academic Standards Review Commission, Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC Board Of Education, Testing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Military Leaders, Mission Readiness Is Back Pushing Common Core

Posted on March 23, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

In case you missed it, Mission: Readiness and North Carolina military leaders are back out pushing Common Core again.

Excerpt from the FayObserver:

RALEIGH – Retired military leaders met in the state capital Thursday with a warning to North Carolina leaders looking to change education standards: Without those standards, the state’s military installations are at risk.

Mission: Readiness – a nonprofit national security organization of more than 500 retired generals, admirals and other senior military leaders – unveiled a report on education concerns at the North Carolina Museum of History.

The report is titled “Keeping Our Families and Our Country Strong: Why North Carolina’s Education Standards and Aligned Assessments Are Crucial for Our Military.”

Two retired flag officers – Navy Rear Adm. Walter Cantrell and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Steven Ratti – urged the state’s Academic Standards Review Commission to maintain career and college-ready standards, also known as Common Core.

The report states those standards are vital for “ensuring there will be well-educated individuals who are prepared to defend the nation.”

“There is a national security imperative,” Ratti said.

Got that? Common Core is a national security imperative.
PLEASE, give us a break.

Obesity is a national security threat too, remember?  Mission: Readiness jumped on that bandwagon too with their report” Too fat to fight“.

I debunked this Mission:Readiness group once before — they are nothing but a Common Core consortium:

These Generals and military leaders are from a group called Mission:Readiness, which is a 501(c)3 located at 1212 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005.

That’s also the address for Council for a Strong America, Ready Nation, America’s Edge,Fight Crime: Invest In Kids and Shepherding the Next Generation. I’m sure there are others.

Go back to the first one on the list, Council for a Strong America. They are the anchor at that address. They also seem to have a strong anchor at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Council for a Strong America received $1.7 million last year alone to promote Common Core. By the way, you might have figured it out already by checking out the “Members in Action” drop down menu on the Council for a Strong America site that all the others on the above list are offshoots of Council for a Strong America. This includes Mission: Readiness.

One more point to add, Mission: Readiness bases their support on their own ‘report‘ which which drew on an analysis of 2013 NC Public Schools data as conducted by WestEd. The same WestEd who just sent a speaker to talk to the NC Common Core Commission.

The same WestEd which is funded by the federal Department of Education, the Department of the Army, and also the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as a “non-profit” to deliver pro-Common Core propaganda, including $3.5 million in 2014.

On one of the last pages of the Mission: Readiness report, you will find a long list those funding this endeavor – which is a who’s who of groups who funded Common Core.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core | Tagged , | 4 Comments