Why The NDE Failed to Show up for Common Core Forum

What happened at the Common Core Forum in Carson City on 1/13/15

The ground rules agreed to by both sides for the two forums: two people would participate on each side of the issue. The pro side would contain two policy makers from either the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) or the Nevada State Board of Education; the con side would contain Drs. Stotsky and Milgram. Drs. Stotsky and Milgram were the only two members of Common Core’s Validation Committee who are content area specialists and who have also written high K-12 standards.

You can watch the forum here, http://www.NevadansAgainstCommonCore.com/.

The forum started with two “authorized” speakers from the NDE - Deputy Superintendent Steve Canavero and Public Information Officer Judy Osgood. After Ms. Osgood introduced herself she left the panel and didn’t speak again.

Before their travels to Nevada (one from Boston) both the Drs. made it clear to everyone involved they were coming to discuss Common Core Standards. At the 33:33 mark Mr. Canavero made it clear the NDE does not want to discuss issues with Common Core Standards only the implementation of same.

At 35:24 the NDE brought in an unauthorized speaker, Aaron Grossman. The Drs. allowed Aaron to speak even though as a teacher he did not meet the qualifications to be on the panel. After Mr. Grossman’s presentation the good Drs. were prepared to discuss Common Core with Steve Canavero and Aaron Grossman.

At 56:48 Mr. Canavero attempted to bring in a second unauthorized speaker, note - by this time Mr. Grossman had already left the panel. The Drs., audience, and moderator did not allow it. By 59:25 there was more disagreement.

At 1:00:00 the moderator reminds the NDE the participants were supposed to be Steve Canavero and Judy Osgood, and there was more arguing.

At 1:36:00 the NDE tried to bring in a third unauthorized speaker, a teacher, and the arguing got pretty bad. Local teachers who do not fully support CC were told not to attend these meetings, but some brave anti-CC teachers were willing to speak against CC. When they were told no teachers would be speaking, they understood. Unfortunately the NDE encouraged the pro-CC teachers to speak anyway.

The Drs. have been to about 30 states to discuss the problems with CC and they have never been treated so rudely and with such disrespect as they were by the NDE.

Four of the Nevadans Against Common Core Board members were present.

Board Members: John Eppolito Pat Lynch
Virginia Starrett, Carol Wright, Angie Sullivan

The Nevada Department of Education’s (NDE) statement on why they backed out of the Common Core Forum in Fallon

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, January 14, 2015

STATEMENT FROM STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

DALE ERQUIAGA REAGARDING THE SYMPOSIUM ON COMMON CORE

Carson City, Nevada – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga today issued the following statement regarding the Nevada Department of Education’s participation in the symposium on Common Core in Fallon:

The Nevada Department of Education was invited by the Citizens for Sound Academic Standards (C4SAS) to participate in a forum they organized in Carson City to discuss the Nevada Academic Content Standards based on Common Core. The organizers invited two professors from out-of-state to participate in the forum. As with all requests to engage in a discussion about Nevada standards, my staff invited Nevada teachers to participate in this discussion. I consider our educators to be the most credible and knowledgeable speakers about Nevada’s standards. This fact was communicated to the organizers and to the legislator who reserved the room in Carson City. When my staff arrived at the forum last night, they were abruptly notified that the Department’s teacher presenters, including an associate superintendent and educators from the Carson City School District, would not be allowed to speak at the forum. Attempts by my staff to provide teachers a voice in the conversation about their standards were met with a disrespectful, if not aggressive, response. Worse, one of the organizers physically removed a Nevada educator invited to speak on behalf of the Department; that educator filed assault charges with Legislative Police earlier today.

This is not the Nevada way of engaging in public discourse. I am compelled to denounce the Citizens for Sound Academic Standards and the visiting professors for silencing Nevada teachers to speak at a public forum and for resorting to intimidation tactics before and during the meeting to silence teacher voices. There is room for differences of opinion on this topic, but I cannot support participation in a forum that incites bullying and censorship. Department staff will not participate in the Symposium on Common Core scheduled to occur in Fallon tonight, or any other event involving these organizers and their out-of-state professors. Furthermore, I expect these individuals to apologize to Nevada educators.

Note: 1) Superintendent of Public Instruction Erquiaga was not present at the forum.
2) Through 1/20/15 no police report is available.
3) NACC is in not associated with C4SAS.

The real reason the NDE didn’t show up in Fallon

The NDE attempted to break the ground rules set for the Carson City forum, and it didn't work out. The NDE has no substantial response to the very serious issues brought up by the two most qualified members of the Common Core Validation Committee about the Common Core Standards; therefore, there was no benefit to them to show up to the Fallon forum.