Tag Archives: State Board of Education

Board of Education Resolutions 

Posted on by

Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D    

As I have mentioned in prior articles, the local Boards of Education are the only elected body that we have direct influence over when it comes to our county public school systems. The State Board of Education is made up of appointed members. It is incumbent on us to make sure that the local Boards of Education members know how we want the schools to operate. We can let them know by attending the Board meetings, contacting individual board members, or by formal resolutions directing them to take specific actions.  An example of the latter is the four resolutions that will be presented to the Craven County Board of Election on Thursday November 16 at their public meeting.    

The four resolutions consist of the following:  Resolution #1:   Removing identity focus (i.e. Critical Race Theory) from the curriculum in the schools in all grades. Removing all books, etc., that advocate CRT.  American is not a racist country and should not be portrayed as such. People should be judged by the content of their character and achievement and not their ethnic/racial identity.  Resolution #2:  Removing Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) teaching and practices from the schools. DEI is based on Marxist principles that advocate equal outcome instead of the American principle of equal opportunity. This teaching not only breeds distrust and hostility between the races, but undermines the notion that everyone should strive to achieve their best and should be rewarded appropriately.  Resolution #3:  Removing transgender instruction. The notion that any student can choose their gender rather than live consistent with their gender at birth is destructive and amounts to child abuse.  All children should be addressed by the pronoun consistent with their biological gender at birth and any child exhibiting gender confusion should be referred to their parent(s)–not to school counselors.  Resoution #4:   Climate Change. Children in public school are being indoctrinated with the unproven belief that climate change is being caused by man’s burning of fossil fuels and that the earth will become uninhabitable if drastic action like wind and solar are not implemented. This has become the ideology of the Left and anyone challenging their radical beliefs is labeled a “climate denier”.  This resolution would require that both sides of this issue be covered as part of regular science classes and not used as indoctrination. The climate has never been static and has always been changing. They are frightening our children with their unproven ideology. 

Most clear thinking conservatives will agree that the above issues need to be removed from the public schools. They represent a communist inspired threat to our way of life and American values. The public schools should be focusing on doing a better job teaching traditional academic skills.  For example, the recent report about the Craven County Schools showed that 57% of students are not reading at expected grade level and a whopping 65% are not achieving at the expected grade levels in math. Meanwhile, it is costing the  taxpayers close to $12,000 per year per student. It is high time that the Board of Education force the school administration to focus on improving academic performance and stop indoctrinating our children.  If you agree you should let your Board member know. It should be noted that these four resolutions were drafted by the Craven County 20th Republican Precinct, and endorsed by the Craven County GOP Executive Committee and the Craven County Republican Men’s Club.     

Common Core In North Carolina

Posted on by

The Fayetteville Observer posted an article on Wednesday written by North Carolina Lt. Governor Dan Forest about the current status of Common Core in North Carolina. Lt. Governor Forest is an opponent of Common Core and has fought the program for the two years he has been in office. Common Core was brought into North Carolina schools before Lt. Governor Forest was elected.

Lt. Governor Forest explains the current situation:

Recently, a bill passed and was signed into law that removed Common Core from the general statutes. There is no longer a legal requirement for Common Core in our state schools. However, those of us against Common Core cannot yet claim victory. Though Common Core has been repealed, it is still the standard in use in our public schools.

But one thing is absolutely sure: The line of authority and responsibility is now clearly delineated with the State Board of Education.

The same bill repealing Common Core also set up an Academic Standards and Review Commission of 11 members, one appointed by the governor, two appointed by the State Board of Education, four appointed by the House, and four appointed by the Senate.

These individuals are tasked with going through the existing Common Core Standards line by line. They will make recommendations on which standards should be kept, which should be fixed, and which should be thrown out.

Is this a good thing? Yes.

Is it as far as it could have gone in repealing Common Core? No.

The bill that repealed Common Core also set up an Academic Standards and Review Commission of 11 members. The Commission will be going through the Common Core Standards line by line to determine which are worth keeping and which need to be thrown out.

The article outlines what parents and grandparents who are opposed to Common Core can do:

Get involved

It is important to know that every North Carolina resident is represented by six members of the State Board of Education (two elected officials, three at-large members and one district representative).

The members of the state school board are William Cobey, chairman and member at large; A.L. Collins, vice chairman, from the 5th Education District; Dan Forest, lieutenant governor; Janet Cowell, state treasurer; Rebecca Taylor, 1st Education District; Reginald Kenan, 2nd Education District; Kevin Howell, 3rd Education District; Dr. Olivia Holmes Oxendine, 4th Education District; John Tate, 6th Education District; Gregory Alcorn, 7th Education District; Wayne McDevitt, 8th Education District; Marcella Savage, member at large; Patricia Willoughby, member at large; and Dr. June Atkinson, state superintendent of public instruction, chief administrative officer and secretary.

All meetings of the Academic Standards and Review Commission are required by law to be public. Likewise, meetings of the State Board of Education are also open to the public.

I encourage those of you opposed to Common Core to communicate with the members of the review commission and the State Board of Education through email, phone calls or mail, or face-to-face. Express to them your desire that they exercise the authority given to them to repeal Common Core with the best standards in the world, made specifically for the children in North Carolina.

The battle is not over. In many ways, it is just beginning.

We all need to be aware of what our children are learning in school and whether or not the things they are being exposed to are age-appropriate.