From Rick Grambo, Vice President Harford County Board of Education:
I will offer the following resolution at Monday’s Board of Education Business meeting. It is my sincere hope that the County Executive, members of the County Council, and members of the state delegation will openly express their support for this important motion prior to the meeting on Monday. It’s time to put our children first and stand up for local control of our education system.
Thank you,
Rick Grambo
Vice President Harford County Board of Education
WHEREAS:
The 2013 HCPS Legislative Platform advocates an overarching theme of Local Board Authority and further avows to “oppose any legislation which reduces the authority to local boards of education and/or superintendents…”WHEREAS:
HCPS is recognized by local elected officials as one of the top school systems in the country, and many officials have stated publicly that they are opposed to Common Core and its associated testing requirements.WHEREAS:
HCPS local standards and improvements will light the path, will prove superior for its students, and will allow the local community of parents, educators, and elected officials to keep local control of education a collaborative effort.WHEREAS:
Both the Common Core standards and the PARCC tests will create new tax burdens to pay for enormous unfunded mandates on our state and our local school districts.WHEREAS;
The Race to the Top grant conditions requires the collection and sharing of massive amounts of student-level data through the PARCC agreement which violates individual student privacy.We HEREBY offer the following motion:
**The Harford County Board of Education withdraws HCPS from the Common Core State Standards Initiative and;
** Withdraws HCPS from the PARCC consortium and its planned assessments for HCPS’s students, and any other testing aligned with the Common Core standards;
**AND HEREBY rejects any and all funds paid up-front by the state of Maryland or Federal Government for the implementation of said Common Core State Standards Initiative.
I agree wholeheartedly – who better to decide our local curricula than our local officials. And according to David Craig’s last interview with Cindy, he will agree as well. Hopefully the entire board will support this resolution.
This is the smartest thing that was ever said. There was never any money that benefitted the teachers from this common core, it creates more work, more stress for teachers, and accomplishes nothing. Let the teachers decide what is needed in their classrooms, and what is best for their students. Whatever happened to the idea of site based management, because every school has specific needs, its not a canned program that fits every school.
You’ve hit the nail squarely on the head Rick. Education is a local initiative. We should retain the rights to educate children as people in Harford County see fit. The children should be learning logic, philosophy, rhetoric, classic literature, and critical thinking before being indoctrinated into the religion of global warming and income redistribution.
Yeah “Big George” the kiddies of Harford County shouldn’t be learnin’ about things like science (global warming) and economics (income redistribution). Rather, they should be learnin’ about religion (as long as it’s Christianity) and about how the earth is really flat……….!
Yes, local control would be a GREAT thing for our kiddies. 🙁
Global warming is not settled science, and only the fanatics who refuse to have open discussions believe it is so.
Income redistribution is not economics, but government preference of some citizens over others as having more rights to the wages of labor whether they earned it or not.
It might be entirely appropriate to discuss these issues in school as long as the schools promote discussion with equal respect for both sides rather than indoctrination as they have done for the last few years.
Please find a single research article in Science or Nature written in the last 10 years that does not conclude that Global Warming is happening, in part, due to human actions. Once you find that research article, please post it here for all of us to be enlightened. I’ll help you out…you won’t find any. In fact to the contrary, you will find 100’s of articles concluding that Global Warming is happening, in part, due to human actions. Sounds like settled science to me. It is only because of fanatics like you that fail to understand how science works that this is even a conversation.
In the 70’s it was “global cooling”. Now it’s “climate change” so they can spin it either way warming or cooling.
Global warming is a theory, but taught as fact, just like evolution.
Climate change is a brainwashing tactic used by the government further enslave you and your children and tax you, for example carbon taxes. Guess what corporations get exempted from these taxes as well as government officials. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
And your full of crap there are plenty of scientists out there who have written articles saying climate change isn’t man made.
You obviously do not know what a scientific theory is and is not. The reason for the name change is the change in understanding of the phenomena. Are you contending evolution is not a fact?
TPP – Evolution is both a scientific theory and also a fact. In fact, YOU CANNOT HAVE A SCIENTIFIC THEORY WITHOUT FIRST HAVING THE FACT! Scientific theories explain how patters we observe in nature occur. There is no question that species change over time; the scientific theory of evolution explains how and why species change over time.
Hence the Climate Change Theory attempts to explain why the Climate is Changing. It is an observed fact that it is. Why is open for discussion and that is what takes place in a science class using experiments and such!
TPP,
Please link us to a single research article (not an editorial, but an actual research article with their data) published in either Science or Nature (the two most respected scientific journals in the world) within the last 10 years that concludes that Global Warming is not occurring or is not caused, in part, part human activities. Good luck with that!
TPP,
Please do the same for the theory of evolution – find a research article in Science or Nature that concludes that the processes of evolution are not responsible for the history of life on this planet. Also, good luck with that!
Excellent job Rick! What are the odds of this being accepted and implemented? This Summer I’ve asked a number of parents if they’re aware of Common Core. The response? What’s that. When will the citizenry realize the responsibility we all share for a successful nation.
Wait, my great disciples John Dewey and Ryan Burbey will not be pleased with this. We must continue to push the collectivist agenda on today’s youth. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
However well intended, I’m afraid it’s not within the power or authority of the Harford Board of Education to withdraw from Common Core or PARCC-it is the state Board’s decision. Plus, how is HCPS going to pay back the million plus it has already taken from the Feds since it agreed to Race to the Top? Looks like somebody is posturing for reelection in his north county base. He should know that this is a pointless resolution regardless of how much his position is correct.
William – Standing up for what is right is NEVER pointless. And in case you missed it….The BOE just had their election.
The board of Ed elected the president of the board for one year. The next board election coincides with the governors election. As William also pointed out Common Core is a state adopted curricula and our state board already adopted it. Additionally to those who claim it is going to indoctrinate our kids please find me the standards which indoctrinate our kids into global warming and wealth redistribution!
Waiting on the standard citation……? Any day!
If you go to the Founded on Truth website, Dr. Peg Luksik has a two part video that is fully documented with all of the information. She has done her homework.
I looked and still saw no standard from common core that fit the description. Although I did have to go through a Pat McGrady website to find it. All I saw was rhetoric and no substantiated fact! So again cite an actual standard in the curriculum that does what you claim!
Yes, lets return the two and a half million HCPS got out of the Race To The Top (out of 250 million the State got). Then the BOE will need to cut more teachers, raise more fees, limit more transportation, and make less needed repairs to school buildings. The grape vine says Mr. Grambo is going to run for County Council.
This is a fantastic resolution. Hopefully our elected school board members will stand-up to Big Government, remember that they are held accountable by the voters, and support this Resolution. This is an easy one for David Craig to support as well.
What I have suspected about Mr. Grambo seems to be true. If you read this last statement and previos statements on education he is not pro public education. I believe he would rather see our tax dollars subsidize private schools.
Common Core is a step toward nationalized education. The ACA is a step toward nationalized health care. The government beast grows itself and feeds on us.
I like the fact that Mr. Grambo is not gun ho pro public education. Somebody needs to be able to be able to say no to every money grab that comes down the pike. Common Core will cost a fortune to implement and in the end will not improve our children’s learning.
Instead of a worthless resolution why does nt he introduce budget amendments to cut the Money..
I think it’s time I really learn what the BOE does and is responsible for instead of relying on comments. The County Council must also be included. As a matter of fact, each of us, that is unsure of what these two bodies are responsible for and to whom they’re accountable must learn first hand and react accordingly.
Those of you speaking out against this have no clue what you are discussing. The common core along with the new National Science Standards are very well designed instructional tools based on educational research. Only those without any pedagogical training would make such suggestions. It is amazing how often people have no problem listening to doctors when discussing what is good for their kids’ physical well-being, but all but ignore certified teachers when it comes to their kids’ educational well-being.
Additionally common core and standards does not limit what local educators teach – it provides a minimum to which all students should be prepared. It emphasizes cross-curricular content and critical thinking. I cannot begin to understand how anybody could be against this unless you really do prefer students to not ask questions and learn challenging content.
Mr. Grambo is either utterly clueless about what the common core does, or he is intentionally trying to make HCPS a backwoods school district that is a laughing stock in the educational community. Fortunately his efforts will go nowhere, but the fact that an elected board member would even broach this subject in this way ills forebodingly for the future of HCPS and our educational leaders. I hope that in time the voters in district D wisen up and send Grambo a very strong message by not re-electing him…
Well said! I couldn’t agree with you more. Seems also that if Grambo has such objections, he shouldn’t have waited to the eleventh hour to take a stand. Common core is here, sir.
Mr. George, I do not have any “pedagogical training” but I am able to review information and form critical judgements. From what I can see, Common Core is another government over reach program that attempts to nationalize a large and critical service. Because the standards must be met by all states, the lowest common denominator will be used to determine competence.
Your claim that the program is well designed and based on extensive research is not substantiated. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear what prominent pedagogues have to say. Dr. Milgram was a member of the mathematics validation team. In testimony to the Indiana State Committee on Mathematics Education, he lamented that the CC standards were easily 2 years behind the highest performing nations. When he protested to the validation team regarding notable deficiencies, he was encouraged to sign off on the standards with the assurance that any problems would be corrected at a later date. He never signed off.
Ze’ev Wurman, also on the mathematics team was concerned that Euclidean geometry was thrown overboard for an untested approach that failed in a Moscow school for gifted children where it was developed. His concerns went unheeded.
Dr. Sandra Stotsky was on the language arts (ELA) validation team. She also refused to sign off on the standards, noting that the standards for college readiness are currently expected at grade 7. In fact, Dr. Jason Zimba, a proponent and developer of Common Core informed a Massachusetts education conference that Common Core college readiness is readiness for a nonselective community college. Further, Dr. Slotsky was never provided with the “international benchmarks” despite repeated requests. I believe that the CC website no longer makes that claim so I suspect there was truth to the charge.
I haven’t even mentioned the extensive data mining program which is a major feature of CC. This would be done without parental permission or involvement.
Of course we want our children to become critical thinkers and to be offered challenging content. The concern is that CC will not do that. You are concerned that parents do not just roll over and let the professional pedagogues have their way with our children. If the track record for the last 50 years in eduction was better we might. But parents see a lot of fads and experimentation in education and don’t care to have their children used as guinea pigs—or worse. The success and reputation of public education is inversely related to government meddling. When that dynamic changes, parental attitudes may change. That does not mean I do not appreciate the fabulous teachers out there. I am suspicious of the system in which they must labor.
I am grateful to Mr. Grambo for putting himself out there and saying what many of us feel but lack the position to voice. He has taken a principled and courageous stand that will likely cause him much grief
Well researched and stated vseitz!
What you failed to mention in your anecdotal accounts of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are the 100’s of professionals that are strongly in favor of them, many of whom have far greater experience and expertise than those you identified that are in opposition.
Regardless of whether or not you, me or anyone else are in favor of the CCSS, it has been clearly established that the educational systems in the USA need to be improved. This is merely the newest attempt to do that. If you have a better idea, go get a bunch of governor’s endorsements, get the funding from the federal government, and present it to the states. Otherwise, stop doing what most republicans appear to be doing now and days, which is complaining about how bad the problems in this country are, complaining even more about how bad the programs are that are being implemented in order to mitigate them, but then fail to present reasonable alternatives that can gain the political and financial support needed in order for them to come to fruition.
I think you support my argument in your second paragraph when you state that CC is “just the newest attempt” to solve a problem that is long standing and getting worse. The same folks and the same thinking that got us where we are is being used to get us out??? I don’t think so.
When you say that any solution needs political support to come to fruition what you are really saying is that it needs to be backed by the unions and big education. Many would suggest that they are part of the problem.
Seems to me that there was an incredibly successful school in DC that parents did all they could to get their kids into. Many poor parents received vouchers for their children. For many, it was the only way out of a vicious cycle of poverty. You can imagine the disbelief of parents when, as a thank you to teacher’s unions, BHO canceled the voucher program and sent his girls to Sidwell Friends. Is that the kind of political support you’re suggesting?
LIke it or not, any program that is going to improve the USA’s educational system FOR ALL STUDENTS is going to come from the federal government. The states and local jurisdictions do not have the money, power or expertise to make it happen. Voucher programs will not work FOR ALL STUDENTS. So in order for a program to be implemented it will need incredible political and financial support. That includes unions, big education, AND corporations that are outside of education. Just google “corporations in support of CCSS” and see the list that have signed on and provided financial support. Like it or not, education reform requires incredible political capital, which includes gaining support from the powerful teacher unions. I’m not advocating for or against the CCSS. All I’m saying is some extremely influential people with tremendous political connections with lots of money have gotten together to develop and implement the CCSS. It will require people that are just as influential to stop it or implement an alternative. Dick, I mean Rick, Grambo ain’t one of those people. No one in Harford County is. The Governor, maybe. The political leaders in this county should stop wasting their time on what is clearly just a losing political gesture, especially when the state of MD, which is pretty much in total control of all things education in Harford County, is as democratic as it is and won’t hesitate to penalize the citizens of Harford County for the stupidity of its republican leaders. Many would say it already has.
No, you’re joking! You mean to tell me that the President won’t let his kids go to the same schools as everyone else? What about equality? Why that sounds almost Orwellian.
C’mon, vseitz, he is a limousine liberal just like his buddies. Did you expect him to actually do what he tells everyone else to do?
Who is the last president or Vice President who sent their kid to a DC public school?
I concur with the post below citing those on the validation committee who refused to sign off on the standards. Also, if you go to the Founded on Truth website, Dr. Peg Luksik has a well researched, well documented, two part video presentation about the history and development of Common Core. Dr. Luksik is well qualified to speak on this issue as an educator for 30 years and as someone who worked for the Department of Education grant review department.
I like snakes.
I’ve also talked to approximately five teachers, who all work at different grade levels, k-12, all within HCPS. I understand this is a small sample size. Not one was overjoyed with Common Core. Nor were any vehemently opposed. My takeaway from the conversations was there is skepticism about the new curriculum and its supposed rigorousness. The biggest problem are the testing parameters. They have been developed outside the teachers’ realm. Plus, the technological guidelines are nonexistent in many buildings. All I can say is parents had better be watching very closely this school year. When I say watching, I don’t mean breathing down the teacher’s back. Just the overall nature of what is being taught and how the tests line up. Yes, with anything new there’s a learning curve. I’m just sick and tired of my children being used as guinea pigs. Don’t think you can avoid Common Core by switching to private schools. From what I understand, they will also be required to participate in Common Core one way or another. From pre-k on up through 12th grade.
If we have done such a good job teaching in our schools in the last 10 or 15 years why are 70%, or more of our graduates required to take basic math and English classes before they can take collage freshman English and math classes.
Your number may be correct for those attending the community college but not those going straight to a four year institution. Lets remember the community college is set up for those that need to brush up on their academic skills before advancing to a four year school. Also that significant numbers of high school graduates now go to the community college because the number of employment opportunities (factory jobs, trade schools, construction, military, etc.) have been removed from our economy. In years past many of those needing remedial work would never have entered a college classroom. As for the lower number needing remedial at work at four year colleges the same dynamic applies. Plus high education has become big business and in order to increase their budgets and stature large numbers of colleges accept students that in the past would have been rejected because they have the ability to pay the tuition either with parents help or their willingness to saddle themselves with student loans.
Well it could never be so simple as ‘it’s the fault of the local schools’. No, never in a million years could it be their fault. Their hands are clean. Let me tell you, as one who hires people, I want no part of 99.9% of today’s high school graduates. And there are plenty of other people who need jobs that have the skills so I can avoid them like the plague. You guys say you are in it for the children. Well based on the skills that the children have when they leave your care you are failing miserably.
What kind of business are you hiring for? What are the skill sets you are expecting these people to have? What are the wages you are paying the people you hire?
All of the citizens of Harford County that are in favor of this idiot’s idea of not implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Harford County should be prepared to give up the more than half of the HCPS general operating budget that comes from the state. That’s more than $200 million. If HCPS does not follow that mandates set forth by MSDE, Harford County can and will lose every dime it receives from the state. If parents complain now about pay-to-play and student transportation modifications due to the size of the HCPS budget, I can’t wait to see what happens when HCPS fails to implement the CCSS. As much as you want your “local” control over education, it is the states that set educational policy in the USA, not the counties or school districts. Stop living in the 1950’s. We live in a global society where there is no “local” anymore. The good news is the people in this County who support leaders like David Craig and Rick Grambo won’t be around for long as they die out in the next 30 years. Just look at the pictures from Andy Harris’s town hall meeting in Bel Air the other day – http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/belair/ph-ag-2776-harris-town-hall-jpg-20130808,0,1617300.photo?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+baltimoresun%2Fnews%2Fmostemailed_rss2+(Top+e-mailed+articles)
These folks say it all:
Average age – looks about 60+
Average race – looks about whiter than Mitt Romney
All of the citizens of Harford County that are in favor of this idiot’s idea of not implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Harford County should be prepared to give up the more than half of the HCPS general operating budget that comes from the state. That’s more than $200 million. If HCPS does not follow that mandates set forth by MSDE, Harford County can and will lose every dime it receives from the state. If parents complain now about pay-to-play and student transportation modifications due to the size of the HCPS budget, I can’t wait to see what happens when HCPS fails to implement the CCSS. As much as you want your “local” control over education, it is the states that set educational policy in the USA, not the counties or school districts. Stop living in the 1950?s. We live in a global society where there is no “local” anymore. The good news is the people in this County who support leaders like David Craig and Rick Grambo won’t be around for long as they die out in the next 30 years. Just look at the pictures from Andy Harris’s town hall meeting in Bel Air the other day (look it up online, the dagger won’t let me post the link). These folks say it all:
Average age – looks about 60+
Average race – looks about whiter than Mitt Romney
Sweeeeeeeet!
No amount of money is worth sacrificing the future of our children’s education or our privacy rights as citizens. The cost of education would not be so high if there were not so many state and federally mandated standards and tests. Return control of local schools to local government. Let local principals and teachers make educated decisions about what is best for our children. I want more for my children than simply to prepare them to make American companies successful in a global economy. I want my child to think like an American not a global citizen, and I do not want our education system subjected to UNESCO. If that means we go back to blackboards and chalk rather than smart boards, then it would be well worth it. Pythagorus and Euclid and Newton didn’t seem to need expensive technology to be educated or to make major developments in the field of science. I am not suggesting that we turn back the clock, I’m simply saying that we should not be willing to compromise what is good for our children for the sake of money from the state or federal government.
Michelle, The money is the bait. Their real purpose is to be able to teach your children what they want them to know not what you want them to know. Control of education is a very effective way to indoctrinate your children with their values.
Provide a standard from CC or NGSS that indicates this is the case.
It is because of Pythagorus and Euclid and Newton (all your examples) and so many other great scientists (Darwin, Mendel, Watson, Woese) that our kids now need technology to learn, and more importantly actually apply their revolutionary ideas. That requires a lot of money, not for smart boards, but for wireless internet, laptops, software packages, and technical support. Here is just one example of why. Biology in the twenty-first century cannot be done without a computer. Genome and protein data are incredibly cumbersome, but are vital to our understanding of life. Without a computer, the databases that store that vast amount of information, and the skills required to navigate and apply that information will leave our kids clueless about biology in the twenty-first century. Harford County alone does not have the funding necessary so that our kids have those tools.
If you do not want federal and state oversight of education, then you will get no money from them. Civilized life requires compromise. That is what makes it CIVILIZED! You do it at work, you do it with your friends and you do it with your family every single day. If only our political leaders would realize that compromise is not a dirty word. And by the way, you are not compromising anything when the state government gives Harford County money for education. The state doesn’t have to ask to give money and Harford County doesn’t have a choice to accept the money. That money and the authority to provide it and take it away rests in the Maryland state constitution. Unless you are suggesting Harford County government and HCPS break state law or we should amend the state constitution, then there is no other alternative path HCPS or Harford County government can take with regard to the funding of education in Harford County. And besides, you make the oversight from MSDE and the federal government out to be some huge conspiracy that is going to turn your kids into mindless robots that will be tools for the government. If you are that concerned about it, move to another state (or country) or put your kids in private school. The citizens of this state have spoken at the polls and this is the direction that education in the state of Maryland is going for a very long time. There will be, of course, more elections!
I am sure the Telescope that Newton used was not cheap! Why do you think he needed royal funding?
“I want my child to think like an American not a global citizen…”
Spoken like an arrogant American who can’t admit that we are now living in an interconnected world where worldwide cooperation and partnerships, not isolation, are going to solve this planet’s (not just the good ol’ USA’s) problems. What American’s do affect the world, and what the citizens of other countries do affect the USA.
“…and I do not want our education system subjected to UNESCO.”
Yeah, UNESCO, that militarized fascist educational arm of the UN is going to take our kids away from us, indoctrinate them, and make them come back and force us old folks into internment camps.
From en.unesco.org:
“Since its creation in 1945, UNESCO’s mission has been to contribute to the building of peace, poverty eradication, lasting development and intercultural dialogue, with education as one of its principal activities to achieve this aim. The Organization is committed to a holistic and humanistic vision of quality education worldwide, the realization of everyone’s right to education, and the belief that education plays a fundamental role in human, social and economic development. UNESCO’s educational objectives are to support the achievement of Education for All (EFA); to provide global and regional leadership in education; to strengthen education systems worldwide from early childhood to the adult years; to respond to contemporary global challenges through education. As the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education, UNESCO’s work encompasses educational development from pre-school through to higher education, including technical and vocational education and training, non-formal education and literacy.
The Organization focuses on increasing equity and access, improving quality, and ensuring that education develops knowledge and skills in areas such as sustainable development, HIV and AIDS, human rights and gender equality. UNESCO works with governments and a wide range of partners to make education systems more effective through policy change.
It coordinates the Education for All movement, tracks education trends and raises the profile of educational needs on global development agendas.”
Damn that sounds scary!
Thankfully people like you and your isolationist ideas will be dying out in just a few decades. Unfortunately we have to wait for that.
This county gets more and more embarrassing to live in by the day. I’m counting down the days until I can get the heck out of here and live around people who aren’t so narrow minded and paranoid.
New Jersey?
Come back home
Goodbye, Sarah. You may want to start to learn Russian or Chinese now so you are able to communicate when you move.
From the MSDE:
“With the advice and counsel of the State Superintendent of Schools, the State Board of Education sets standards for instruction in schools and for programs in public libraries and vocational rehabilitation. The Board also sets the standards for certification of teachers and other professional personnel and for requirements to graduate high school. If local school systems do not comply with State standards, the Board may recommend that State funds be withheld from those districts. For schools which consistently fail to improve, the Board, through the State Department of Education, also may intervene to help restructure their administration, organization, or instruction.”
Seriously, how many who are sharing their thoughts here really have any background in education? I am pretty sure that someone who uses the word “pedagogy” is trying to overcompensate. That said, the enormous financial burden that the PARCC assessment will cause for school systems will make 2.5 million look like chump change. Schools are not prepared with the technology needed to make the assessments happen. Even if they have the computers, they do not have the bandwidth to make the tests happen and allow life to carry on in the rest of the school at the same time. There are countless other financial and technical burdens that I will not bore you with, but while some of you are claiming that HCPS will become the “laughing stock” of the state, we might actually be leaders in standing up to the people who sit in their offices and think up these “bright ideas” and have no contact with the students they will affect.
Oh, and the Common Core was not developed by educators. Corporations funded it. If you are really more comfortable with Walmart and Xerox writing curriculum than those with “extensive knowledge of and experience in pedagogy,” then there is more wrong here than I have time to get into…..
It is a sad state of affairs that it is coming to this. Grambo has no clue as to what this will do our educational system. While we may not all agree about what is best, this is a democracy where majority rules. I am an educator and Common Core does change things, but many things for the better. Unfortunatly, we are still tied to NCLB and RTTT which requires so much more of teachers. If Grambo thinks that this will solve the problems in this county and HCPS, he is wrong. I think he will find himself looking very foolish when this is over!
Spy, You are an educator. Do you teach history or civics? I hope not because our form of government is not a democracy. Our founders specifically rejected it for reasons that I will let you research.
vseitz,
Don’t make the mistake that educators are educated.
Mr. Grambo needs to answer this question: Does Harford County have to pay back all the millions of dollars they received and are still receiving for signing up for Race to the Top?
Probably. Maybe his constituents would like all bus service discontinued!
Thank you so much. I have been researching this issue extensively and have major concerns about the implications of implementing Common Core State Standards for all Maryland citizens. I have been following several related groups but could find no evidence of any action being taken to stand against this. Could you make information available to parents and teachers to educatee them about this and about what they can do?
Just watched the BOE meeting from Monday from hcps.org and saw this idiot actually propose this resolution. It was great to see not a single BOE member second his resolution. The look of embarrassment on Grambo’s face was awesome. It is clear he has no business being on the school board. Maybe this county still has hope. Doubtful. The voters in District D need to send this guy packing for being completely clueless about education in the twenty-first century.
He is an example the worries I had with an elected school board. Currently we have one of him. Imagine two or three!
Soon to be 6 elected members out of 9. I will be surprised if more “Grambos” don’t get elected and continue to make HCPS the joke that it has become.
Don’t get me wrong, you can have appointed idiots and there is something to be said for voter accountability, but the lack of any criteria to get on the ballot scares me!
Well, CDev, here are some of the criteria. Be a citizen. Meet the eligibility requirements for filing to be a candidate. Convince the majority of people voting that you should be elected. Survive a campaign where you are required to make public statements on issues and have potential voters compare you to your competition.
What’s the matter, buddy? Scared of letting the voters make a decision rather than having the Dem/Lib establishment ram someone down our throat? Or is just that you are okay with elected school boards as long as your favorite person gets elected? I’m not worried because that’s the way our system should work and, after all, neither Wendy Rosen nor Bob Filner nor Anthony Weenie are eligible to run.
If our BOE had taxing authority like PA they should all be elected. That said it is I am afraid of populists of either party getting elected. Weather it is Collins-Baily or Marylain Bland. The problem is they push hot button issues that have little to do with education, at the expense of our children, to use this as a stepping stone to becoming a career politician! Politicians should not be running schools!
He ran unopposed and did little more than post cute blackboard campaign posters. His behavior during meetings has been boarderline distasteful. Rolling his eyes, leaning back in his chair totally disinterested, distainful of procedure, in other words a joke.
Cdev, Who is the last president to cancel a successful voucher program the minute he stepped into office and THEN send his children to public school?
Not sure who? Obama has continued increasing funding to SOAR after Bush did the same! It was Jimmy Carter who sent Amy to DC Public Schools. Obama, Bush, Clinton, Gore, Quayle all sent their kids to Private schools! The rest did not have school age kids while in DC