Pull the plug on Common Core, St. Tammany Parish Council says

By Bob Warren, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune The Times-Picayune

Debbie Sachs tells the negative effects her child suffered from Common Core as more than 100 parents gathered for a meeting to discuss their concerns and anger over the implementation of Common Core at Lake Harbor School in Mandeville, Tuesday, September 24, 2013. (Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)

The St. Tammany Parish Council has weighed in on the Common Core education standards. It doesn’t like them, and it wants the state to pull the plug.

Following the lead of the School Board and a local Republican organization, the council last week adopted a resolution calling on Gov. Bobby Jindal, Education Superintendent John White and the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to abandon Common Core and the associated test that students will be given, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

Councilwoman Maureen O’Brien, who pushed the resolution, said she thought the council should go on record as supporting the School Board, which in October asked Jindal, White and BESE to release individual school systems from Common Core and the associated test. The School Board’s resolution followed several meetings during which parents implored board members to try to derail Common Core.

Supporters sometimes say they don’t understand where the criticism originates, noting the standards were initially embraced by a wide spectrum of elected officials, including Jindal at one time. Supporters paint Common Core as the best chance to develop national standards for mathematics and English.Common Core has been at the forefront of several battles in the Louisiana Legislature this spring. Along the way, even Jindal’s support has waned.O’Brien, a former teacher, is a member of St. Tammany’s Republican Parish Executive Committee, which last month adopted a resolution calling on the state to get out of Common Core.

St. Tammany Parish CouncCouncilwoman Maureen O’Brien

 

She said she had been hearing “through the grapevine” that teachers and parents were frustrated by initiative, particularly the math component. She said she attended a gathering at a Slidell church in March and became concerned with some of the complaints.”I saw one math problem that made no sense at all,” she said. O’Brien said she also is concerned that student and parental data might be collected and shared as part of the Common Core testing.

She painted the council’s resolution as a reaction to the complaints of parents and an effort to back the School Board.