In December the Goldwater institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of Tucson teacher Brad McQueen for retaliation by Arizona Department of Education employees after he exposed problems with the PARCC testing associated with Common Core. In February, Arizonans saw for themselves just a glimmer of the sort of harassment Common Core opponent’s experience from fellow education “professionals.’”
Strange behavior by “education professionals” during the testimony of Brad before the House Education Committee caught the sharp eye of Linda Bentley with the Examiner.
In her article, Bentley notes, “On Feb. 18, during the House Education Committee public hearing on HB 2190, schools; Common Core; replacement, which proposed to ban Common Core in Arizona, Cave Creek Unified School District’s Associate Superintendent Teaching and Learning, Jana Miller, responded to Brad McQueen’s testimony in support of the bill by sticking her tongue out.”
In her article, Bentley focused on the behavior of Miller, a staunch advocate for Common Core and Spanish Language Immersion. Missing from the article was a portrayal of her colleague’s behavior which allegedly prompted the immature response form Miller.
Miller and her cohorts made exaggerated facial expressions of disgust with every anti-Common Core witness. One man, picked his teeth continually in what appeared to many to be an effort to distract attention from the testimony. The group seemed to stake out the seats behind the podium in order that their hushed grunts and moans could be heard by legislators during the proceedings.
In an email to the AZDI, Cave Creek Superintendent Debbi Burdick wrote: “Dr. Miller has explained that her response was to a colleague in the front row (seen turned around in the expanded picture from the entire frame) who had made a comment to her.”
Burdick claims that the fellow unprofessional was not reacting to “the speaker or the AZ College and Career Ready Standards. There was no disrespect to the speaker or to his opinions.”
The response from Burdick only implicates more educators as children in need of supervision. The pro-Common Core group, which wore big blue stickers that read “TEACHERS,” displayed ADHD type behavior throughout the hearing.
Many expected Committee Chair Rep. Paul Boyer, an educator himself to send members of the group to the principal’s office as he tried to maintain the decorum expected, and normally afforded House hearings.
But the stakes are high and as a result, so are emotions. Educators, who have hitched themselves to the Common Core wagon, have spent considerable money in the name of the federal program.
As Bentley notes, Miller testified that her district has already invested $3 million to adopt Common Core.
However, those monies have been spent primarily on technology that will have value to schools whether or not they facilitate the mining of data that Common Core supporters crave.
One mature resident told legislators, “Just because you spent the money on your bus ticket doesn’t mean you stay on the bus when it’s heading towards a cliff.”
But we know that there is more than money behind the emotional responses of rabid Common Core supporters.
Last year, McQueen penned a popular book, The Cult of Common Core. What lawmakers and members of the public witnessed during the hearing, were educators, who never evolved from the ID to the Ego, and joined the cult.
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Emails reveal ADE retaliation of Common Core critic, Goldwater files lawsuit