INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County School Board heard from several citizens Tuesday night who are concerned about the implementation of the Common Core Curriculum.
Common Core is a program that was begun in the northeast U.S. in 2007 to help make U.S. high school graduates better educated and more intellectually competitive in the world. It is mainly funded by the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation and is supported by the U.S. Department of Education and the Obama administration as a way to improve education in public schools. The emphasis is on math and literature.
But Common Core has been opposed by tea party supporters and ultraconservatives, encouraged by ultraconservative commentators like Glenn Beck, who has warned that with the implementation of Common Core curriculum and its test measurements, there would be a loss of local control over learning and “parents will be pushed out of the loop.”
Repeatedly, though, at Tuesday’s school board meeting, citizens speaking against the Common Core program said they were bipartisan — “neither liberal nor conservative” — just concerned that Common Core meant a “federal intrusion” and “end to freedom” for students, teachers and parents in Indian River County.
As the school board meeting progressed and the board moved on to other issues, the anti-Common Core speakers and supporters — over a dozen people in total — left the meeting. They met outside the building and prayed for God’s guidance, holding hands. With a rainstorm threatening and the group about to break up, one of the speakers hurriedly told them to be sure to watch Glenn Beck, the ultra-conservative commentator on Thursday night.
“Don’t miss it,” she shouted as the rain started and they all ran for their cars.
The School Board recognized several groups during its regular meeting, including a small group of women from John’s Island there to give the School District a $70,000 check for a pre-kindergarten program at Dodgertown Elementary.
The Vero Beach High School Girls’ Lacrosse team was recognized for winning its eighth straight state championship. The students on the girls’ lacrosse team have received scholarships to a number of highly-regarded universities in the U.S. and are getting a lot of positive attention.
And four elementary school students were recognized as winners of a school bus safety poster contest.
