Please read this incredible article written by Tucson teacher Brad McQueen. You will begin to understand why teachers won’t criticize Common Core, for fear of losing their jobs. (Common Core was renamed "Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards" through Gov. Brewer’s Executive Order. It was a name change only. It’s still Common Core.)
Brad McQueen’s crime was to write an Op-Ed criticizing Common Core. It was titled "SB1310: Arizonans Must Reclaim Sovereignty Over our Children’s Education." For that, he got blackballed by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE). What made the news, however, was this slur:
EMAIL #4
From:Escobar, Angela (AZ Dept of Education)
Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 2:44 PM
Subject:Brad McQueen is on the radio
What a f*cktard.
Angela
Angela Escobar isn’t the only ADE staff member who wanted Brad McQueen removed from future committees at the AZ Department of Education. Angela’s friends in high government positions were the ones who tried wielding their power over Brad, including the director of PARCC and Innovative Assessments Sarah Gardner.
EMAIL #3
From: Gardner, Sarah <Sarah.Gardner@azed.gov
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2014 1:46 PM
To: Stephanie Snyder (PARCC,Inc.)
Subject: RE: question
Given that Brad McQueen gave a negative statement to the press about Common Core and assessment, you may want to remove him from the invitation list…This was such a surprise for Arizona as Brad has been on many committees, both for our state assessment as well as involved with Common Core and formative assessment based on CC (Common Core) for our state. Let’s make sure he is not going to Denver later this month. Please remove Brad McQueen from the list.
Sarah Gardner, MAEd-C/T Director of PARCC and Innovative Assessments ADE – Assessment Section (602) 542-7856
The effort to blackball and neutralize Brad McQueen even reached Christie Silverstein of Expect More Arizona, (Expect More is the PR cheerleader for CC) who coordinated the effort to get an article published in the Arizona Capitol Times.
After some further discussions among the strategists, the article was never written.
Stacey Morley wrote "I spoke w/ Jennifer (Liewer, Director of Communications, Dept of Education) and she agrees with me that we should not have another article refuting his, but we should have the info since he does not seem to be going away."
Please note the name Jennifer Liewer when you read the Arizona Republic article cited below.
The ugly arrogance of these high ranking employees, who have no qualms about sending these emails, should be fired by Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal.
They won’t be fired. Who would fire them? They are entitled, entrenched bureaucrats. They are patronizingly superior to everyone else, and steeped in corruption all the way to the top. What we have seen is a tiny bit of the mask removed. Believe me, instead of getting fired, they are simply being told, "Be more careful next time, ladies."
In fact, according to a recent Arizona Republic article, only Angela Escobar has been "disciplined," whatever that means. Also, did you catch the name of the official spokesperson on behalf of ADE? Jennifer Liewer.
Brad McQueen is not the only teacher who has been threatened by bureaucrats and school administrators for criticizing Common Core. (Click HERE for another.) He is, however, one of the high profile few. Listed below are links to numerous articles he has written, plus his book The Cult of Common Core. (It’s even available on Kindle.) The story about ADE’s attempts to blackball him was also published in the nationally recognized Daily Caller.
Thank you Brad McQueen for not "going away."
A Partial list of Brad McQueen’s Publications:
Adelita Grijalva sees Dollar signs in the faces of Illegal Immigrant Children
AZ Superintendent of Public Deception….err Instruction, Strikes Again
Arizona’s Top Educator Hard at Work: Sunday’s Comic
Will the man-caused Humanitarian Crisis at the Border become the Education Crisis in our Schools?
Gov. Jindahl removes Common Core Standards and test, are you Listening Gov. Brewer?
PARCC Field Tests had major security flaws and of course they knew all about it
Emails Suggest Collusion between AZ Dept of Ed and PARCC Bid for AIMS Replacement
The Truth Behind Arizona’s Sudden Withdrawal from PARCC
Major CYA: Brewer Pulls AZ out of Common Core/PARCC Testing Group
For More Information:
Emails Show Arizona Education Officials Intimidated Anti-Common Core Teacher: Called him a F*CKTARD
Arizona Education Worker Disciplined over E-mail Slur
Diane Douglas, Candidate for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction
Frank Riggs for Arizona Governor
An English Language Arts Curriculum Framework for American Public Schools by Dr. Sandra Stotsky
Dr. James Milgram – Common Core Forum Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Sandra Stotsky – Common Core Forum, Part 1 Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Sandra Stotsky – Common Core Forum, Part 2, Baton Rouge, LA
Common Core’s Validation: A Weak Foundation for a Crooked House
Teachers Revolt Over Common Core Tests
Tom Horne Brought Common Core to Arizona
Common Core Globalization: Fact and Fiction
The History of Common Core Standards
Those 24 Common Core 2009 Work Group Members
Mercedes Schneider: Who are the 24 People Who Wrote the Common Core Standards?
Building the Machine: The Common Core Documentary
Child Psychologist Dr. Megan Koschnick Explains Why Common Core Standards are Inappropriate for K-3
What’s Wrong with Arizona’s Common Core Standards? (aka ACCS)