Common Core draws more fire

Passion over the Common Core standards poured out Tuesday night at the Terrebonne Parish School Board meeting, where two school board members went on record saying they opposed the curriculum.

Gregory Harding, who represents District 2, said his 7-year-old son has been having more homework and more difficult homework since the district has transitioned to the new standards.

“I’m opposed to Common Core,” he said. “I can feel the pinch … Maybe it should have been phased in better than it was.”

Harding’s comments were met with applause from a group of parents opposed to Common Core in the audience. Several of whom expressed a myriad of their own concerns during the public comment section earlier in the meeting.

Debi Benoit, a school board member representing District 4, cited problems over the effectiveness of the curriculum.

“I second what Mr. Harding just said,” she said. “I will work to support whatever we can do to make sure it does change.”

School Board President Roger “Dale” DeHart said concerned parents need to voice their concerns to lawmakers because changes will have to come through state legislation.

“Until then, we have to do the best job to be successful,” he said, adding Terrebonne Parish is following the state’s mandate.

Endorsed by the National Governors Association, and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core set rigorous benchmarks for Louisiana and 45 other states, with the goal to raise the quality of education and students’ performance.

However, several local parents raised concerns about an invasion of privacy, an invasion of states’ rights, and a possible federal takeover of education.

Vicky Bonvillain, a parent in Montegut, asked to be placed on the meeting’s agenda because she was concerned about the literature associated with Common Core.

“I’m going to stay on the agenda until this gets out of the schools,” she told T-PT, in a separate interview. “The literature is inappropriate and the topics are irrelevant for our school. Movies are rated. This type of literature needs to be rated as well.”

Bonvillain said one of the books on the approved Common Core reading list is “What Presidents are Made of,” a picture book for second-graders, written by Hanoch Piven.

“It’s critical towards certain presidents,” she said. “Whether or not it goes in our system, it shouldn’t be out there for Core Curriculum in any school system.

She said the book is slanted, favoring some presidents over others. For example, a passage about President George W. Bush said:

“George W. Bush is the first president to have owned a baseball team. Before he was president, he bought a share in the Texas Rangers. Bush loves baseball, but he didn’t buy the team just for fun. He paid less than a million dollars for his share and sold it later for more than fifteen million.”

In the same book, a passage about President Bill Clinton read:

“He also loves to read, to play jazz saxophone, and to talk. One of his teachers in grade school even gave him a C for raising his hand too often.”

Bonvillain said another Common Core book for high school students mentions Christian extremists gunning down doctors and nurses in abortion clinics.

“I don’t agree with it,” she said. “It’s very misleading towards Christians. A true Christian would not gun down anybody. They should just leave Christians out of it.”

Bonvillain said Common Core approved books, such as “The Whole Story of Half a Girl,” by Veera Hiranandani, promotes bi-racial understanding unnecessarily.

“Our kids already accept everybody if they’re raised right,” she said. “Why do they have these books that criticize the presidents? They’re teaching us who we can criticize and who we can’ criticize. If homosexuals and prochoice people can fight for their rights, why can’t straight Christian people fight for their rights without being labeled discriminating?”

Her plans are to bring several of these books to the Dec. 3 school board meeting. Bonvillain said she was pleased that two of the board members have already spoken out against Common Core.

“I admire them,” she said. “More people need to take a stand for the children.”

Common Core