TO ALL PARENTS:

As I have researched the Common Core, unlike the pro common core propaganda claims, I have read and listened to both sides. For the purpose of this letter, I will not refer to any of the groups I am going to mention here as unions or trade organizations. They are advocacy groups.

The National Education Association (NEA), South Dakota Education Association (SDEA), and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are all advocacy groups for teachers. (When you study what the education reform agenda, through the use of common standards and data, and what those things will do to do to the teaching profession, that is debatable. But that is a subject for another day.) The National School Boards Association (NSBA) and Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD) are advocacy groups for local school boards. (Same disclaimer as for teacher advocacy groups.) The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), and School Administrators of South Dakota (SASD) advocate for school administrators. (Same disclaimer as teacher advocacy.) The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA) advocate for the wants of those offices. There are many more, but you get the idea.

There is not one advocacy group that is pushing for the Common Core that has the best interest of your children at heart. Those groups all have an agenda. And that agenda is not always what is best for your child.

You are the advocacy group for your children. When you put your voices together, they can be heard louder than all those advocacy groups put together. You proved that you are a force during the legislative session. Parents have been kept in the dark about what is going on in education. One of the ways to defeat the initiative of the Common Core is to shine a light into the darkness. It’s time to shine a light on the SBAC Field Test happening this spring in South Dakota schools without informed consent from parent/guardian. Prisoners cannot be used for research purposes without their informed consent. Don’t our children deserve the same right?

South Dakota Students Assisting Taxpayer Funded Consortium

Sioux Falls Catholic Schools Withdraw from SBAC Field Test

I’m asking you to:

• Contact your superintendent, and your principal and share your concerns about your child being used, without your consent, as a research project for the SBAC field test. If you start a dialogue with them, you might be surprised to learn that some of them share your concerns. Tell them you do not consent to your child being used for research for the SBAC Field Test..
• Contact your local school board members. How many school board members really know what this state mandate really is? Like parents, most of them have not been told. They too have been kept in the dark. Tell them you do not consent to your child being used for research for the SBAC Field Test..
• Write a letter to the editor to your local paper. How many parents don’t know that the state is using their children in this research project?
• Call or write Governor Daugaard this week. Share your concerns. Ttell him you do not consent to your child being used research for the SBAC Field Test.. If you don’t know what to say or where to start, you can start with some of the things here. When you email the governor, put “Not With My Child” in the subject line. When you call the governor, have your concerns written down so you can be sure to share all of them.

It’s time to flood those people with the voice of the largest advocacy group in America. The voices of parents and guardians.  Go.