Exeter Democrats decided to protest Commissioner Frank Edelblut today on the streets in Exeter. It seems that the Democrats who reside there have decided to go after the Commissioner since he dared to expose the bias and political indoctrination happening at some of the schools in New Hampshire.
In this picture you can see Patrick O’Day (far left) who serves on the Exeter Elementary School Board. He was was re-elected this year but claimed to be nonpolitical. Well that doesn’t appear to be true.
While I haven’t agreed with every decision by Commissioner Edelblut, I certainly stand with him when he exposes their political bias that some of the teachers have brought into their classroom. Public schools serve a diverse group of families, and that should be respected. When a few teachers decide to push their political views on someone else’s children, it shows their intolerance and disrespect for some of the families they are supposed to serve.
You can watch his presentation to The New Hampshire Board of Education here:
How does Commissioner Edelblut know about what is going on in some of our schools? Because parents send him this information, just like they send it to me. I suspect Commissioner Edelblut is fed up with the state of public education like many of us are.
What does Commissioner Edelblut want? What the rest of us want: quality public schools.
While enrollment continues to decline, we are out here begging and pleading with school administrators to refocus their attention on quality academics. But as you can see, if you point to the real problems that plague public schools, the radicalized progressives on the left will attack YOU.
What does this mean in terms of math education in SAU16?
SAU16 has been struggling ever since David Ryan became Superintendent in SAU16. One of his initiatives was to inject a BIG DOSE of Critical Race Theory into the district. This radical political agenda was not only aimed at the teachers via 2Revolutions, it was also aimed at the children too.
This isn’t the first time Ryan proposed pushing more politics in the classroom. Take a look at this video from the time he was serving as Assistant Superintendent in Manchester. He proposed turning children into community activists. This isn’t how you educate children, this is how you turn them into illiterate political operatives.
Parents in Manchester, and now parents from SAU16, see that school rankings and academic outcomes are dropping. Many parents in SAU16 came together to speak up at school board meetings this past year, and organize to elect residents to the school board who are committed to focusing on quality academics. Improving the academics will improve the public schools.
These parents didn’t care what political party you were associated with, they cared about whether you would serve on the board, and represent parents and residents who wanted to improve the quality of public education in SAU16. These are the people who care about public education, not the ones holding signs who refuse to work on fixing the problems.
While these Exeter Democrats are out wasting time protesting the Commissioner, other parents were talking about the dismal math education their children received while attending school in SAU16.
This conversation started when Bonnie Royal posted that she was looking for summer school options for her high school junior who didn’t do well with Honors pre-Calculus. Someone suggested going to the Russian School of Math. That was a fantastic suggestion! This conversation was continued by other parents who acknowledged that the children in 4 classes (2 honors pre-calc and 2 pre-calc) all bombed the last test. Then it was reported that the kids didn’t receive a foundation in Algebra II that they needed last year from in-person and remote learning.
Have children in the school been tested to see where the gaps in learning exist? Parents deserve answers. Parents will sometimes think it’s their child, but Common Core math is a setup for failure. When your school district fails your children, many parents will then turn to find help outside the school district.
The Russian School of Math is an EXCELLENT suggestion, but you should know that when public schools use dumbed-down Common Core math, it drives families to private tutoring services. Sometimes parents just pull their kids out of the public schools, and send them somewhere that teaches children real math.
The Russians know how to teach math, SAU16 does not. How do I know this? Because Russian children finished higher than American children on the international TIMSS test.
Paul Royal and the Exeter Democrats should ask David Ryan why he doesn’t give the TIMSS test to the children in SAU16. It’s the best international test in math and science you can give to children. But then more of you would know how children in many other countries are outperforming your children. Why doesn’t the Democrats in Exeter take their activism and fight for improving math education in the district?
For more information on why your children are being set up to fail in SAU16, take a look at these videos from one of the top mathematicians in this country. He will show you how Russians teach their children math compared to the convoluted ways we allow math to be taught in our schools.
You see SAU16 parents, your children have been set up to fail.
Instead of ignoring this glaring problem, why don’t you reevaluate your math program in your school. Common Core Math will not prepare your children for top math, science and engineering schools. How do I know this? Because the lead writer for Common Core Math admitted it in this meeting:
Jason Zimba was the lead writer for the Common Core Math. He admits that Common Core does not prepare students for top colleges. Take a look at this article from NPR. The man behind Common Core Math has to tutor his own children because of the failure that has come from using Common Core Math in the public schools.
Every Saturday morning at 10 a.m., Jason Zimba begins a math tutoring session for his two young daughters with the same ritual. Claire, 4, draws on a worksheet while Abigail, 7, pulls addition problems written on strips of paper out of an old Kleenex box decorated like a piggy bank.
“I would be sleeping in if I weren’t frustrated,” Zimba says of his Saturday-morning lessons, which he teaches in his pajamas. He feels the math instruction at Abigail’s public elementary school in Manhattan is subpar — even after the school switched to the Common Core State Standards.
But Zimba, a mathematician by training, is not just any disgruntled parent. He’s one of the guys who wrote the Common Core.
Did David Ryan ever tell you, Paul Royal, that your child was being set up to fail when your child reaches the higher level math classes? Let me guess: NO.
It’s a little late to try to catch up now. Maybe the Russian School of Math can offer you some damage control, but you should be demanding that the Superintendent to fix this problem. The children who’ve left for private, home-schools and parochial schools, are not suffering.
Why is it, so many home-school moms can choose the best math for their kids, but an over-paid Superintendent can’t figure out a quality math program to use that set public-school children up for success?
What would Dr. James Milgram suggest you use in SAU16? He’s suggested Singapore Math Primary series. HINT: Singapore children score at the TOP on the TIMSS international math test. Take a look at the Algebra text books by Mary Dolciani if you want to see a good one. Reach out to Dr. Milgram, he would be happy to guide your district towards quality math textbooks for your children- and he would probably do it for free. When your superintendent is failing your children, there are other sources you can use.
To the Exeter Democrats, it appears that it is easier to blame the Commissioner for exposing the social engineering happening in schools across New Hampshire, and ignore the real problems that plague your district. Isn’t it time to stop the destruction of public education, and start to work on what will improve the public schools?
To the parents who are avoiding this disaster in SAU16, CHEERS TO YOU. Your children may have a real chance at getting into top math, science or engineering college if that is where they would like to go.
Additional Resource:
Missing or Delayed in Common Core’s Mathematics Standards
Presented at National Principals Leadership Institute (NPLI), July 2014
Kindergarten – Grade 7:
- CC does not require proficiency with addition and subtraction until Grade 4 (a grade behind our international competitors).
- CC does not require proficiency with multiplication using the standard algorithm (step-by-step procedure for calculations) until Grade 5 (a grade behind standard expectations).
- CC does not require proficiency with division using the standard algorithm until Grade 6 (two grades behind our international competitors).
- CC starts teaching decimals in Grade 4 (about two years behind the more rigorous states).
- CC fails to teach in K-7 key geometrical concepts (e.g., sum of angles in a triangle, isosceles and equilateral triangles, etc.).
- Excludes fluent conversion between different forms of fractions – regular fractions, decimals, and percents
- CC fails to teach prime factorization. Consequently, it does not include teaching about least common denominators or greatest common factors.
Algebra 1: Missing components needed for Algebra 2 and Calculus:
1. Division of monomials and polynomials (only addition/subtraction/multiplication are covered)
2. Derivation and understanding of slopes of parallel and perpendicular lines
3. Manipulation and simplification of rational expressions
4. Multi-step problems with linear equations and inequalities
5. Multi-step problems with four operations between polynomials
6. Multi-step problems involving manipulation of rational expressions
7. Solving two linear inequalities in two variables and sketching the solution sets
The following were added to California’s Common Core version:
8. Solve problems with equations and inequalities with absolute value
9. Solve problems with quadratic expressions
Algebra 2: Missing components needed for Calculus
- composite functions
- combinations and permutations
- finite and infinite arithmetic and geometric sequences
- mathematical induction