How Dale Erquiaga took a bad situation and made it worse

When covering for our misdeeds, as children, my siblings and I would shout out our innocence, with confidence that the power of decibels was all that was needed to secure our mother’s allegiance in our lying tongues. Her reply was always the same, “the guilty scream loudest.”

I have no doubt that Dale Erquiaga, Nevada's Superintendent of Public Instruction, was heard from the Pacific Islands to the Mississippi River on the morning of January 14, 2015, as he cried foul in a sad attempt to deflect attention from the unprofessional (I’m being very polite here) behavior of the Associate Superintendent, Steve Canavero, toward visiting guest professors James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky.

For those of you who managed to miss this incredible evening of fact and fantasy, here is a short narrative:

Citizens for Sound Academic Standards invited Professors James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky to Nevada to participate in an educational forum with the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) on Tuesday evening, January 13, 2015. The NDE accepted an invitation to seat a two member panel. There was no secret that Professors Stotsky and Milgram were here to speak on the concerns and shortfalls of Common Core State Standards. It was clearly established beforehand that this was a symposium, that would allow for public review of the standards, with the professors speaking against the standards and the NDE speaking for the standards.

Here is the link to the video for the entire forum: http://nvleg.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=6c8cf2b4-9c10-11e4-bf66-f04da2064c43.

The aforementioned unprofessional behavior is at the 1:36 mark when the moderator announces he is allowing a teacher to give a two minute speech on Common Core. Dr. Stotsky objected saying this was not an appropriate question for the panel. To which, in my opinion Canavero loses his manners and speaks to Dr. Stotsky in such a tone it was painful to watch – even from the remote live-streaming location in LasVegas.

At that point I had no doubt a full and sincere apology would be forthcoming from the NDE the moment cooler heads prevailed but alas I woke up Wednesday morning to find this gem screaming across my computer screen:

Statement From Superintendent Erquiaga Regarding the Symposium on Common Core For Immediate Release Wednesday, January 14, 2015

STATEMENT FROM STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION DALE ERQUIAGA REGARDING THE SYMPOSIUM ON COMMON CORE

Carson City, Nevada – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga today issued the following statement regarding the Nevada Department of Education’s participation in the Symposium on Common Core in Fallon:

“The Nevada Department of Education was invited by the Citizens for Sound Academic Standards to participate in a forum they organized in Carson City to discuss the Nevada Academic Content Standards based on Common Core. The organizers invited two professors from out-of-state to participate in the forum. As with all requests to engage in a discussion about Nevada standards, my staff invited Nevada teachers to participate in this discussion. I consider our educators to be the most credible and knowledgeable speakers about Nevada’s standards. This fact was communicated to the organizers and to the legislator who reserved the room in Carson City. When my staff arrived at the forum last night, they were abruptly notified that the Department’s teacher presenters, including an associate superintendent and educators from the Carson City School District, would not be allowed to speak at the forum. Attempts by my staff to provide teachers a voice in the conversation about their standards were met with a disrespectful, if not aggressive, response. Worse, one of the organizers physically removed a Nevada educator invited to speak on behalf of the Department; that educator filed assault charges with Legislative Police earlier today.

This is not the Nevada way of engaging in public discourse. I am compelled to denounce the Citizens for Sound Academic Standards and the visiting professors for silencing Nevada teachers to speak at a public forum and for resorting to intimidation tactics before and during the meeting to silence teacher voices. There is room for differences of opinion on this topic, but I cannot support participation in a forum that incites bullying and censorship. Department staff will not participate in the Symposium on Common Core scheduled to occur in Fallon tonight, or any other event involving these organizers and their out-of-state professors. Furthermore, I expect these individuals to apologize to Nevada educators.”

Instead of seizing the opportunity to calm the masses and save something of the shredded reputation of the NDE by way of a public apology to the invited guest professors, Dale Erquiaga goes in the complete opposite direction by throwing gasoline on the burning flames of the NDE’s embarrassing behavior, thereby elevating the entire situation to absurd levels. Unbelievable. (For those of you who remember The Twilight Zone – that’s where I thought I was Wednesday morning.)

Mr. Erquiaga left out key factors in his statement. First of all, as mentioned previously, there was an agreement in place between the organization Citizens for Sound Academic Standards and the NDE that stated that there would be two persons per panel to be decided upon prior to the evening of the public review. C4SAS had invited Professors Milgram and Stotsky as mentioned above and the NDE had chosen Steve Canavero and Judy Osgood, Public Information Officer. It was not to be a rotating panel of guest speakers decided upon as the clocked ticked! (Note: At the start of the forum the moderator states that the NDE is not in their seats. According to eye witnesses in Carson City that is because they were off to the side trying to renegotiate the agreement by changing their panel participants.)

Mr. Erquiaga also left out the fact that the professors were gracious enough to allow for a mid-event change-out of Ms. Osgood for a teacher, Mr. Grossman. Mr. Grossman is on special assignment to promote Common Core State Standards through his program, Core Task Project, in the Washoe County School District.

Following is an excerpt from Missouri Education Watchdog who posted on the event January 15, 2015.

When listening to the discussions in the audience during these procedural disruptions by Mr. Canavaro one could hear the words "cry-baby", "petulant", "rude", disorganized". Parents applauded when Mr. Canavero said that in all his years he had NEVER had a teacher be denied the right to give their input. I listened to a radio talk show this morning that centered on this event; I was only able to hear parts of it. All of the callers that I heard who had attended were appalled and embarrassed by our Nevada Department of Education, as was I. Over the decades I have worked with many good people in that department, but there has been an organizational change in the last few years and now the DoE is an arm of the Governor's office. There isn't even the pretense of parental participation in our schools.

This front-row narrative confirms what we witnessed via the live stream from Las Vegas. Additionally, in watching the video with the luxury of replay I was able to hear Mr. Canavero while he argued to have a second teacher give a speech, “The teacher could be speaking against it.”

Now that is laughable. I don’t believe for one second that Canavero would press for a teacher to have a full two minutes of uninterrupted talk time to speak against Common Core State Standards.

I found this posted comment under the Nevada Journal’s announcement of the event particularly on point. “As a math teacher at one of the local school districts, I would like it known that teachers who do not fully support common core are being told they should not attend these meetings. The state only wants teachers who support the new standards and practices to share their positive experiences to attend these meetings.”

Now that sounds like “the Nevada way of engaging in public discourse."

I can only speculate as to whether Mr. Canavero found himself overmatched and panicked or he just stubbornly refuses to admit that the state of Nevada, like the many other states, was hoodwinked into taking on these ill-thought out educational standards. However, there is no question that the representatives from the Nevada Department of Education treated the invited professors badly and then made matters worse by releasing an emotional statement that brought nothing to the credibility of the state.

For what it's worth, on behalf of my children, Professor Milgram and Professor Stotsky, I thank you for all of your efforts.

#stotsky #milgram #nevada #commoncore #debate #symposium #carsoncity