We’ve received NUMEROUS complaints about former Board of Ed member Christopher Stewart when he opposed parents in Manchester who vocalized their opposition to the Common Core Standards. Parents throughout the city attended school board hearings demanding better academics for their children. It was the best example of democracy in action for the children, one could hope for.
How did Christopher Stewart respond? By voting against the parents and maintaining the dumbed down Common Core standards for his school district.
Now Stewart has moved on to another Obama initiative, early childhood education. In other words, Obama wants the taxpayers to fund universal pre-school for all!! Stewart seems to be Obama’s man to get that done in New Hampshire.
Recently Stewart, along with his colleague Meryl Levin who are co-chairs of the Don’t Wait. Educate wrote an article in the Manchester Union Leader calling upon local candidates to sign a pledge supporting this tax initiative.
They refer to studies by saying, “Studies show kids without access to quality early learning programs fall further and further behind as they move through school. They have an increased probability of behavioral issues in class. They are more likely to live in poverty or commit crimes in adulthood.” – See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20151008/OPINION02/151009183#sthash.BRAHtqH6.dpuf However they provide no studies to back up their claims.
Many children who attend pre-school in New Hampshire enter the public school system only to fall behind the longer they attend public school. If you look at the past standardized test scores, you will see that children in the early grades tend to score higher than the children in the higher grades. In other words, the longer a child remains in the New Hampshire public school system, the further they fall behind. (Source: NECAP standardized test scores)
What did Stewart do when parents in Manchester came to him and asked that the Board vote to develop higher and better quality standards? He voted against them.
How can anyone take him seriously now?
Why is he focusing attention on early education when there is sufficient data that shows early childhood education isn’t effective?
The United States Department of Education called for independent studies on early childhood education. In both of these studies, early childhood education was not effective on student outcomes. Stewart failed to share this information in his article.
Now his organization is targeting candidates who are not foolish enough to jump on his tax and spend bandwagon knowing that with limited resources available, maybe it’s better to invest in fixing our k-12 public schools in Manchester. The district he didn’t support as an elected member of the board.
Who really supports public education? The board member trying to tax you so you pay for a program that has no proven success ? Or the good people who wanted to uplift all children, k-12, in the Manchester school district?
We want to make it clear that we do NOT oppose pre-school for children. In fact, if this is something that a parent feels is good for their child, we stand behind those parents.
However there are many children who do not need to be forced into a pre-school program because Obama and Stewart think a comprehensive approach to pre-school is necessary for all children.
Let parents decide what’s good for their kids.
If Stewart wants to help the children in attend pre-school, why not look to fundraising efforts? Why try to force candidates to support a comprehensive tax and spend policy that has NO track record of actual success?
Obama wants universal pre-school because that is part of the Common Core agenda. Children are now considered human capital for the workforce and getting them into early childhood education is a must. It’s in their literature.
Don’t be fooled by another big government, tax and spender like Stewart. His track record on the Board of School Committee speaks for itself. If he really cared about the quality of education our children deserve, he would have voted in support of the parents.