Tag Archives: ParentalRights

URGENT MEETING: Parental Rights on Surveys

If you recall, there was an effort to help pass important legislation last session that would have required PARENTAL WRITTEN PERMISSION before the school could SURVEY your children.

Rep. Terry Wolf worked hard to remove “written permission” from the original bill. She along with the survey company representative succeed and the original bill was watered down.

In the new bill that was passed, they are now going to set up a “Study Committee”. It’s important to again, attend the meeting where select legislators will meet to discuss whether this is important or not.

AS it stands, parents do have the right to “opt out” their children on these invasive surveys, however we know that often times, parents are not aware that they are being given and they have no idea the kinds of questions being asked of their children.

There was OVERWHELMING support for the original bill but Rep.Wolf who said this was a “local” decision in her testimony (what’s MORE local than parental permission?) and the survey representative said if parents were required to give written permission, they would not get the large number of completed surveys.

We heard testimony from one school board member who said a teacher in NH made the students stand up in her class to answer questions. This meant all of the students and teacher saw exactly how the students answered these personal and invasive questions.

Some surveys we’ve seen include questions on whether there is a gun in the home, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and so on. (see link below)

It’s important to keep the pressure on our legislators to require an OPT in provision on these surveys. This is a parental rights issue.

DATE: September 2
Time: 11:00 am
WHERE: Legislative office building behind the State House room 102

If you CANNOT make it to the meeting, it’s important to make sure these legislators know that we expect them to support parental rights.

If you know these legislators or live in their district, give them a call or e-mail them
Thank you

Rep. John Balcom: john.balcom@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Terry Wolf: terry.wolf@leg.state.nh.us
Senator Kevin Avard: Kevin.Avard@leg.state.nh.us
Rep. Barbara Shaw: beshaw3@comcast.net
Rep. Rick Ladd: ladd.nhhouse@charter.net
Rep. Ken Weyler: kweyler@aol.com
Rep. Mary Gile: Mary.Gile@leg.state.nh.us

For more info:
Rep. Terry Wolf Working To Deny Parental Rights in NH
What Are They Asking My Children
NH Gun Owners Beware

Time for a Good Old Fashioned Boycott New Hampshire!

BIA has been an ACTIVE and VOCAL supporter of Common Core in NH. They’ve actively lobbied AGAINST PARENTAL RIGHTS.

The BIA is the Chamber of Commerce and the National Chamber has received LARGE $$ donations from the Gates Foundation who is the $$ behind Common Core.

Below is a list of individuals serving on the Board at the BIA.
Feel free to distribute this information.

What can you do?
Contact these companies and tell them you do NOT want the BIA supporting dumbed down standards in OUR public schools. Tell them that we will actively BOYCOTT their company/products and expose their anti-public school /parental rights agenda.

Board of Directors
Officers

Sharron McCarthy, Chair
President/Publisher, McLean Communications

Val Zanchuk, Chair-elect
President, Graphicast

Donald Welch, Past Chair
President, Globe Manufacturing Co. LLC

Karl Heafield, Treasurer
Principal and Past Managing Partner, Baker Newman Noyes

Scott Ellison, Secretary
Partner, Cook Little Rosenblatt and Manson

Jim Roche, President, Business and Industry Association of NH
Directors

Donald Baldini, AVP and Senior Legislative Counsel
Liberty Mutual Group

Todd Black, SVP External Affairs and Customer Relations
Unitil

Kevin Callahan, President and CEO
Exeter Health Resources Inc.

Joseph Carelli, President NH/VT
Citizens Bank

Cheryl Coletti, VP Business Development
Boston Asset Management

Richard Couch, Chairman of the Board
Hypertherm Inc.

Tim Dining, President
Sealite USA LLC

Linda Fanaras, President
Millennium Integrated Marketing

Suzanne Foster, Vice President and General Manager
Medtronic Advanced Energy

Katherine Garfield, President
Robert R. Keller Companies

Bryan Granger, SVP, Compliance and Administration
C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc.

Lisa Guertin, President and General Manager
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in NH

Pamela Hall, President
Normandeau Associates

Randall Labnon, General Manager
Town and Country Inn and Resort

Todd Leach, Chancellor
University System of New Hampshire

Stephen LeBlanc, Executive Vice President
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health

Paul Markwardt, VP/Deputy General Manager
BAE Systems

John Morison, Chairman
Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc.

Joseph Murray, Vice President of Public Affairs
Fidelity Investments

John Olson, President
Whelen Engineering Inc.

Bill Quinlan, President and COO
Eversource

Teresa Rosenberger, President
Devine Strategies

Timothy Sink, President
Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce

Thomas Sullivan, VP of Newport Operations
Sturm, Ruger and Company Inc.

Ray Tice, Chief Financial Officer
Lindt and Sprüngli

Alexander Walker, SVP for Operations & Strategic Development
Catholic Medical Center

Steven Webb, Market President NH
TD Bank

David Worthen, President
Worthen Industries

Who’s Working Against Parents In NH? We Are Naming Names

This year is proving to be quite the battle for parents who want control over their local schools versus allowing the Feds to run their schools with the help from the New Hampshire Dept. of Education.

We’ve highlighted pro-parent legislation like HB206 and how Rep. Terry Wolf (R-Bedford) removed written consent from parents, in an amendment, when their children are subjected to invasive surveys on controversial issues like sexual activity, gun ownership, drugs, alcohol, etc.

We’ve highlighted how SB101 was vetoed by Governor Hassan that simply clarified that schools do not have to adopt the Common Core standards. Chairman Raffio of the New Hampshire Board of Education also ignored the voices of parents and objected to SB 101. By placing SB101 in to statute, it would have helped parents who want to direct their local schools to use superior academic standards. Here is a list of State Reps who voted against parents (voted nay)

Democrats and a few Republicans have actively worked against parents and we hope we’ve managed to point out who those legislators are.

We’d like to keep pointing out a trend among the Democrats and a few Republicans who consistently oppose parental rights in New Hampshire. We’d also like to point out that you may actually be paying the salaries of lobbyists who also actively lobby against parental rights legislation too.

Let us remind you that just a few short years ago when Governor Lynch VETOED HB542 which gave parents the right to replace objectionable material (at their expense) that was assigned to their child.

Since then a few parents have exercised their right to replace materials that were assigned to their children that they found objectionable.

The law has worked great to help parents but it has also helped the schools too. How? Often times parents have to fight to remove objectionable material from the class and/or school. Now if one parent objects, they can simply replace the material for their children and not disrupt the class if the rest of the parents are fine with the assignment.

Who stood against parents?
1) Governor Lynch
2) Bill Duncan (who was appointed to the NH Board Of Education By Gov. Maggie Hassan
3 The Nashua Telegraph
4) UNH professors
5) NH School Administrators Association (check your school budget, chances are your taxes are paying this lobbyist)
6) The NH School Boards Association (Check your school budget, chances are your taxes are paying this lobbyist)
7) Lobbyists from the NEA-NH
8) NH Dept. of Education.

It’s important to take note of the same faces/lobbyists who continue to actively work against parents in New Hampshire.

Sources:
http://nhfamiliesforeducation.org/content/hb-542-proposes-end-discrimination-public-schools

https://unh-education-department.wikispaces.com/file/view/Policy_Brief_12-01_on_+HB-542.pdf

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/opinioneditorials/947655-263/parental-rights-law-goes-too-far.html

Senator Stiles (R) and the Democrats in the Senate Vote Against Parents

NH Senator Stiles (R) and the other Democrat Senators in NH vote “YES” to KILL HB 603. This continues to show parents that Democrats in NH along with a handful of Republicans continue to work against them.

Remember to thank these Senators for supporting parental rights in NH.

CALL or E-MAIL GOVERNOR HASSAN: Support Parental Rights

BIG NEWS: HB603 Passed the New Hampshire Senate today and is on the way to Governor Hassan’s desk.
Will she support parents on this important legislation, or will she veto HB603?
CONTACT GOVERNOR HASSAN
Office of the Governor
State House
107 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301
(603)271-2121
(603)271-7640 (fax)

How did your New Hampshire Senators vote?
All of the NH Democrat Senators and one Republican (Senator Nancy Stiles) voted AGAINST PARENTS. The rest of the Republicans in the NH Senate voted in support of parents and HB603.
This bill declares that a student exempted from taking the statewide assessment by the student’s parent or legal guardian shall not be penalized. The bill also requires a school district to provide an appropriate alternative educational activity for the time period during which the assessment is administered..

We’ve brought parents information on how bad the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) is. Parents who’ve made themselves aware and chose to refuse to let their child take the SBA, have always had the right to refuse the assessment for their children. However HB603 was needed because many administrators tied to mislead and bully parents into forcing their children to take it. We even heard from parents who had to hire an attorney to get their school administrators to acknowledge their parental rights.

We suspect the opponents of parental rights in NH still think there is a risk to federal funding IF NH Statute reflects a parent’s right to refuse. Unfortunately that sends a strong signal that $$ is more important than parental rights.

We also want everyone to be aware that we know of no state that’s lost federal dollars (OUR DOLLARS) because state laws acknowledges a parents right to refuse.

When you contact the Governor, let her know that there is NO excuse to deny a parent’s right to refuse. She doesn’t need to use $$ as an excuse to deny you of your rights.

Share this information with her: http://www.fairtest.org/why-you-can-boycott-testing-without-fear
As far as we know, no school or district anywhere in the country has ever been penalized for failing to test enough (95%) of its students. Further, seven states (Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California) have laws allowing opt out, and none have been sanctioned. Parents, students and teachers generally should not fear harmful consequences to their schools due to federal law if parents boycott standardized tests.

NH Senate Ed Committee Votes Against HB603 & Against NH Parents

New Hampshire parents, once again your rights are under attack by the Senate Education Committee.

The Senate Education Committee today voted 3 to 2 against parental rights (HB603) in New Hampshire. HB603 :
This bill declares that a student exempted from taking the statewide assessment by the student’s parent or legal guardian shall not be penalized. The bill also requires a school district to provide an appropriate alternative educational activity for the time period during which the assessment is administered..

HB603 would put into statute important legislation supportive of parental rights to opt out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

We know the numerous problems with the new Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA):
1) School Board Member and State Representative David Murotake testified that Nashua teachers said this about the SBA
a) totally grade level inappropriate
b) Seems the test was designed more as a psychological or sociological experiment, not as
a measure of academic learning
c) It is nothing less than child abuse for my special ed students in my classroom
2) According to Rasmussen: The Smarter Balanced Common Core Mathematics Tests Are Fatally Flawed and Should Not Be Used An In-Depth Critique of the Smarter Balanced Tests for Mathematics
3) Dr. Gary Thompson, License Child Psychologist calls the Common Core assessments: Cognitive Child abuse
4) Teacher in NY reports that the Common Core testing is child abuse

There is enough evidence to show that the Smarter Balanced Assessment should be halted in the state of New Hampshire. However since our Governor and her Commissioner ignore these warnings, it is up to the parents to step in if the school administrators will not.

Parents have the fundamental right to guide their child’s education and that is consistently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. However in this rush to chase federal dollars, concern for children is no longer taken into account. Yes parents, your children are now subjected to child abuse per trained professionals and medically licensed physicians so we can get our money back from the federal government. TALK ABOUT GREED.

HB603 is a valiant effort to ensure parents will have that right to refuse this abusive testing scheme.

Today April 28th, the Senate Education Committee voted “Inexpedient to legislate” on HB603. That means the majority, three of the five members, voted to KILL HB603 and deny you your parental rights. (Senators Stiles, Watters and Kelly) Why? Well as you can see in this video, Senator Stiles spells it out for you. She’s concerned about losing federal dollars.

Forget that this testing scheme may be harming children.
Forget that the Common Core math assessment is fatally flawed.
Forget that the questions are developmentally inappropriate for your children.
Forget that the Nashua teachers are warning parents about the serious problems with this assessment, Sen. Stiles makes it clear that her concern is over federal dollars.

So is she right? Does New Hampshire run the risk of losing federal dollars? And how much do we get annually from the feds? We all know how high our property taxes are each year and that’s where the majority of your school’s budget comes from.

On average schools receive less than 10% of their budget from the Feds. In other words, you pay over 90% through state and property taxes to your schools but your voice doesn’t matter. The feds pay less than 10% and that’s what Sen. Stiles is concerned about.

Since HB603 would put into statute a parent’s right to opt out of these bad assessments, let’s look at how that has impacted other states. Did they lose federal funding?

According to fairtest.org there is nothing to fear as Sen. Stiles would have you believe.
States, districts and schools sometimes claim they will lose federal Title I funds if parents, students or teachers boycott standardized tests required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As far as we know, no school or district anywhere in the country has ever been penalized for failing to test enough (95%) of its students. Further, seven states (Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California) have laws allowing opt out, and none have been sanctioned. Parents, students and teachers generally should not fear harmful consequences to their schools due to federal law if parents boycott standardized tests.

We’ve heard these threats before but where’s the PROOF? Where’s the proof Sen. Stiles that New Hampshire would lose federal dollars (OUR money) if we were to put in statute the parental rights we already posses?

Why are our elected representatives more concerned about pleasing the federal U.S. Department of Education bureaucrats more than the parents and residents who elect them?

We urge everyone to contact New Hampshire Senators and vote AGAINST the Committee recommendation to KILL HB603 and to support parents in New Hampshire.
Senators@leg.state.nh.us

NH Parents: Your “Parental RIGHTS” Are Under Assault Again

Parents your voices were silenced in the Senate Education Committee yesterday but you have one more opportunity to change that.

HB206 required school districts to adopt a policy regarding student participation in non-academic surveys or questionnaires. The original Bill required districts to obtain written consent from parents before they could survey your children on personal information including sexuality, drugs, alcohol, etc.

Parents from across the state wrote the committees and testified in support of this important legislation. Rep. Terry Wolf-R from Bedford watered down the language by removing written parental consent through an amendment in the House.

The watered down version passed the House and moved to the Senate Education Committee where more parents came out to support HB206 but demanded that written consent be added back.

We are sorry to report that in the Senate Education Committee, the entire Bill has been amended to a “study committee.” A study committee is where legislation goes to die.

We encourage you to scroll through one of the invasive surveys that was recently given to students in Bedford. http://www.girardatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Attitudes-Behaviors-Survey-1.pdf

The State does not have the right to walk into your home and gather information on your family without your consent. Why do they think they have the right to gather information on your family through your children without your consent?

There is still an opportunity to overturn this decision. Write your Senator and then send a copy to all of the senators (Senators@leg.state.nh.us) asking them to vote NO on the Study Committee Amendment and support an amendment that restores written consent to the original Bill.

Tell them it is their duty to uphold parental rights in New Hampshire.

Talking points:
1) VOTE NO on the AMENDMENT to send HB206 to a study Committee
2) Introduce and SUPPORT a floor Amendment that adds written consent to HB206
3) Vote to support HB206 with a floor Amendment that restores written consent
4) Their duty is to uphold our parental rights NOT undermine them

Parental RIGHTS Under Attack By Nashua Teacher

A Nashua teacher wants to undermine PARENTAL RIGHTS and eliminate the OPT OUT of objectionable materials in public school law. She’s working with the AFT union to ELIMINATE a law which protects parental rights.

Ultimately, these decisions should come from the parents. We’ve seen enough examples where teachers and schools exchange real science instruction for political indoctrination.

We encourage parents to engage their school administrators and teachers in an honest discussion on all subject material, however the decision still needs to be made by the parents.

In this case, the student remained in the class but the teacher still wants to remove the rights of the parents to be the one who makes this decision. That’s WRONG.

RSA 186-11 IX-c. Requires school districts to adopt a policy allowing an exception to specific course material based on a parent’s or legal guardian’s determination that the MATERIAL is OBJECTIONABLE. Such policy shall include a provision requiring the parent or legal guardian to notify the school principal or designee in writing of the specific material to which they object and a provision requiring an alternative agreed upon by the school district and the parent, at the parent’s expense, sufficient to enable the child to meet state requirements for education in the particular subject area. The name of the parent or legal guardian and ANY SPECIFIC REASONS disclosed to school officials for the objection to the material SHALL NOT BE PUBLIC INFORMATION and shall be excluded from access under RSA 91-A.

Maybe it’s time for a PARENTS UNION? Please reach out Ms. Miller and tell her parents rights trump hers. millera@nashua.edu

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/1061171-469/focus-on-evolution-climate-change-earn-nashua.html

Focus on evolution, climate change earn Nashua teacher adventure trip through Grand Canyon

By TINA FORBES

Staff Writer

NASHUA – A focus on teaching evolution helped a Nashua High School North science teacher win one of two scholarships in the country for an eight-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon.

Alyson Miller was awarded the scholarship by the National Center for Science Education along with a teacher in Fresno, Calif.

Miller said she was motivated last year after she had a student whose parents wanted her to opt out of learning about evolution in a high school biology class.

“Taking out evolution is like taking the tree trunk out of a tree,” Miller said. “You’re just left with a pile of leaves.”

Although the student ultimately didn’t leave her class, the policy allowing parents to opt students out of lessons they deem objectionable is state law: Chapter 186:11 IX-C.

“I couldn’t believe this law existed,” said Miller, who said she started looking into the law. She said although it appeared to be prompted by parental objection to sex education in health class, the language allows it to be applied to any course material if parents consider it objectionable.

This year, Miller secured the American Federation of Teacher-Leader grant designed to help teachers make policy changes and began working on finding a way to repeal the law. She’s working with an AFT lawyer to explore how to amend the law now.

“I’m looking to see if the policy has been used, how many times and if it’s been used in a science classroom,” she said.

Miller connected with the NCSE while researching the opt-out policy.

“The National Center for Science Education is kind of a ‘go to’ place for science leaders when you have a question on evolution or climate change,” Miller said. “They were so helpful. They sent back a whole lot of information.”

Miller noticed a posting for the Grand Canyon scholarship.

“I thought that would be really motivating, and a win-win. If I didn’t win the trip, I’d have a lesson plan really finely tuned,” she said, referring to the lesson plan she developed for the application.

Miller has been brushing up on geology in preparation for the trip, although she said experiencing science through nature is the best lesson.

“I’m thrilled to be learning about it,” she said. “I just really would like to bring back to my students something interesting.”

Read the rest of the article by clicking here

URGENT CALL TO ACTION: NH Parents

Senate Schedule 4/14/2015

1) 9:00 AM 4/14 LOB 103 HB 323, relative to the administration of the statewide assessment program.
Please attend this important hearing on testing and OPPOSE HB323.
If you cannot attend, please send an e-mail to: Senators@leg.state.nh.us

SUMMARY: Why to OPPOSE HB323:
* Cements in Competency Based Assessments through state law
* Doesn’t allow “opt outs” for parents if the assessments prove to be problematic
* Adds MORE testing, does not reduce testing
* Makes it difficult for any new Governor to remove CBE from NH schools
* Further dumbs down education instead of focusing on literacy and academic excellence
* Continues to put the State and Feds in control of curriculum instead of local school boards and parents
* CBE is dumbed down workforce training that focuses on dispositions, attitudes and workforce skills vs literacy
* CBE reduces the child down to “human capital” for the state vs. educating the student to the best of their ability

2) 9:20 AM 4/14 LOB 103 HB 603, relative to student exemption from the statewide assessment.
Please attend this hearing and SUPPORT HB603 or write the NH Senators: Senators@leg.state.nh.us
HB603 Protects a parent’s right to refuse the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Read more here: http://nhfamiliesforeducation.org/content/hb-603-protecting-right-refuse-statewide-testing-smarter-balanced-assessments

URGENT CALL TO ACTION:
Many parents e-mailed and attended the hearing on HB206. HB206 AN ACT relative to non-academic surveys or questionnaires given to students that originally included WRITTEN consent from parents before the school district could survey your children.

An amendment offered by Rep. Terry Wolf (R-Bedford) removed written consent and watered down the Bill.
Many parents testified before the NH SENATE Education Committee asking that written consent be put BACK in via an amendment. That has NOT been done and we are hearing that the Senate Ed. Committee will be IGNORING parents and voting against written consent. This is UNACCEPTABLE to the many parents who showed up to testify in support of parental rights.

PLEASE take your time this weekend to CALL the Senate Chair (John Reagan 603-463-5945) on the Senate Ed Committee. Ask him to LISTEN to the MANY parents who want to be fully informed on these surveys.

Here is a copy of a survey given to students in middle school last year: http://www.girardatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Attitudes-Behaviors-Survey-1.pdf

Talking points:
1) Respectfully discuss your concerns about surveys given to children in our schools
2) The Senators received a large number of e-mails from parents requesting written consent from parents
3) This legislation supports local control in education because it’s the parents who will be notified and informed.
4) How can they disregard the large number of parents who showed up to the hearing in support of HB206 WITH a written consent amendment
5) They should not be protecting company profits for survey companies but supporting parental rights

PARENTAL RIGHTS should be upheld by our elected representatives, not undermined!!! CALL TODAY
You can also call this number and leave a message for the Senate Education Committee members: Phone: 271-3091

AFT President Speaks Up For Parental Rights…..

We at Stop Common Core in NH want to THANK Randi Weingarten for issuing an important statement on a parent’s right to OPT out of the Common Core assessments.
We warned that the reform from the Obama Administration being facilitated by Governor Hassan was NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ON STEROIDS.

We are now seeing the fallout from this destructive education reform in NH. When will those who say they support teachers in NH start standing up for them? Why does the NH DoE and Commissioner Barry continue to fight parental rights?

Randi Weingarten is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator. She is president of the American Federation of Teachers and a member of the AFL-CIO. She is the former president of the United Federation of Teachers.

Stop Common Core NH

Save Our Public Schools