Upper Arlington City Schools Mislead on Common Core

As a citizen of the City of Upper Arlington, Ohio, and a graduate of the Upper Arlington City Schools many years ago, I was curious whether my local school district had adopted the controversial Common Core standards. "Common Core" is the official name for the standards, not a deliberately derogatory name.  There is an apparently official website promoting the so-called standards by that name: corestandards.org.  (I call them so-called standards, because apparently they fail the ANSI standard to be called a standard.)

The Upper Arlington City School District has a fine reputation in the past for educating students.  If these standards are such a great idea for our schools, why does my school district run from the name "Common Core" and pretend that they are merely following a new set of "state standards"?  Check out the Upper Arlington City Schools web site.  You will search in vain for the correct name for these standards, "Common Core."

I can only conclude that the web site is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.  The District knows that Common Core is controversial, so the District has adopted a technically correct euphemism for Common Core in Ohio.  The standards are widely known as "Common Core" in Ohio and nationally.  As the public learns about Common Core, states are beginning to opt out, e.g., Indiana.  Parents, students and teachers are protesting.  The District runs from the Common Core name to keep the public uninformed about the reality of the District's adoption of Common Core.

As a voter, my message will be a clear "vote no" at the next education levy campaign by the Upper Arlington City School District.