Press Release: State Board Of Education Has Two New Members
The Maryland State Board of Education welcomed two new members today.
Chester E. Finn, Jr., Ed.D. of Montgomery County and Andy Smarick of
Queen Anne’s County were appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to fill two
seats on the 12-member board vacated by the departures of Charlene M.
Dukes, Ed.D. and Donna Hill Staton, Esq., whose terms ended in 2014...
~~~~
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Andy Smarick
*facepalm*
ReplyDeleteI just can't even. :-(
I did some digging on these guys. Chester Finn wrote an article earlier this year for NY Daily News saying that we should "stand up and appaud" for Cuomo's pro-voucher agenda. Smarick is so fervently supportive of charter schools that he has promoted the "demotion" or "cessation" of the school district in favor of charter takeover. http://pgcabs.org/2015/05/21/maryland-state-board-of-educations-newest-members-support-charters-vouchers-high-stakes-testing/
ReplyDeletePeople should have seen this coming. It's not as if Hogan hid that he is a republican. To appoint a member of the Hoover Institute ... wow... very far right. Maybe he didn't say how far right he is, but he knew he couldn't get elected and be honest about that. I'm sure he's got more cuts to public education coming and more pushes for vouchers and charter schools throughout the state.
ReplyDeleteTrue - but he also ran in part on an anti-Common Core platform; I know a number of MD parents who voted for him on that issue alone. (I was not one of them, FWIW.) Appointing 2 people affiliated with one of the more rabidly pro-Common Core organizations around has already raised a lot of ire among many of those parents.
Delete