Williamson passes resolution addressing Common Core

By a unanimous 12-0 vote, the Williamson County school board on Monday night addressed its concerns about Common Core State Standards by voting for a resolution in support of more local control in their district.

The board revised its original resolution (see full text below) before Monday's vote to eliminate "negative" language. While the bulk of the resolution remained the same, the ending was changed.

The original wording stated that the board "stands opposed to Common Core-derived standards and in favor of educational standards and decision-making being driven by local control of the education process. That wording was changed to the board "stands in support of locally derived educational standards and decision making."

Board member Kenneth Peterson said, "The fact that we were able to draft something that supported both means to an end, with regards that we don't control Common Core at the local level, but it also sends a message that we want local control."

Board member Dr. Beth Burgos said Monday's resolution changes the tone in Williamson County. She said the bottom line is a quest for local control and she would ultimately like to see Common Core repealed in Tennessee.

"Tonight was about moving forward as a board," she said.

The school board had held a work session on Thursday to address several topics, but none was as heated as the Common Core issue.

During Thursday's meeting, school board member Bobby Hullett had proposed that the board hold off for a month before voting on the issue so board members could talk to their constituents. He also proposed polling teachers to gain a general consensus.

Even though both of his proposals were rejected, Hullett appeared to be upbeat after the close of Thursday's meeting.

"It's now a resolution that seems to be a resolution that we can all get behind. It seemed a lot more positive than negative," Hullett said.

However, while some see the measure as an anti-Common Core move against an overreaching federal government, others see it purely as a political move.

Regardless, nothing physically changes for Williamson County teachers, parents or students.

Speaking of parents, Donna Sava, a parent who has twin boys in the county school system, interrupted Thursday's work session to take a stance on Common Core. Sava said that passing a resolution wouldn't help anyone but that it would only create more division.

"Common Core Standards are not going to go away," she said Thursday. "They can't do away, as a board, with Common Core. It's something that the state has agreed to be a part of. It's not like we are the stepchildren who were left out in the dark. We chose, as a state, to do that," she said.

Sava said this tension is driven by a disagreement in politics and it has no business on the school board.

Williamson County school board resolution

Here is the resolution the school board had proposed regarding Common Core State Standards. The wording of this resolution was changed to remove "negative" language.

WHEREAS, the Williamson County Board of Education holds student achievement and educational growth as

two of its highest responsibilities; and

WHEREAS, the Williamson County Board of Education strongly supports and is proud of the challenging,

rewarding and excellent work performed by its teachers, administration and staff members; and

WHEREAS, Williamson County Schools consistently achieves high outcomes in student learning, and has

been declared a high performing school district under the High Performing School Districts Flexibility Act; and

WHEREAS, the Williamson County Board of Education strongly supports local control of issues and decisions

that have an impact on education in our local schools; and

WHEREAS, the Williamson County Board of Education favors standards and curricula emphasizing critical

thinking and analytical skills over rote skill repetition, constant and continuous testing, and data-mining for

evaluating student performance; and

WHEREAS, Williamson County Schools has already added additional rigorous standards to those established

by the State of Tennessee, in the form of "Williamson County Expectations" or "WCE's"; and

WHEREAS, Williamson County Schools has recently been granted additional authority to further develop

local standards that meet or exceed Tennessee expectations; and

WHEREAS, Tennessee's current Reading Language Arts and Mathematics standards are based on Common

Core State Standards; and

WHEREAS, the educational standards such as Common Core State Standards that are nationally applicable

and not locally controlled may be contrary to several existing laws when implemented in Tennessee, including

but not limited to, the General Education Provisions Act ("GEPA"), codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1232(a); T.C.A. §

49-1-309; and S.J.R. 491, 108th General Assembly of the State of Tennessee (2014).

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS:

The Williamson County Board of Education stands opposed to Common Core-derived standards and in favor of

educational standards and decision-making being driven by local control of the education process.