Controversial IB Program in Merrimack Valley Makes News Again

IB at MVSD Questioned for Lack of Transparency
Questions to MVSD School Board Member and State Rep Met with Profanity

This article comes after being alerted to a March 13 piece in the Concord Monitor entitled  "Boscawen voters: More transparency on International Baccalaureate program" that reported when a member of Boscawen’s budget committee (Bill Murphy) asked for more information on the cost of the International Baccalaureate Program at the school meeting he was met with a barrage of profanity from Ms. Lorrie Carey. You need to know that Ms. Carey is  a school board member who was recently elected to the House of Representatives.

[http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/nation/world/5084763-95/voters-board-boscawen-district]

Beneath the Monitor article are some comments from an MVSD school employee.

According to Bruce Currie, "The anti-IB campaign at MV was not initiated by anyone in the district. Instead, it was instigated by a woman living in Bedford, who claims to be a retired teacher."

Further he states (referring to this writer I assume) that "Discerning readers would have a hard time separating her opinions from those that appear on the JBS website."

Currie scoffs at the idea that the Monitor would withhold information provided them in 2009, the same information provided to Ms. Carey in 2009. He also mentions an "...anti-IB site that claims to have links to MVSD."

Let's debunk Currie's accusations/insinuations one by one:

1) "The anti-IB campaign at MV was not initiated by anyone in the district."  - FALSE

Our group would not have known about IB at all if not for the parents and teachers, first in Bow, and then MV.  After we learned about Bow, we also learned that their former high school principal was being hired in Bedford for the explicit purpose of instituting IB in Bedford's new high school. This was something we had predicted, except that we could not have imagined that the Bedford School Board would actually PAY for such a program...

We can remember the exact day a teacher approached our group on behalf of herself and others at MV.

This was back in 2009, and thus I began a lengthy private email conversation with Ms. Carey, which I initiated, about the impending institution of the IB program at MV. I was sincerely curious to know if she understood the mission and purpose of the program. She failed to explain the "value added" and instead kept repeating buzzwords and catch phrases, the meanings of which she could not translate for me. The result was proof there was absolutely no academic benefit to the program — NO academic standards are required to become an IB school or to maintain IB status — it was simply created with the intent to inject UNESCO's pet goals and projects into each subject area and sold to the unwitting as something necessary to promote '21st century' skills. Further, there is not ONE teaching method espoused (mostly fads) that could not be implemented without having to pay an NGO of UNESCO for the privilege.

The reason I wrote to Ms. Carey in 2009 was this: I am a 35-year veteran teacher and founder of a national educational group dedicated to the task of informing the public. We draw our research from across the nation, including from a former presidential  appointee to the federal department of education. Some teachers and parents of MV approached us for assistance and to contact their representatives because the school was unresponsive and the newspapers silent. They wished to remain anonymous. Their concern was that IB would be implemented without public input or knowledge. They wondered how they could get the word out to the taxpayers without risking ridicule, subjecting their children to bullying at school, or risking the loss of their jobs within the school district.  We would never have injected ourselves into the matter otherwise. So, to say these concerns were 'instigated' by me is completely false on the part of Mr. Bruce Currie. Subsequently, it has been established that the information that I had hoped Ms. Carey would pass on to the parents and taxpayers, was suppressed.

2) "...who claims to be a teacher"  - FALSE

Currie's second accusation is more of an innuendo. I am not just 'claiming' to be a teacher, I am, and have been a teacher since 1970 and come from a long line of teachers. In fact, my Dad, who turns 92 years old this May, was recently written up in the Globe's Parade Magazine.

Not only have I worked as a teacher since 1970, I have been fighting to keep academics at the fore, and to fend off the infusion of political agendas in the classrooms since the early 1980s, long before the practice became institutionalized by school reforms and programs such as IB.

3) "Discerning readers would have a hard time separating her opinions from those that appear on the JBS website." - FALSE

Currie's continual obsession with a group called JBS is baffling.  I had never heard of the JBS before this and have no connection whatsoever to them. They seem similar to other conservative think tanks, but Currie seems to love to demonize them in particular and has tried to extend that demonization to me. Our conclusions come from our own research. Perhaps the fact that people of all walks of life and of all political camps (Democrat Rosa Koire and conservative Thomas Sowell come to mind) have come to the same conclusions says a lot about why these "fad" programs should be opposed. Nobody likes them, least of all teachers, who would say so if they were free to speak candidly.

4) Currie suggests that the Monitor is not guilty of withholding information - FALSE

Given the Monitor's history, they may deserve the accusation of  'co-conspirators' at least when it comes to sitting on information.

Currie put into question my assertions that the Monitor has refused to print information that they and the school board do not seem to want public. My letters to the Monitor about IB are continually 'spiked'. We don't know why the Monitor would want to hide  information that can easily be found on the www.ibo.org website. I also gave a phone interview with a CM reporter who was looking for information on IB. She completely left out the statements I made to her during that interview. Instead, once again, the Monitor printed its usual 'fluff' piece with most of the pertinent information missing. That information about how the CM treated the story was likely discovered here:

How the Concord Monitor Spiked Information in 2009 Even After Requesting an Interview

[http://www.cnht.org/news/2009/05/06/media-blocks-more-ib-info-to-mvrsd-parents/]

The editor explained the reason for the rejection of my material as my inability to "prove that IB cost anything at all".  This was an incredible and curious claim, since this aspect of IB has never been in dispute by anyone and can easily be confirmed by a visit to the www.ibo.org website. Since the Monitor continues to refuse to print any information about the program that may not put it in a favorable light, others may call them what they will, "co-conspirators" included.

4) "...anti-IB site that claims to have links to MVSD." - FALSE

The site doesn't just 'claim' to be linked to MV, it is the product of parents, taxpayers, and teachers of MV. This MV parent-teacher website in question is not 'anti-IB' and most certainly is linked to MV. It merely outlines the program in much more detail than the MVSD cares to. To say it is not connected is ridiculous as there are actual screen shots of an MV third grader's class work  from 2009, which is supposedly BEFORE the parents were told about  the program. Parents in the district went door to door to poll other taxpayers and found that less than 1% knew about the program and wanted a way to inform more people. Anyone can sign up and post, and yet, there are few pieces or comments refuting the information provided. Why are there not more comments and articles challenging the information, since the parents have left the site open to all bloggers?
 
As for Currie's suggestion to read the article by Grant Bosse, we agree. Bosse says we are right to oppose things like IB, but that we shouldn't call it a 'conspiracy'. We are not the ones calling it a conspiracy because the real effects of what goes on in a child's classroom are very tangible and very damaging. Of all people, Bosse should know how a person's world view is affected after being exposed to this kind of indoctrination in the schools. What goes on in our classrooms will affect a whole generation's attitudes toward life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as well as attitudes toward the proper role of government.

Those of us who are pro-education want better for our children. Being an education activist since the early 1980s I can tell you that these agenda-driven programs did not start with IB. Unless the so-called 'conservatives' in the State of NH get serious about the problems of ALL public education, the situation is only going to get worse.  Interestingly, IB has NOT helped MV's "need of improvement” academic status.

Finally, parents and taxpayers who fund public education should not have to worry that their their children will be bullied just because their parents spoke out. Taxpayers should not be be ridiculed, censored, or as in this case, sworn at, when they ask simple questions of their school officials. They should be furious that this has happened at all.
 
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Related links:


How the Concord Monitor Spiked Information in 2009 Even After Requesting an Interview
http://www.cnht.org/news/2009/05/06/media-blocks-more-ib-info-to-mvrsd-parents/

The Political Agenda in Our Schools, Since the Days of William Ayers (1970s) to the Present
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/williams-ayers-comes-to-new-hampshire-3ef0b1d0

How IB Uses Education to Spread the UN Agenda of the MDGs, Sustainable Development, and Redistribution of the Wealth
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/how-the-politics-of-the-united-nations-is-delivered-through-ib-part-one


http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/how-the-politics-of-the-united-nations-is-delivered-through-ib-part-two

Children are Being Used for Political Mules, IB or Not
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/are-your-children-being-used-as-political-mules

IB Officials are Honest About Their Mission
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/ibs-mission-tear-up-national-sovereignty

Many Facts Were Left Out of This Article
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/the-union-leader-doth-protest-too-much

IB is Extreme, Not the People Who Oppose It
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/extremist-organizations-have-no-place-in-public-schools

NGOs and Who Works for the Agenda of the World Bank? Why it's Jean Bernard, NH Resident
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/unesco-outs-itself-meet-jean-bernard-agent-of-change-for-social-justice

This is What Happens When You Ask for Information They Don't Want You to Know
http://bedford-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/the-international-baccalaureate-scandal-continues

Granite State Progress Says We're Making it All Up, But Still Approves of What's Being Done
http://concord-nh.patch.com/blog_posts/agenda-21-iclei-and-planners-a-response-to-granite-state-progress