Resisting RttT

At least one school district can see through the rhetoric around Duncan's Race to Nowhere. From the Lincoln News Messenger:

School district says no to Race to the Top

Stephanie Dumm, News Messenger Reporter

After a lively discussion Tuesday, the Western Placer Unified School District board of trustees voted unanimously against signing a memo of understanding for California’s Race to the Top.

“This is an attack on public education and I don’t support it,” said board member Paul Long, adding the district is already “going in some wonderful directions in getting kids turned onto reading books and newspapers, and critical thinking.”

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Russell said she “takes issue” with Reach [sic] to the Top because “we’re not building readers, we’re building kids that hate books because of teach, test, teach, test.”

“We need to take education back into the hands of the local board and not hire corporations to teach us how to teach,” Russell said. “If we put our money into libraries and books, and not into tests and we did that throughout the U.S., we would have kids who enjoyed reading and (are) successful.”

After the meeting, Leaman said the board’s decision was appropriate.

“We really feel strongly that we’re offering a good program and don’t want to be pulled in a different direction that would derail us from the hard work that it takes on everyone’s part,” Leaman said. “The board recognized that everyone is working hard and focusing on student achievement and assisting students.”