Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Dr. James Milgram, the two content experts who refused to validate Common Core’s English and math standards despite being hired for that purpose, will participate a live Webinar hosted by Cornerstone Action to provide parents, school board members, administrators, teachers and other interested parties the opportunity to ask them questions about why they’re opposed. The event takes place on the evening of Thursday, December 5th and starts at 7. Details of how to participate and submit your questions in advance are posted with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com. Both have appeared on this show to answer our questions on their objections and, in wake of Manchester’s decision to pursue its own standards instead of Common Core, offered to review and comment on any of the city’s proposed standards free of charge. They also forwarded frameworks with proven track records in math and English to assist the city in its efforts, also at no cost.
In a related development, The Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison Wisconsin has announced along with Superintendent Michael J. Lancaster that their diocese will not convert to the Common Core standards. Catholic diocese around the country are wrestling with this question. In an open letter to the diocese, which we’ve linked to at Girard at Large dot com, Morlino and Lancaster gave four reasons why they will not adopt the standards, saying quote “The Diocese of Madison stands firm both behind our standards, and behind the mission and philosophy of Catholic education which far exceeds any other common standards.”
The Capitol Region Food Program is celebrating it’s fortieth anniversary this year, and it begins on December seventeenth as they prepare for yet another Holiday Food Basket Project, the first of which was held in nineteen seventy four. The food program is unique in that it’s not a food bank, has never had paid staff, is all volunteer and spends every dime in donations to provide food for the needy. In its forty years, the food bank has distributed twenty eight hundred tons of food valued at more than two and a half million dollars. It provides food to various church and social service agencies in the city of Concord and the surrounding towns of Allenstown, Boscowen, Bow, Canterbury, Chichester, Contookcook, Dunbarton, Epsom, Hopkinton, Loudon, Pembroke, Penacook, Pitsfield, Salisbury, Suncook, Warner and Webster. We’ve posted their announcement with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com in case you want to learn more or help them out.
News from our own backyard continues after this
Cops in Hooksett will appear a bit scruffy soon. Starting on December first, police in town won’t be shaving to raise funds for the Hooksett Family Services Department. We’re not sure what the lady’s are going to do to participate in this cause, but donations made payable to the Hooksett Police Association may be sent to the department or given directly to one of the scruffy officers. We’ve posted their announcement with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com so you can get all the details.
Looks like Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas isn’t the only public official struggling to find people to serve on various boards and commissions. The town of Bedford has released a list of vacant positions on various boards and commissions in their town in need of immediate filling. Available now to citizens are seats on the Conservation Commission, Energy Commission, Historic District Commission and the town’s representative to the Southern New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission. We’ve posted all the vacancies as well as the instructions on how interested parties can apply with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com. Just make sure you read the town’s Behavior Manifesto before you agree to serve, though. We wouldn’t want to end up with a “Naughty Letter” in your service file. Folks interested in filling vacant positions in Manchester, by the way, can simply contact their alderman or the mayor’s office directly.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead!
