I attended the District meeting this Tuesday and had it videotaped. It was a standing-room-only affair because the senior class perceives the new curriculum as a challenge to graduation.

For the first time in the 25 years that the Gazette has been covering the Fillmore Unified School District School Board, the Board calendar has been inexplicably changed. Instead of being scheduled on alternate Tuesdays, to avoid conflicting with the Fillmore City Council, the District now holds its meetings on the same days that the Council is in session. This makes it impossible for residents to attend both meetings, and very difficult for the Gazette to report on both as we have done for decades. We have asked the District to explain this curious change which inconveniences everyone. (Just in: it’s rumored that the change-back is done.)

I left the meeting after about 2 hours and missed the very informative comments made by Karen Ashem. She also criticized the Board meeting schedule change.

The elephant in the room last night, however, was the effect of the recent adoption of something called the Common Core State Standards Initiative. I have to learn more about this highly controversial government initiative. I pulled this off the web at the last minute: “The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a U.S. education initiative that seeks to bring diverse state curricula into alignment with each other by following the principles of standards-based education reform. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).” Conservatives are fighting this idea because they fear it’s just another government power grab.

The District chose to begin this curriculum change with this year’s Junior-Senior classes, which mandates the unexpected addition of Algebra II.

According to Mrs. Ashem, our District had a choice of when to adopt this Core curriculum. Their choice of starting with this year’s Junior and Senior classes, a complete surprise for them, has caused alarm. It would be more reasonable to begin with the Freshman class. Algebra II is the real fear among upperclassmen who see this as a last minute stumbling block to graduation. For complete coverage of these issues, please view the entire Board meeting video on fillmoregazette.com, soon.

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I watch with horror President Obama’s recent foreign policy moves. Among the other world leaders he is a laughingstock, an obvious amateur masquerading as some sort of political genius, a high-minded diplomatic prodigy destined to lead the world to peace and prosperity. The truth is, as David Horowitz states, “The President of the United States may be the most brazen and compulsive liar to ever occupy the White House...” And, he continues, “Obama has set the Middle East on fire and run down American power and prestige to the point where no enemy fears us and no ally trusts us. While Obama claims the terrorists have been defeated, America is closer to being the victim of terrorist attacks than at any time since 9/11.” Trusting Syria and Iran is simply insane. Duck and cover!