Maryland Parent Arrested from Common Core Meeting for Speaking Out of Turn

by Gateway Guest Blogger September 21, 2013

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
NoisyRoom.net

Robert Small was arrested for speaking out of turn at an MSDE-sponsored informational meeting on Common Core, the new federal curriculum for Maryland schools.

Robert Small:

He said: “I want to know how many parents here are aware that the goal of the Common Core standards isn’t to prepare kids for full-fledged universities, it’s to prepare them for community college…..Parents, take control. We’re sick of this. This is not a CNN political game. This is a public town hall… Listen, don’t stand for this. You’re sitting here like cattle. You have questions. Confront them. They don’t want to do it in public…. Parents, you need to question these people….Do the research, it’s online.”

Shame on those other parents for not standing up with that father. What are you? A bunch of spineless sheep? Abridging a man’s First Amendment right under the color of law is now acceptable? Common place? Especially when the law enforcement officer was simply a security officer and not acting as a cop on duty. This is fascist! Simply because parents object to Common Core standards being forced upon their children should not be an act punishable by jail time.

The Blaze:

A parent in Towson, Md., was arrested Thursday night at a public forum after vocally expressing his concerns about the Baltimore County School District’s plan to use Common Core standards in its curriculum.

Robert Small, a concerned father, was forcefully removed from the meeting by a police officer after he interrupted Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance during the question-and-answer portion of the forum.

The meeting apparently didn’t allow parents to stand up and ask questions or comment. Parents and other attendants were instead asked to write their questions on a piece of paper and officials would read them.

However, Small began speaking out against the district’s use of Common Core, prompting a security guard, who was also a police officer, to approach him and order him to leave. “Let’s go!” he said sternly.

I watched the video, there was no shoving. So now they want to hit this father with $5000 in fines and up to 10 1/2 years in prison? They pulled this same crap on me in Nevada when my kids were in school. You could go to the damned meetings, but weren’t allowed to speak without permission. Get your kids out of the public schools. This is monstrous and will only get worse.

Read for yourself:

When Small didn’t immediately comply, the officer began pulling his arm and pushing him towards the exit. Some audience members gasped at the cop’s use of force.

“Don’t stand for this,” the father said as he was dragged out. “You are sitting here like cattle! Is this America?”

Small also urged other parents to demand answers on Common Core and the curriculum being used to educate their children.

As the Baltimore Sun reports, the officer then “pushed Small and then escorted him into the hall, handcuffed him and had him sit on the curb in front of the school.”

Small was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer and faces a $2,500 fine and up to 10 years in prison. He was also charged with disturbing a school operation, which carries an additional $2,500 and up to six months in jail.

This father had every right to speak. There has been a three year blackout on Common Core in Maryland — trying to keep the details from parents until it is too late to object.

Parents’ questions went unanswered or modified before being read. It was a dog and pony show, not to change anything or to address concerns, but to give the appearance of giving a crap — which the administrators don’t. They took a whole lot of money from the government to brainwash our kids into little Marxist robots and line their own pockets. They have betrayed the institution, the children, and their trust as educators.

This is how schools are run under iron-fisted governmental rule. Why would any parent sit still for this?

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