After mistakenly suggesting that she might actually be listening to the teachers in her district on education issues, Dolores Gresham quickly issued a clarifying statement today setting the record straight.
The confusion began when Gresham reportedly told the Associated Press she was “OK” with the Common Core State Standards.
The AP reported that Gresham said:
“I have talked to teachers who have told me in so many words, at last, we are no longer dumbing down our children,” she said. “That kind of encouragement is very important when other people are not so enthusiastic.”
Gresham’s statements appeared to be a reversal of position, as she is the prime sponsor of legislation that would repeal Common Core in Tennessee and replace it with Tennessee Standards.
Gresham has historically been more responsive to her donors than to teachers in her district, carrying legislation that authorized K12, Inc.’s failing Tennessee Virtual Academy and supporting a voucher scheme backed by Koch-brothers funded Americans for Prosperity.
Just this summer, she seemed to be on the hunt for an attack on teacher tenure when she requested an Attorney General’s opinion on the issue.
However, when it appeared she might be asking for and responding to educator input on education policy, Gresham was quick to put out a statement saying she still opposes Common Core and wants it repealed in Tennessee.
According to the Tennessean, Gresham wasn’t available to further clarify her statement. But it seems her momentary intimation that she may actually be further considering her stance may have been a verbal lapse rather than a thoughtful reflection.
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PLEASE STOP and READ her bill. It DOES NOT repeal Common Core. PLEASE. Sen. Gresham has sold her soul and she will not and cannot support anything that will endanger her friends and their investment in this school to work scheme. READ the bill. If you understand at all what is going on you will see this is a Haslam bill not a bill to repeal Common Core. It was not pulled for any other reason than it no longer filled his purpose. Sen. Gresham is a threat to our children and she WILL NOT return to Nashville in 2016. We have already stated those wheels a turning.
So glad that someone is working to get rid of her! She is bad news for public schools!!!!
And also, lets not forget Fayette County passed a resolution AGAINST Common Core so it is my assumption the only teachers she is talking to are the PAID Common Core Teacher Coaches that are a large part of the Haslam review team.