By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Alabama School Superintendent Tommy Bice has been charged with selling a skeptical Alabama public on the State’s controversial Alabama College and Career Ready Standards and the new standardized testing regime that Alabama’s public school students are facing. To this end the Alabama School Board is sending Bice on a 12-stop tour of Alabama to explain the Board Agenda.
Alabama School Board Member Mary Scott Hunter said in her monthly newsletter, “Let’s talk about the future of public education in Alabama. State Superintendent Dr. Tommy Bice and other stakeholders will present and take questions about our State’s strategic plan for public education – Plan 2020, the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards, Testing, and Alabama’s Plan for Accountability.”
The tour announcement follows troubling polling showing that Republicans and parents of school age children are increasingly in opposition to the controversial common core standards. Support for President Obama’s nationalization of the has dropped precipitously even among teachers as they have begun to see how the complex testing regimen, experimental math techniques, and other so-called reforms actually work in the class room.
Opponents of Common Core are organizing and likely will be back in Montgomery in the next legislative session demanding that the legislature take the education standards out of the hands of the embattled State School Board and repeal Plan 2020, the Alabama College and Career Ready Standards before they are even implemented.
Supt. Bice faces a daunting challenge in turning back the momentum against Common Core. Armed with a contract extension and a $52,000 pay raise from the State School Board that makes him one of the highest paid public workers in the state Bice is tasked with restoring public confidence in public education in Alabama.
Reportedly topics related to the future of public education in Alabama that will be discussed include: Plan 2020, the Alabama College- and Career-ready Standards, student testing, Alabama’s plan for accountability, public school funding and priority needs, parental and community involvement.
Presentations will be from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. There will be a question and answer period from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Tommy Bice speaking tour will begin on Tuesday, August 26 in Huntsville at Lee High School, 2500 Meridian Street, Huntsville, 35811. On Thursday, August 28 Supt. Bice will be in Demopolis speaking at Demopolis High School, 701 U.S. 80, Demopolis 36732. On Tuesday, September 2 the tour will be in Opelika at the Opelika Middle School, 1206 Denson Drive, Opelika, 36801. Remaining tour stops include: Thursday, September 4 Birmingham at George Washington Carver High School, 3900 24th St N, Birmingham, AL 35207; Tuesday, September 9 in Montgomery at Carver High School, 2001 W Fairview Ave., Montgomery, AL 36108; Tuesday, September 16 in Florence at Florence High School, 201 Bradshaw Dr., Florence, 35634; Thursday, September 18 in Dothan at Dothan High School, 1236 South Oates St., Dothan, AL 36301; on Tuesday, September 23 in Tuscaloosa at the Tuscaloosa Career & Technology Academy, 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Tuscaloosa, 35401; Thursday, September 25 in Helena at Helena High School, 1310 Hillsboro Pkwy, Helena, 35080; Tuesday, September 30 in Selma at Selma High School, 2180 Broad St., Selma, AL 36701; Thursday, October 2 in Mobile at Baker High School, 8901 Airport Blvd, Mobile, AL 36608; on Tuesday, October 7 in Jacksonville at Jacksonville High School, 1000 George Douthit Dr SW, Jacksonville, AL 36265.
