Blain Dillard Wake County NC parent sued by MVP for criticizing Mathematics Vision Project Common Core based program, Son went from A-B to D-F math student
“When an opponent declares, “I will not come over to your side,” I calmly say, “Your child belongs to us already… What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community.”…Adolf Hitler
“North Carolina should have the highest education standards in the world, but we can do better than Common Core.”
“5. Teachers need to be free to teach. Common Core is just another set of bureaucratic mandates that will force teachers to teach to the test. There has been much frustration from the teaching community regarding this aspect of No Child Left Behind, so the federal government created waivers from NCLB only to replace it with more burdensome guidelines that will take creativity and innovation out of the classroom. If we want innovation in education, we should focus less on standards and more on allowing our teachers to do what they do best — teach.”…NC Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″
From WRAL News.
“MVP math suing Wake County parent for ‘libel and slander’ after he criticized program
The company behind a controversial math curriculum being used in Wake County public schools has filed a lawsuit against a Cary parent, accusing him of “libel and slander” and “tortious interference with business relations” after he criticized the program.
An attorney for the Utah-based Mathematics Vision Project, or MVP, said the company decided to sue parent Blain Dillard after he made “false statements” about the company. Dillard says he is “innocent of all allegations and can defend each and every point made in the summons.””
“Dillard has spoken at numerous Wake County Board of Education meetings and with the news media about his dislike of MVP, which he says caused his 10th grade son to go from being an A and B math student to failing the subject in a short time period.”
“Karen Carter, another parent who has been critical of MVP, emailed local, state and national education leaders Tuesday to show support for Dillard.
“Is this the type of company WCPSS is comfortable being in business with? One that sues parents?” Carter wrote. “How can WCPSS parents and taxpayers be assured that their money, which WCPSS gave to MVP for various services, licensing fees, etc., isn’t being used to sue one of our own citizens? Although WCPSS cannot control MVP’S actions, they can control giving more taxpayer money to them which can be used to go after one of the district’s parents.””
Read more:
From Blain Dillard.
“I am a parent in Wake County, NC, which includes Raleigh. We are home to the Wake County Public School System, one of the 15 largest in the US.
This past weekend I was served a summons written by Strong & Hanni, PC, of Salt Lake City, UT, for a complaint against me from Mathematics Vision Project, LLC (MVP), of Lehi, UT. The complaint alleges “libel and slander” and “tortious interference with business relations” related to statements I’ve made about MVP either on Facebook, my blog, or at our county school board meetings. I am innocent of all allegations and can defend each and every point made in the summons.
The case was filed in the Utah Fourth Judicial District Court as Case number 190401221.
This is an attempt at intimidation and bullying to silence my and other parents’ free speech advocating for our children’s education.
BACKGROUND
MVP creates curriculum resources for mathematics, and was adopted by my county beginning in 2017. My son was a 10th grader taking MVP Math 2 in 2018 when I noticed his grades suddenly declining. He went from being an A-B math student to a D-F math student almost instantly. I later found that this was largely related to the nature of how MVP is taught. It is considered a “discovery methodology” where students work in groups to try to figure out the math while the teacher facilitates. MVP is strongly supportive of Common Core math standards.
I soon found that my son was not alone. Many other parents in our county were complaining about MVP in various parent Facebook groups I saw. In February, 2019, I created a Facebook group dedicated to supporting parents of students in MVP. The group now has over 1400 members. I also created a web page and a blog where I and others gathered research and resources and documented cases where I analyzed data related to districts which adopted MVP. Many parents attended protests and spoke at school board meetings and some have been featured in our local news. Over 400 students at my son’s school conducted a student walkout in protest of MVP. Working with an attorney, 16 parents filed a formal complaint with our school system alleging 10 policy violations related to MVP in our county. The school system denied the complaint in June.
I am not alone in this fight. However, I am being singled out by MVP in this lawsuit because I am one of the originators of the social media campaigns and much of the research advocating against using the MVP curriculum.
Thank you for your prayers and support during this time.”
https://www.gofundme.com/f/wake-county-math-parent-legal-defense-fund
More here:
Citizen WElls 
“By Dan Forest
North Carolina should have the highest education standards in the world, but we can do better than Common Core.
Four years after Common Core was adopted by the State Board of Education, many students, parents and educators are getting their first glimpse of the implications of the new standards in the classroom. Yet after months of questions about the challenges of the standards from parents and educators, few answers have been revealed. Here is why we can to better than Common Core:
1. Local control of education is a bedrock of our nation. Parents, teachers and school boards should have ultimate control and authority over the education of their children. Common Core is a copyrighted set of standards, designed by two unaccountable national trade associations and pushed by the federal government through Race To The Top grants ($400 million in North Carolina) for states that adopted the standards. These standards cannot be changed or modified by state or local authorities. The argument is that we can add to them; however, the reality is that we cannot change anything written in them. Common Core is inflexible in meeting the demands of rapid change that is occurring around the world.
2. A One-Size-Fits-All set of standards for all of education in America is un-American. America is a nation of diversity and innovation. Each student is unique, and for the first time in the history of the world, through high-speed broadband technology and one-to-one devices in the hands of every student, we have the opportunity to customize curriculum and the education experience to each and every child. Our 50 states should be recognized for the innovation laboratories that they are, and they should be allowed to innovate in education, constantly improving standards and teaching methodologies in order to share their ideas with other states. A one-size-fits-all set of standards restricts that level of innovation.
3. Why would we settle for anything less than the best standards for North Carolina? Massachusetts had the best math standards in America, so why did we not start by adopting its standards for our students? Massachusetts educators improved their standards over decades, and they had been tried, tested, rewritten and aligned with working assessments. The Common Core standards still have not been tried, tested or rewritten for success four years after adoption in North Carolina. Why would we roll out Common Core to every school and every student in our state, all at once, without proper vetting and testing?
4. Common Core does not prepare our students for STEM education or careers.The promise of Common Core was that it was to be rigorous, internationally benchmarked, and it would prepare our students for college and career. Unfortunately, experts admit that rigor is difficult to define; the standards were never internationally benchmarked, and there is much debate as to Common Core college alignment. Experts have noted that the Common Core math sequence does not prepare our students for a rigorous STEM education in the university, nor does it prepare our students for STEM careers.
Why would the Chamber of Commerce, the conservative Fordham Institute, the Gates Foundation and others support Common Core despite its inability to prepare our students for STEM careers? Because there are significant financial interests for each. Experts have also noted that replacing classic literature with informational text, such as Consumer Reports, does not help our students develop better critical-thinking skills or reading skills.
5. Teachers need to be free to teach. Common Core is just another set of bureaucratic mandates that will force teachers to teach to the test. There has been much frustration from the teaching community regarding this aspect of No Child Left Behind, so the federal government created waivers from NCLB only to replace it with more burdensome guidelines that will take creativity and innovation out of the classroom. If we want innovation in education, we should focus less on standards and more on allowing our teachers to do what they do best — teach.
These are just a few reasons why Common Core should be replaced in North Carolina, not mentioning the high cost of implementation at a time when we need to increase teacher pay. Nor did I mention technology readiness for the standards, or even data collection of student information. It is time to replace Common Core with the best standards in the world — North Carolina standards.”
https://citizenwells.com/2014/04/15/nc-common-core-why-north-carolina-should-get-away-from-common-core-lieutenant-governor-dan-forest-local-control-important-one-size-doesnt-fit-all-common-core-not-vetted-and-tested-and-costly/
The first thing to do is to Kill The Messenger.
Das ist richtig.
CW………
………..and look what Hitler’s insanity bought for him !!!! YA VEE IST DER SUPER MEN !!! HAR HAR
carlo frate………
…………..yep, killing the messenger would probably be a meaningful beginning…….he is ONE OF THEM.!!!!
CW……….
……………many decades ago our school system began teaching the THEN CALLED …….NEW MATH.!! It taught that 2+X=4. The student was taught to solve for X the unknown value. This alleged NEW MATH angered parents to such an extent that there was a meeting demanded with the superintendent of schools here to register the thousands of complaints. The outcome of the meeting was a SHOUT, AND CURSE SESSION. The parental anger was not heeded. The new math went on for two more years, and finally the teachers themselves turned on the school system and told the superintendent that teaching such a pointless mathematic problem solving only confused youngsters even more than ever. Finally the system returned to teaching 2+2= 4. Students who couldn’t figure that out were put into slower moving class groups………which worked a whole lot better.
CW………
………….for a political entity to attempt to steal the mind and heart of a child is a CRIMINAL VENTURE. Wherever this sort of practice is found and proven to exist the proponents should be prosecuted, and given slammer vacations. Hitler’s youth program was exactly such an act.
I’m an educator…public schools for 6 years. I have seen examples of the teaching criteria and can understand why teachers are/were complaining. I couldn’t understand any of it.
They will treat it like we treated Basic Skills First in the 80s/90s. Just mark as ‘done’ and move on.
JJ………
……..the so called NEW MATH was being taught in many Fort Wayne elementary schools in the 1960s which is what I was referring to in my post. As I stated even the teachers thought it was an absurd way to teach elementary level math to youngsters . Many years prior to the 1960s I attended a County operated Public School. This was during WW2. Many of the teachers didn’t yet have their masters……which even then was a teacher requirement. My point is in those days 2+2 still equaled 4. That was the way it was taught. As I remember we had a couple of youngsters who were slower at grasping numbers, or anything else as well. The teachers would often spend some of their own time at after hours assistance to the slower kids then drive them home afterward. This was an admirable trait in the teachers……they weren’t required to work for free…….yet many did.!!!