Group Forms After Maryland Man Arrested for Questioning Common Core: Blogger Spotlight

Charges against the Ellicott City man, Larry Small, who was arrested after speaking out at a meeting on new national education standards, known as Common Core school standards were dropped Monday by the Baltimore County State's Attorney.

Towson Patch Blogger Meg O’Hare writes that the name of the group is EXPECT. She urged concerned parents to contact Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance and ask him to share more information about curriculum and the Common Core standards.

“EXPECT is not a cute acronym, but rather connotes that members of the group EXPECT effective, equitable and quality public education for Baltimore County students Pre-K to 12,” she writes.

O’Hare said of Small’s arrest:

“I guess this is what America has degenerated into. It is the police state we thought was fantasy when Orwell wrote 1984 64 years ago.”

Small, of the 10200 block of Maxine Street in Ellicott City, was arrested Thursday night and charged with disturbing school operations and second-degree assault after he allegedly disrupted a public meeting with Maryland State Schools Superintendent Lillian Lowery.

Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance Monday afternoon released a statement saying the "meeting helped us realize that we must do a better job of communicating what the Common Core is and what it is not."

"We have to ensure that our parents and community members understand that the Common Core allows us to implement our own curriculum, written by us, for us," Dance said in his statement. "This gives us the flexibility to ensure that we are meeting the needs specific to our children in Baltimore County."

O’Hare urged anyone who wants to join EXPECT to email contact@expectall.org.

Have something to say about education in Baltimore County? Blog about it.