Dear Senator Flanagan

I have sent a similar request to the senator's office but as of yet I have not received a response.  Perhaps this is a better forum.


Dear Senator  Flanagan

I would like to take this opportunity to speak to you about the Common Core Standards.  I am sure this is not the first letter you receive on it, but I am hoping you can take the time to explain your support of it.

I am not an educator, I am the mother of two special needs children, one of them with Autism.  I am concerned about your support of an education reform that relies on higher level critical thinking skills which is the core of my son's disability.  Is it your opinion that this educational reform will "cure" him of Autism?  Is it truly your belief that a new set of testing accommodations will be all that we require to succeed?  Is the burden of this reform to placed on our local districts to somehow make this work when it is clearly discriminatory?

In my case, my son is a high functioning, academically successful student with a high 90 average using  typical student curriculum (until this year).  I was notified at the beginning of the school year he will need RTI based on his state assessment scores.  I am sure you realize that RTI (Response to intervention) is a service provided to NEUROTYPICAL  students, again not appropriate for a Special Education student and cannot possibly remediate his DISABILITY.

I truly cannot fathom how you are supporting discrimination again children, please take the time to explain it to me.

Sincerely yours,
Dawn McCarthy