Letter to, and response from Senator Gayle Manning.

Dear Mr. Jablonski,

Thank you for your email. First and foremost, you did an excellent job moderating the education forum in Elyria.  I appreciate you sharing your concerns, as it is very helpful to have you voice your concerns with these pressing issues, specifically as a history teacher. 

As for Senate Bill 3, I questioned a person being qualified in the subject area, but not in management of a class, etc. meeting the individual needs of students. I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind regarding this issue. 

Again, thank you for reaching out to me to express your thoughts.  Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (614) 644-7613 or Manning@ohiosenate.gov.

Sincerely,

Gayle L. Manning

State Senator 

13th Ohio Senate District

-----Original Message-----

Subject: Constituent Form Submission

First Name : Matthew

Last Name : Jablonski

Subject : Education

Message : 

Senator Manning,

I wanted to thank you for attending our education forum in Elyria this past Monday. I am the History teacher who moderated and spoke about the OGT, Next Gen Assessments, and the issues with our culture of assessment. It meant a lot to everyone there that you were interested enough in our concerns to attend.

My wife and I were reading an account of committee hearings on education in which you questioned the ODE (?) regarding the new tests and special education. This issue had been addressed at our forum by Ms. Starr who you'd heard the day before. Thank you. This is an excellent example of the democratic process in action.

I just received a letter from Senator Faber, asking me to comment on Senate Bill 3. I have yet to contact him, but at a glance it looks awful. I'm guessing it's a piece of ALEC legislation seeking to destabilize public education. While the exemptions for high performing schools seem to increase "local control", they are clearly dangerous examples of an attempt to remove highly qualified teachers from the classroom. Furthermore, the elements that seek to limit testing to 2% and test practice to 1% are toothless mandates. The elimination of 1 - 3 diagnostics is clear. I would advocate the end to KRA's as well. The problem with the percentages is the fact that the tests remain high stakes. As long as student graduation and promotion, teacher evaluation, and school performance are tied to tests, the inauthentic culture of testing will persist. Because the benefits seem minimal SB3 seems to be a bust.

Thank you, as always, for your time and work in our interest, and again for your attendance at our event.