To the Editor:

SOS-squared, to the second power. It is extremely gratifying to see signs across Newtown calling on our local leaders to “save our schools.”  But, as we seek to maintain our neighborhood schools and protect our buildings from future moth-balling, it is also important that we direct our energies toward saving our schools and our students from the destructive impact of bad educational policies, known as Common Core implementation.

The top-down imposition of misguided and poorly developed standards, its unproven and invalid standardized testing experiment, and the quite possibly illegal data collecting and sharing of personal student and family information that had once been considered confidential is just the tip of the education reform iceberg.  So, as you fight to save our buildings, please consider the broader picture and look thoroughly at what is happening in our public school classrooms today.

John Bestor

24 Walnut Tree Hill Road, Sandy Hook      June 23, 2015