Washington County Board opposes Common Core

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By Dan King

The third time was indeed a charm for Hartford Supervisor Dana Haff and activist Bob Schulz.

Haff and Schulz have been spearheading a movement to persuade the Washington County Board of Supervisors to send resolutions to Albany questioning Common Core’s compliance with the U.S. Constitution and articles of state education law.

After not gaining support for the resolutions at the past two board meetings, Haff brought the resolutions back last Friday with slightly milder language and was able to get enough support for both to pass.

Schulz said he spoke with Martin Auffredou, Warren County’s attorney, who suggested the minor adjustments to the resolution, which Schulz said were just “changes in tone and tenor.”

Dana Haff Headshot 2015
Dana Haff

Haff said after the meeting: “I kind of put it out there that I would bring this back with a new board after elections and that some incumbents may not be here and their replacements may have campaigned on supporting the Constitution.”

The first resolution, which questioned Common Core’s constitutionality, citing the Compact Clause and the 10th Amendment,- passed by a narrow margin of 2,310 yes and 1,818 no in the weighted voting, with 132 absent.

Joining Haff on yes votes were Easton’s Dan Shaw, Fort Ann’s Darlene Dumas, Hebron’s Brian Campbell, Kingsbury’s Jim Lindsay, Putnam’s John LaPointe, Salem’s Seth Pitts, White Creek’s Bob Shay and Whitehall’s George Armstrong.

Armstrong said he was more concerned with the educational merits than the constitutionality.

“From what I’ve gathered Common Core is sadly lacking in history and government,” Armstrong said. “I’m not so concerned with the constitutional side of it. I think they need to go back to the drawing board and focus more on New York State government and U.S. government.”

All of those yes voters had previously voted yes on one or both of the prior Common Core resolutions, except Lindsay, whose flip on the issue swayed the vote in Haff’s favor. As Kingsbury Supervisor, Lindsay has a weighted vote of 780, the largest of any supervisor in the county.

Armstrong and LaPointe voted with Schulz in June, against Schulz in July and now returned to voting with Schulz this month.

Votes against the first resolution came from Argyle’s Bob Henke, Cambridge’s Catherine Fedler, Dresden’s George Gang, Fort Edward’s
Mitch Suprenant, Granville’s Matt Hicks, Greenwich’s Sara Idleman and Hampton’s Dave O’Brien.

“The reason I opposed the first one is I really don’t feel qualified to make a determination that this is wrong,” O’Brien said in a phone interview. “I’m not a constitutional lawyer and I’m not an educator. Did it have some merits? Yeah, but it was two pages long and this is something I think should be directed more toward educators.”

During the meeting, no discussion came from any of the no voters.

Granville Supervisor Matt Hicks spoke via phone following his vote of opposition.

“The argument made was that it’s unconstitutional and we are to uphold the Constitution. My feeling is that until the Supreme Court declares it unconstitutional, it’s constitutional,” he said. “This (resolution) is a matter of opinion, not a matter of fact.”

The second resolution took aim at Common Core’s perceived lack of compliance with parts of New York’s education law, namely Sections 801 and 802, which require proper civic education of government functions, the U.S. Constitution, the New York State Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, among other things.

Although the first resolution was a close vote, the second was not. Only Hicks, whose wife is president of the Granville Board of Education, and Idleman, a former social studies teacher, opposed the second resolution, which passed 3,298 yes, 830 no and 132 absent.

David O'Brien
Dave O’Brien

Schulz was skeptical of those who voted no, saying, “I’m not asking them to shut down the schools or anything. They voted against this for political reasons.”

Hicks said he voted against the second resolution for the same reasons he opposed the first.

O’Brien explained his support for the second resolution this way: “The second was a lot more straightforward. I’ve got no problem asking people to revisit our history curriculum so our kids can learn what they need to learn.”

“I look at this right here and I see nothing in this that could offend anybody,” Shaw said. “It’s just asking the Board of Regents to review this. I think we should review our education methods every so often anyways.”

Pitts said he felt that proper civic education was vital, adding that he felt immigrants who take the test to become U.S. citizens are better educated in those matters than “anyone in this room.”

The county board has set a precedent of asking the state to consider repealing laws, as it did with the New York State SAFE Act. Additionally, the county has also lobbied the state to consider Washington County for a medical marijuana growing site. Both attempts were unsuccessful in the long haul.

Schulz ended a hunger strike against Common Core last month after receiving “responsive responses” from both Washington and Warren County. This month, Washington County supported his resolutions, as did the town of Fort Ann and Warren County.

Jackson Supervisor Alan Brown was absent from the meeting.