It's Time to Vote Out the Current Ozark, Missouri School Board

This is an excellent editorial that appeared in the Christian County Headliner today describing the lack of transparency from the Ozark School Board and its Administrators. The current school board is keeping parents in the dark about the grim realities of the International Baccalaureate, and this letter explains how the school board is shutting parents out:


It is time for change on the Ozark School Board. I urge all Ozark School District patrons to not vote for incumbents! Any board that would vote 7/0 to implement the International Baccalaureate with no mandate from the board, no district level meetings held, no board discussion, no community involvement and no transparency is not serving the best interest of the community. Since October 2010 a minority in the community has been trying to awaken the voters to what the board is about to bring to bear on our students. We have been stifled at every turn by the local news media to inform the community about IB, with the exception of the Headliner News. Even Suddenlink, which provides our local cable channel, channel 6, refuses to carry any type of advertisement about the IB issue.

In an article last week titled “School Board Races Set in April Election” an incumbent school board member stated “We’re really in the middle of determining the direction we want the district to go.” There is a lot wrong with that statement in light of the application for the IB program. Who in this community has come forward and said the Ozark School District needs to become a world school in the International Baccalaureate Organization, an organization founded by and with very close ties to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. The school board is moving the district in the direction it wants to go, with no opportunity for input from district patrons.

In that article the incumbent stated “I think it’s a very important opportunity to provide a rigorous educational program for hard-working, ambitious students. It’s not just limited to gifted students. It’s available to anyone who wants to make academics their focus. I think it encourages community service, writing skills, critical thinking skills, and I think that those are hard things to teach in just the regular classroom.”

The only thing rigorous about the IB program is the number of hours students will need to complete the courses. Facts are IBO stipulates that at least three and no more than four subjects must be taken at higher level, comprising 240 teacher-studentcontact hours; and the rest at standard level comprising 155 teacher-student contact hours, plus the enormous amount of homework that will be required.

These courses will not be open to just anyone who wants to make academics their focus. In application “A”, the district has already stated that students will have to meet entrance or selection criteria in order to be enrolled in the IB Diploma Program. Their stated criteria: “Successful completion of a total of five honors classes in English, history, science or math in their ninth and 10th grades combined.”

IB does not encourage community service; facts are IB requires students to complete 150 hours in creativity, action, service. Creativity activities include things like dance, drama, theater, music, model United Nations, 50 hours outside the classroom. Action activities include things like team sports, individual sports and development assistance such as Habitat for Humanity, 50 hours outside the classroom. Service activities are services to the disadvantaged and/or environmental projects, 50 hours outside the classroom.

Now let me address the critical thinking that everyone so eloquently parades before us. Theory of knowledge is that piece of IB that stresses critical thinking and its tentacles run throughout all lessons in the IB curriculum. Facts are TOK is central to the educational philosophy of the IB curriculum and 100 hours over two years is required. TOK and an extended essay are compulsory for all diploma students. The extended essay of 4,000 words can only be chosen from 60 subjects provided by IB. IB recommends that students spend 40 hours in total on this essay. Both TOK and the essay are valued at three bonus points only, but yet a student cannot earn the IB diploma without successfully completing both. TOK will challenge students to ask, “What do I believe in?” “What are my reasons for believing?” and “Are those reasons good ones?” TOK is difficult, it is compulsory and teachers outside their specialty may teach it, perhaps against their will.

All hours required for the IB diploma equals 680 hours over two years. Will these hours meet the state requirements for graduation or will students still need to take state core curriculum courses as well? Taking into consideration the state requirements for 1,044 teacher-student contact hours and the hours required for completion of IB, the students involved will have little time for themselves, their families, or their friends. We also need to remember that no additional funding is earned for hours in excess of 1,044 that students attend, so instruction time above that will not come with additional state funding. So where will the funds come from for positions like IB coordinator, CAS coordinator, and TOK Instructor.

Through TOK, students will be taught to view all subjects through the prism of being a world citizen and secular humanist. Our Constitution will be in question. Religion will be in question. Everything that parents have taught their children will be in question and evaluated through that world citizen-secular humanist viewpoint. This program is subversive. I do not take the implementation of IB lightly. This was a serious decision made without much investigation by the school board and now they defend their decision.

Lift your voice. Apply your intelligence. Defeat the planned regimentation of your children by voting for school board members that don’t have a progressive, liberal agenda. Parents and guardians should work ceaselessly to secure for their children a life founded on the incomparable American principle of “Freedom Under God.”