The
Baltimore County State's Attorney is dropping charges against an
Ellicott City man who was arrested last week at a Maryland State
Department of Education public meeting on the Common Core education
standards.
The Thursday night arrest of Robert Small was captured on video taken by Examiner.com blogger Ann Miller.
Small
was shown being removed from the meeting at Ridge Ruxton Elementary
School as he was trying to ask questions about the education standards.
Baltimore
County School Superintendent Dallas Dance was moderating the
discussion. Maryland Schools Superintendent Lillian Lowery was on the
panel.
Audience members were only asked to submit questions in writing at the forum on Thursday night.
In
a statement emailed to WBAL Radio, State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger
said that," it was clear that Mr. Small violated the rules of the
meeting and disrupted the meeting. It was also clear that the Officer
acted appropriately and did have probable cause to make an arrest on
both charges.
"The
Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office has just received and
reviewed the facts of this case. In the interest of justice, further
prosecution will not accomplish anything more. Therefore, the charges
have been dismissed."
Small
had been charged with second degree assault on a police officer, which
could have carried up to a ten year prison term if convicted. He was
also charged with disrupting a school event.
The
police officer involved was off duty, and was working as a security
officer for the event. He intervened at the request of Dance's chief of
staff.
Earlier in the day Monday, the Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent released a statement on the incident.
In the statement, Dr. S. Dallas Dance said:
“We
appreciate the Maryland State Department of Education for holding a
Common Core State Standards Townhall meeting in Baltimore County last
week. Excellent questions were asked and answered that evening.
Questions that were not answered due to time constraints will be
addressed. We will post the questions and answers on our website by the end of the week.
“The
meeting helped us realize that we must do a better job of communicating
what the Common Core is and what it is not. We have to ensure that our
parents and community members understand that the Common Core allows us
to implement our own curriculum, written by us, for us. This gives us
the flexibility to ensure that we are meeting the needs specific to our
children in Baltimore County.”
"I just don't know where this is coming from. The Common Core curriculum is just replacing what we have. The student data bases that we have, are the student data bases that we've always had," Lowery told WBAL News in June.
Lowery told WBAL News that the data that is collected on students is secure.
"Parents have to understand that we've always had this data, because we have to make decisions. We have firewalls over firewalls. We're very meticulous about the confidentiality of our students," Lowery added.
Lowery said data such as test scores and disciplinary records are shared with the state higher education commission and the University System of Maryland so officials can track the progress of students.
Lowery offered a similar defense of Common Core in an interview with WBAL News last month.