To: June Atkinson, State Superintendent, North Carolina Public Schools
June Atkinson: Keep Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp away NC schools
Superintendent Atkinson: Don't let the North Carolina Board of Education put my child's private information in the hands of Rupert Murdoch. Drop the contract requiring mCLASS in NC schools.
Why is this important?
I am a mom of two elementary school-age children. I am also a special education teacher.
In August of 2012, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved a motion to make mCLASS: Reading 3D the statewide reading assessment for grades K-3 beginning with the 2013-14 school year. The assessment is a web-based system; teachers use hand-held mobile devices to input student data, and each student’s detailed response data is uploaded to the mCLASS website. The system allows mCLASS to provide “historical profiles and reports of each student and classroom via the web,” (www.wirelessgeneration.com).
mCLASS is owned and distributed by Wireless Generation, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation--the company that has been embroiled in scandal over its illegal and unethical methods of gathering and using confidential information, such as hacking into the phones of politicians, celebrities and murder victims. No parental consent will be required for mCLASS to collect and store our children’s information.
New York state entered a $27 million no-bid contract with Wireless Generation after the company hired several of the state's top executives. Amid News Corporation’s phone hacking scandals, the contract was dropped over concerns about how the company would protect students’ privacy.
Now North Carolina has entered into a contract with Wireless Generation. What will we get for our millions of dollars? What will we get from a partnership with a company headed by a man who views public education as a “monopoly” that should be “blown up” to make room for a competitive market in education?
Rupert Murdoch believes in dismantling public education, replacing it with market forces and privatization. His for-profit company is entering contracts in multiple states to mine student performance "data" that can be compared to a standard set high enough to “prove” that public schools are “failing.” I don’t want my children’s assessment data to be in the hands of Wireless Generation, but my consent is not required. All I can do is ask the North Carolina Board of Education to follow the example set by New York and drop this contract.
In August of 2012, the North Carolina State Board of Education approved a motion to make mCLASS: Reading 3D the statewide reading assessment for grades K-3 beginning with the 2013-14 school year. The assessment is a web-based system; teachers use hand-held mobile devices to input student data, and each student’s detailed response data is uploaded to the mCLASS website. The system allows mCLASS to provide “historical profiles and reports of each student and classroom via the web,” (www.wirelessgeneration.com).
mCLASS is owned and distributed by Wireless Generation, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation--the company that has been embroiled in scandal over its illegal and unethical methods of gathering and using confidential information, such as hacking into the phones of politicians, celebrities and murder victims. No parental consent will be required for mCLASS to collect and store our children’s information.
New York state entered a $27 million no-bid contract with Wireless Generation after the company hired several of the state's top executives. Amid News Corporation’s phone hacking scandals, the contract was dropped over concerns about how the company would protect students’ privacy.
Now North Carolina has entered into a contract with Wireless Generation. What will we get for our millions of dollars? What will we get from a partnership with a company headed by a man who views public education as a “monopoly” that should be “blown up” to make room for a competitive market in education?
Rupert Murdoch believes in dismantling public education, replacing it with market forces and privatization. His for-profit company is entering contracts in multiple states to mine student performance "data" that can be compared to a standard set high enough to “prove” that public schools are “failing.” I don’t want my children’s assessment data to be in the hands of Wireless Generation, but my consent is not required. All I can do is ask the North Carolina Board of Education to follow the example set by New York and drop this contract.