Man Arrested After Challenging Common Core At Education Forum [Video]

A Baltimore, Maryland parent was thrown out and arrested after disrupting a meeting held by the Maryland State Department of Education. With video cameras rolling, 46-year-old Robert Small was forcefully removed from the auditorium after making a frustrated outburst critical of the Common Core initiative, the new federal curriculum in Maryland.

(The Common Core initiative came under fire in Louisiana recently after a Vermilion Parish parent shared a Common Core worksheet containing controversial subject matter.)

"I want to know how many parents here are aware that the goal of Common Core standards isn't to prepare our children for full-fledged universities, it's to prepare them for community college," shouted Small as an off duty police officer serving as security attempted to escort him from the premises.

The meeting was an opportunity for the public to ask questions directly to both Dr. Dallas Dance, Superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, and Lillian Lowery, Maryland Superintendent. Attendees were invited to submit hand written questions on cards prior to the meeting which would then be answered during the meeting.

According to eyewitness Ann Miller of the Baltimore Country Republican Examiner, tensions in the room began to rise after it appeared Superintendent Dance was only answering 'softball' questions, culminating with Robert Small's outburst.

Small was charged with assaulting an officer and disrupting a school function. According to the police report, the assault charge stems from Small's actions in the hallway after he was escorted from the auditorium and out of view of the camera.

[Via Huffington Post, Baltimore Examiner]