Hotel Pulls Plug On Orlando Common Core Protest
Bruce Ackerman / Ocala Star-Banner/Landov
Tea Party members, Lois Miller, right, and Charlie Batchelder, left, hold signs to protest Common Core across the street from Marion Technical Institute where school administrators were meeting on Southeast Fort King Street in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, April 3, 2013.
An Orlando hotel has canceled the reservations of a national political advocacy group which planned to train activists to oppose new education standards, according to The Blaze website.
The training session by Washington, D.C.-based FreedomWorks was tied to a rally protesting a national conference on Common Core State Standards. The two events were scheduled for neighboring hotels on June 29.
Florida and 44 other states have adopted the math and English language arts standards which comprise the Common Core. Opponents have questioned the quality of the standards and whether they will mean a loss of local control over education, among other objections.
Hotel officials told FreedomWorks they were concerned about unpredictable crowds after seeing people mention the protest and training session on social media.
The meeting space at the Ritz was booked last week, but Neal claims she received a call this Tuesday saying that the hotel could no longer host the training event. During the initial phone conversation with the special events coordinator, the FreedomWorks staffer claims that the Ritz asked questions about FreedomWorks’ relationship with and to the Common Core conference.
From there, the events coordinator, John Hart, purportedly said that he had observed sentiment on social media that seemed to indicate that the counter events could “disrupt the sister hotel.” Neal, though, claims that she tried to explain her organization’s intent in an effort to temper Hart’s concerns.
“I repeatedly told him that this was an educational session for moms and dads and grandparents concerned about what is happening in their kids’ schools,” she noted. “I also said that the activists had no intention of disrupting the event happening at the Marriott and were just looking for a way to connect with one another, learn more, and spread the word.”
Organizers say they are making new plans for the protest.
