Angry, Supportive, Skeptical: What Florida’s Education Commissioner Heard At Common Core Listening Sessions

Sammy Mack / StateImpact Florida

Speakers lingered hours past when the hearings were supposed to end so that they could share their thoughts on the Common Core with Pam Stewart.

The conversation about Common Core standards hit a fever pitch in Florida last week.

Florida’s education commissioner, Pam Stewart, moderated three hearings about the Common Core in Tampa, Davie and Tallahassee. The listening sessions came out of an executive order issued by Gov. Rick Scott. Along with the request for public input, the governor has been distancing Florida from its position as a leader in a consortium to create a Common Core-aligned test.

More than 750 people showed up to the listening sessions. Parents, teachers and activists all took their four minutes at the microphone to tell Florida’s education leaders what they think of the Common Core.

There were impassioned comments from speakers on both sides of the standards—many of whom stayed hours past when the listening sessions were scheduled to end.

But not all of those comments were accurate. StateImpact Florida fact-checked some of the testimony last week. And over the weekend, PolitiFact Florida also analyzed the claims made at the hearings.