For immediate release:
May 1, 2013
Media contact:
Kristen Hawn
press@tutorourchildren.org
(301) 485-9553
Washington – Today, Tutor Our Children (TOC) issued the following statement in response to a letter by eight civil rights organizations to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan opposing waivers for individual school districts – including those in the California Office to Reform Education (CORE) – from key No Child Left Behind accountability provisions. TOC has been a long-time advocate of free tutoring services for disadvantaged children struggling in low-performing schools.
“Individual state and district waivers continue to threaten our most vulnerable children by eliminating parent choice in education and taking away students’ access to the tutoring services they so desperately need to succeed,” said Stephanie Monroe, spokesperson for TOC. “TOC agrees strongly with the civil rights and disability organizations that signed the recent letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that statewide accountability systems are essential and that district waivers are the wrong path forward. TOC will continue to fight to expand free tutoring services for low-income families across the country and to ensure that students receive high quality support from a wide range of national and community- based providers.”
Stephanie Monroe served as Assistant Secretary of Education from 2005 until 2009. In that position, she was the Secretary of Education’s primary adviser on civil rights issues and responsible for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), a 600-person division in the U.S. Department of Education with twelve offices located across the United States.
Tutor Our Children was created to give a voice to the parents and children who benefit from federally funded tutoring services and the providers, community organizations and faith-based groups across the country dedicated to extending support to the most vulnerable students. For more information, visit www.tutorourchildren.org. Like us onFacebook and follow us on Twitter.
