Education

Company awarded K-3 reading contract sends cease and desist letters 'to end the misinformation'

A company that was awarded a controversial K-3 reading test contract has hired an attorney and sent cease and desist letters to three North Carolina residents to demand that they stop making "false and misleading representations."

Posted Updated

By
Kelly Hinchcliffe
, WRAL education reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — A company that was awarded a controversial K-3 reading contract has hired an attorney and sent cease and desist letters to three North Carolina residents to demand that they stop making "false and misleading representations" about the company.
Istation, which was awarded the multimillion dollar contract last month amid uproar from some educators, had its attorney send the cease and desist letters to a teacher, a school psychologist and a former state education staffer who is running for state superintendent. All three have publicly criticized State Superintendent Mark Johnson's decision to award the contract to Istation instead of its competitor, Amplify.
In a statement, Istation's attorney, Kieran Shanahan, said the letters were sent as a starting point "to end the misinformation, set the record straight, protect Istation's interests, and let the state move forward."

"Unfortunately, there are people, including those likely running for political office against the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction, who have chosen to use the contract award process to their benefit and in doing so are misrepresenting Istation by making false, misleading and defamatory public statements about the company, its products and/or the process," Shanahan wrote.

The letters, which Shanahan's office shared with WRAL News, do not cite any specific false, misleading or defamatory statements.

Amy Jablonksi, a former Department of Public Instruction staffer who is running for state superintendent, received her cease and desist letter on July 3. She led one of the committees that reviewed the companies competing for the contract and has criticized Johnson for "going against the advice" of educators and experts, which recommended Amplify over Istation.

In an in interview Monday, Jablonski called the cease and desist letters "an overt use of scare tactics that's not OK to do."

"Everything I’ve said has been validated by what came out in public record," she said.

Jablonski said she plans to "just keep telling the truth" and answering any questions people have about the evaluation process she was part of. She would have spoken out even if she wasn't running for state superintendent, she said.

"I would have done the same thing – 100 percent," she said.

While she was still employed at DPI, Jablonski canceled a review of the companies competing for the contract during a previous procurement in March 2018 after learning that one of her committee members previously worked with Amplify, she said. That employee, whom Jablonski did not name, was removed from the process and retired soon after.

"To be clear, the person did not do this in malice," she said. "My understanding is that her time with Amplify was extremely limited as a contracted trainer."

Jablonski said she is not aware of any other committee members with conflicts of interest and said she has no ties to the companies.

A DPI spokesman confirmed that an unnamed former employee had a conflict of interest.

"A whistleblower informed DPI that one of the committee members had not disclosed a prior business relationship with Amplify," spokesman Graham Wilson wrote. "While state personnel laws prohibit us from saying who the employee was, I can tell you that this person no longer works for DPI."

Another cease and desist letter was sent Monday to Justin Parmenter, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg teacher who has been chronicling the Istation and Amplify controversy on his blog, "Notes from the Chalkboard."

In his blogposts, some of which have been shared 15,000 times, he says the change to Istation will result in "increased screen time" and "reduced human interaction" for K-3 students who are tested on reading.

In a statement, Parmenter said it's "unfortunate that Istation is stooping to attempts to intimidate and silence members of the public who want nothing more than transparent government and best practices in our schools."

Chelsea Bartel, a Triangle-based school psychologist, also received a cease and desist letter on Monday. She reached out to Istation on Twitter last month and asked for "peer-reviewed independent research studies on the validity of their assessment tool with a wide range of students." When the company replied with links to research, she posted a 19-page review about the research.

"Istation claims that information I have shared publicly questioning their assessment tool is defamatory," Bartel told WRAL News by email Monday. "I have not shared any information, publicly or privately, which I know to be untrue. I am simply shining light on publicly available documents and asking questions about how their tool can meet legal requirements as a screener for dyslexia. I act in the best interests of North Carolina's students, who deserve fewer tests, fairer tests, and fruitful tests."

Istation has already begun training teachers and posting updates on its social media accounts to share positive reviews it has received from teachers so far. In a press release, Istation President Ossa Fisher said North Carolina teachers have had "high praise for the program."

"Educators lauded the program for its ease of use and array of benefits for both the teacher and student," she wrote.

The state superintendent is standing by his decision to choose Istation, saying it is the "best reading diagnostic tool for North Carolina."

"I believe using Istation will yield quality data that will better support success for our students, meeting students where they are and helping them grow, while also reducing the time teachers must spend testing students," Johnson wrote. "DPI and the State Board adhered to all laws, rules, and policies during this procurement to ensure fairness and objectivity. We are excited about the end result of a partnership with Istation to support students and teachers across North Carolina.”

Amplify, which has worked with North Carolina public schools since 2013, is protesting the state education agency's decision to choose Istation and has demanded that the contract be suspended or terminated. The state superintendent told Amplify leaders their protest was "untimely" and "procedurally defective," but he offered to meet with them.

An Amplify spokeswoman told WRAL News that the company's leader is planning to meet with state education leaders this Thursday.

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