February 26, 2007
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
Old Capital Building
P.O. Box 47200
Olympia, WA 98504-7200
Governor Christine Gregoire
Legislative Building
P.O. Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
Attorney General Rob McKenna
P.O. Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sullivan
700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220
Seattle, WA 98101-1271
Re: Bergeson et al. Education Reform
Dear Addressees:
I have completed the second PowerPoint entitled “OSPI Religious Connection: New Horizons for Learning.” The Office of the Superintendent of Public instruction has used special education funding to develop and maintain a website (New Horizons for Learning) that directs educators, parents and students to articles and various self-improvement programs, workshops, conferences and trainings promoting:
- New Age Religious Thought and Practices
- Spiritual Growth, Healing and Cleansing
- Conscious Evolution for co-creation, co-processing and co-evolving
- Futuristic Studies based on imagined futures of a new human species through the practice of supernatural communications or other means of creating the future
- Expensive, unscientific and unproven clinical interventions and practices to be used by educators in diagnosing and treating cognitive deficiencies of various population of students
The spiritualism and its various themes are presented as teacher professional development, approaches to effective instructional and assessment methods, educator and parent trainings, workshops and conferences.
The ideas, self-improvement programs and spiritual practices advanced through the New Horizons for Learning website align with the teachings of Theosophy. Theosophists believe “everything from the subatomic to plants, animals, humans, planets, stars, and galaxies is alive and evolving. Each is divine at its roots and expresses itself through spiritual, intellectual, psychological, ethereal, and material ranges of consciousness and substance” (Martin, 2003, p.282).
The presentation gives an overview of the website and its content, which includes the promotion of well-known spiritual leaders within the religious movement of spiritualism. Names of some of those leaders are Barbara Marx Hubbard, Jean Houston, Marianne Williamson, Duane Elgin and Dee Dickinson. The website includes the writings from numerous leaders and followers of spiritualism. Some of those are Shirley McCune, Robert Carkhuff, Rachael Kessler, Parker J. Palmer, Mike Seymour, Sandra Burchsted, Deepak Chopra and many more.
New Horizons for Learning recognizes Terry Bergeson as stating, "The vast amount of information assembled on the New Horizons for Learning website is readily available to all in education. As our state perfects the capacity of the K-20 communication system, New Horizons for Learning will extend its website into every classroom and office." Public documents obtained from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction claims that the New Horizon for Learning website receives approximately 8 million hits a month.
Currently, the host of New Horizon for Learning is the publicly funded Digital Learning Commons. Terry Bergeson is a board member along with Representative Ross Hunter, Chief Clerk Rich Nafziger, and Governor’s executive policy advisor for K-12 Judy Hartmann and former Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Marty Daybell. These individuals have, to some degree, expressed resentment towards me through their actions or defamatory statements of my character.
- Terry Bergeson: Several people have shared that Bergeson, in her defense, has told them and others that I am ‘crazy,’ and that I have a vendetta against her because of the limited services my son with a disability has received.
- State Representative Ross Hunter: Hunter contacted the Snohomish Tribune reporter, Kristin Kline and told her that I was ‘textbook certifiably insane.’ Hunter sent me an apology letter after I contacted him and Chief Clerk Rich Nafziger.
- Chief Clerk Rich Nafziger: When I contacted Nafziger to discuss the unfair treatment I am receiving from the legislature (House), he defended Terry Bergeson by telling me I was disrespectful at the public hearings because my testimonies and submission of public documents suggest Bergeson is a liar. Therefore, he believes the treatment I am receiving is justified.
- Judy Hartmann: Each time I am told by the Governor’s office that Judy Hartmann will be writing me a letter or contacting me regarding my concerns, I do not receive any communications from her.
- Marty Daybell: When attempting to access public documents (2005), Daybell contacted the State Patrol making false claims about me and forced me to leave OSPI. The documents I was attempting to inspect were Shirley McCune’s emails referencing the LINKS Learning website and the obscene material that children were being encouraged to access through the website. To this day, I have never received the emails.
The Digital Learning Commons claims,
“The New Horizons for Learning (NHFL) website features information on effective teaching and learning practices that have not yet reached the mainstream.”
“New Horizons for Learning has served as a leading-edge resource for educational change since 1980. This organization gives visibility to effective teaching and learning practices and explores and helps implement ideas that have not yet reached the mainstream. New Horizons for Learning is often a ‘launching pad’ for new educational organizations and projects.”
It appears that a number of individuals, including those within the Governor’s office and legislature encourage the promotion of New Horizons for Learning website and have defended the actions of Terry Bergeson regardless of the truth that reveals deception, religious promotion and behavior that is denying children their constitutional rights, both state and federal. Without further discussion, I invite you to view the PowerPoint Presentation entitled “OSPI Religious Connection: New Horizons for Learning.”
In closing, I again request that legal action be taken against Terry Bergeson and others who have knowingly participated in the publicly funded advancement of Bergeson et al. religion and other deceptive practices discussed and demonstrated throughout my numerous letters, previous PowerPoint presentation and mass amount of supporting evidence.
Sincerely,
Nancy Vernon
