New York State Dictator Governor Andy Cuomo yesterday called for the death penalty for failing schools. He seriously used that terminology when talking about schools. The video is rather chilling. Cuomo says…
“We’re making great progress in the education system.”
That might be the most “off-target” comment, regarding public education, that I’ve heard.
About the evaluation process he says…
“You’ll be able to know what teachers are working well. What teachers are not working well.” and “You’ll be able to know what schools are working well and what schools aren’t working well.”
“We can’t allow these failing schools to continue. Whether it is a take over by the state or mayoral control or take over by a charter school there’s going to have to be a death penalty for failing schools”
So here is the governor’s agenda:
Use junk science to show how bad teachers are. Fire them. Use junk science to show how schools are failing. Strip those districts of local control. Place control in the hands of John King. Replace the schools with charter schools, which have proven to be less effective than public schools. Have the people profiting from those charters fund Cuomo’s campaign for president.
PJSTA members, if you haven’t been paying attention to education issues you should. Regardless of how well things are or are not going in your classroom, there is a significant push to destroy your profession and it is funded by some very wealthy and influential people. The PJSTA will be offering you plenty of opportunities to ACT this year. Actions that show your support for public education. Actions that show you will NOT continue to be pushed around by forces bent on destroying you. We are excited to work with you and with our allies this coming school year as we act against those forces.
The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association is proud to have recently joined the New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE).
From their website…
NYS ALLIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION ARE PARENTS AND CONCERNED COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO FIRMLY BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND ITS FUNDAMENTAL LINK TO THE SUCCESS OF A THRIVING COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. WE ARE CLASS MOTHERS & FATHERS, COMMUNITY ADVOCATES, PARENTS AND NEIGHBORS OF GRADUATES, TEACHERS, PROFESSORS, AND UNRELENTING SUPPORTERS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION WHO BELIEVE EXCESSIVE TESTING AND INAPPROPRIATE SHARING OF PRIVATE STUDENT DATA WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT THREATEN THE FUTURE OF OUR STUDENTS, OUR SCHOOLS, AND OUR STATE.
WHILE MEANINGFUL ASSESSMENT IS AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION, THE NEW NYS STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENTS ARE ALIGNED WITH UNPROVEN REFORMS NEITHER SUPPORTED BY RIGOROUS RESEARCH NOR VETTED BY EDUCATORS AND PARENTS.
and their mission…
NYS ALLIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION EXISTS TO ADDRESS MANY ISSUES INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:
1.) EXCESSIVE STANDARDIZED TESTING IS CONSUMING 25% OF OUR CHILDREN’S ACADEMIC YEAR. IT FORCES TEACHERS TO “TEACH TO TEST”, COSTS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, TEACHES CHILDREN THERE IS ONLY ONE RIGHT ANSWER, TAKES THE JOY OUT OF LEARNING, AND CREATES MAJOR CHEATING IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
2.) OUR CHILDREN’S PRIVATE, PERSONAL INFORMATION IS BEING STORED IN LARGE DATABASES AND IS BEING PROVIDED TO PRIVATE COMPANIES WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF PARENTS, AND WITHOUT PROVIDING AN OPT-OUT PROVISION TO BE REMOVED FROM THE DATABASE.
3.) UNITING REGIONAL GROUPS FROM ACROSS NYS IN ONE LOCATION WHERE WE CAN WORK TOGETHER FOR THE BETTERMENT OF EDUCATION IN NYS.
You can find them on Facebook here and follow them on Twitter, @NYSAPE.
Senator Flanagan, Chair of the NY State Senate Education Committee, has officially posted four public meeting dates to meet with NY State taxpayers to speak to the issue of the common core and high stakes testing. The problem is Mr. Flanagan will only allow the people he invites to be the speakers at the meeting and he is limiting his scope to only four locations throughout the State.
Here’s an opportunity for everyone in the State to have their opinion appear in the public record of these public meetings, without an invitation from Mr. Flanagan.
We have created a form letter, that meets the strict submission guidelines for written testimony at public hearings.
You can download the letters from the Students Not Scores site. You do not need to email them if you are a PJSTA member. Once you change the letter to insert your information, print it out. Building reps will be collecting them once school begins and PJSTA President Beth Dimino will be delivering them in person on September 17th. I’m sure Mr. Flanagan will be happy to see her!
I have had a few links to some great reads to share the past few days, but have been busy with some of our other posts, so I’ll give you a few at once here. As you are laying on the beach enjoying your last week of summer here are a few “must reads” for you…
The Atlantic Journal Constitution tells you who is making money off of the Common Core (WARNING, paywall). Reality-Based Educator’s take on the article, “Common Core Developers- A Private Club You Are Not In” can be found here.
Seven things to do now that state test scores are in, from NYC Public School Parents.
I am convinced that we, as teachers, must be activists. While we all forge personal identities inside the classroom, the diversity of which our kids love and enjoy, we must conceive of ourselves as education activists too. We have, at the same time, front row seats to and lead roles in education today. We are school reform. If we make ourselves aware of policy, trends, and plans that occur outside of the classroom, then we can preserve our autonomy and ability to lead inside the classroom.
Senator Flanagan has set the date for the Senate Standing Committee on Education’s hearing to assess how their reform agenda has gone so far. I could save them a lot of time and tell them that it stinks, but given the fact that Flanagan set the hearing for Tuesday, September 17th from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm, I am guessing he is not looking for input from real educators.
Flanagan’s committee will also host hearings on October 1st (Syracuse), October 16th (Buffalo), and October 29th (NYC). All school days. All during school hours. Hopefully some of the non-teacher attendees of the “Students Not Scores!” rally will be available to meet member’s of the Senate’s committee on their way in and let them know how they feel about the school “reforms”.
The New York State Education Department’s Commissioner John King, who should be fired, wants the Board of Regents to have the ability to take over school boards in districts that are “failing”. WGRZ in Buffalo has the story.
So let’s get this straight. John King wants to use junk science to label school districts as “failing”. The he wants to give Merryl Tisch and the Board of Regents the ability to take over the school boards of those “failing schools” so that they can “fix” them? Keep in mind this is the same Merryl Tisch who has said that the public dislikes teachers. She also claimed that our “scientific, objective” evaluation system, which is neither scientific nor objective, would fix that problem.
It’s a rigged game folks. Unless we raise our collective voice to a roar we’re gonna get steamrolled.
John J. Flanagan- ENEMY OF PUBLIC ED- use a deferential tone when speaking to him!
Way back in July, before Dr. Rella became a celebrity, before we called for John King’s firing, and before we rallied for public ed, we announced a new series of posts that we would be writing this year. That series would be broken into two parts. One part titled “Know Your Friends” (KYF) and one titled “Know Your Enemies” (KYE). The first post of the series was a “Know Your Friends” detailing a dear friend of public education, Diane Ravitch. Today we pull back the curtain on our first “Know Your Enemies” post.
Our first KYE post is a special two for one edition featuring two of our most local politicians, New York State Senators John J. Flanagan and Ken LaValle. Each of these state senators represent parts of the Comsewogue School District. Each of these politicians received one of Dr. Rella’s letters regarding the scores of the NYS Common Core tests. Each of these senators could not be bothered to show up to the rally because they do not support the will of their constituents and the rally message “Students, Not Scores”.
We will discuss LaValle first. He issued this statement the day before Saturday’s #SNSRally. There are a few problems with this statement…
I met with those parents, listened to their concerns, and also met with representatives of the State’s Education Department.
He chose not to meet with any actual teachers who, you know, proctored the exams and teach the content the students are responsible for?! Surely those reps from NYSED included the reformy John King and others of his ilk… people who are selling NY State’s public education system to the highest bidder.
I agree that the implementation of the Common Core could have been better handled
Perhaps LaValle meant. “It could have been handled better. But we were really in a rush to get this system in place so that we can start firing teachers sooner rather than later. If it hurts the children in the process, so be it… I have a political agenda and I am not going to let common sense stand in the way of it!”
The bill also requires the Commissioner of the State Education Department to report, annually to the Legislature about: the effectiveness of Common Core state tests in enhancing student learning and performance
The commissioner already tells us that our Common-Core assessments are “very high quality”. I am just dying to hear his report to the legislature.
Now onto John J. Flanagan. Senator Flanagan, representing the 2nd Senate District, also chairs the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education. No wonder public education is a mess. He also was a recipient of Dr. Rella’s letter. While LaValle issued a cop-out statement, Flanagan didn’t even bother. Maybe he was busy basking in the glow of his “Pet Lemon Law“. He did contact Rella privately. You can read between the lines to figure out how that went.
Additionally, the PJSTA knows from it’s own personal experience that Senator John J. Flanagan is no friend of ours.
A little while back PJSTA President Beth Dimino went to Flanagan’s office with the rest of the Suffolk NYSUT contingency during a NYSUT Committee of 100 event. This was right after the Comsewogue cap budget failed to get 60%. During the meeting Dimino confronted Flanagan about the fact that he supported the tax cap. She told him that as a New York State Senator that represents Comsewogue and as the head of New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education that he was directly responsible for the fact that we would have to eliminate programs, have larger class sizes, lay off teachers and reconfigure our elementary schools, even though 59% of the voters didn’t want these things to happen. She was respectful in her presentation, though in typical Dimino fashion she was passionate and didn’t sugar coat anything. He was not pleased with what she had to say or the way that she spoke to him. At the end of the meeting Dimino went up to him and when he shook her hand she presented him with a gift. She gave him one of these pins…
The pin Dimino gave to Flanagan.
Mrs. Dimino told him that the gift was a pin from Comsewogue and the PJSTA and that she hoped he would wear it. Flanagan was furious. He proceeded to complain about her to a NYSUT official and then he called a Comsewogue School District official. Flanagan told the NYSUT official what she said and demanded that Dimino needed speak to him in a more deferential tone in the future. He asked the district official to “get control of” Dimino. The individual told Flanagan that if he had actually knew Dimino he would know that no one was going to control her!
So please make sure that when speaking to King Senator Flanagan you are deferential enough. He is after all an extremely important guy. He will even tell you so himself.
As the chairman of the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education, Flanagan will be holding hearings throughout New York State in the coming months to review the impact and effectiveness of recent education reforms. Of course he could skip the hearings and just walk into any school and a teacher could tell him how destructive these education “reforms” have been. The first hearing is scheduled to be right here on Long Island. His office informed me that the hearing will take place during the second week in September and is by invite only. By waiting until the school year has started Flanagan has a built in excuse not to invite many real teachers to the hearing. That would be a disaster of course because then he wouldn’t get to hear what he wants to hear. Holding these hearings without real educators is akin to seeking medical advice from your dog. But we already know that public education is a rigged game and John J. Flanagan is making sure that he does everything he can to rig it in the favor billionaires, corporations, and potential big money donors.
Senator Flanagan, like Senator LaValle will likely be running for re-election again in 2014. He too is an enemy of public education. He too should be voted out.
Another rally story, this one from longisland.com, including a quote from Dimino.
What many of the rally stories seem to miss (or ignore) is the fact that these assessments really were never meant to assess students. Instead they are all part of the rigged game to destroy public education. Just ask John Merrow, who can’t get the real story of Michelle Rhee published.
On a separate note, we have discussed the need to contact our elected officials who do not support us (particularly John Flanagan and Ken LaValle). In addition to this you should be contacting politicians who have supported us to express your gratitude as well. When calling Assemblyman Englebright and Assemblyman Graf today to express my gratitude for their support at Saturday’s rally I didn’t get the sense they had heard from many people. They each had staff members who spent 10-15 minutes each on the phone with me, however. They wanted to know my experience as an educator dealing with the destructive “reforms” that have entered our profession recently. The idea that legislator’s would want an educator’s opinion on education issues shouldn’t have been surprising. But it was. It was refreshing too. They should hear from all of us. When they take our fight to Albany they need to know that they have an army of us behind them.
The Official Website of the PJSTA 