Tuesday Notes & Links

A few things you may be interested in…

Reality Based Educator comments on Empress Merryl Tisch’s refusal to back her puppet Ed Commish John King.

While he attempts to escape “Bridgegate” and now an investigation into how he misused Hurricane Sandy relief funds, Chris Christie is “screwing teachers, students, and schools.”

The Gates Foundation is threatening to pull back $40 million if Pittsburgh’s teachers don’t surrender to a junk science APPR plan.

Finally, this story has been kicking around for a few days, but we hadn’t mentioned it yet here.  From the same people (NYSED) who brought you a phone sex line this fall, now bring you to the “Sexy Bitch” quiz in order to “make test prep fun”.  Via the Washington Post…

Student resources that are linked to vulgar and offensive Materials

Anna Shah is the mother of a kindergarten student. While looking on the Engage NY site for materials on the Common Core, she encountered highly offensive materials on the Student Services Page. The NYSED link called “Make test prep fun,” took the student to a site with quizzes to determine if they are a  “sexy bitch”, “evil”, “freak” etc. The site also included racist and homophobic slurs. Some quizzes were supposed to determine if “you were a true Mexican,” a “slut,” or gay.  Ms. Shah immediately notified the department and they took the site down.  Apparently the link had been up since October 2012. Prior to its removal, I took screen shots of some of the pages,which you can see here.  Please be warned, it contains offensive language.

Cablevision Editorial

Peter Kohler of Cablevision has called out the Board of Regents and the state legislature for their bungled implementation of the Common Core.  Thanks to Maurizio Milana who caught this on News12 and passed along the link.  Below is the transcript of the editorial.  Click here if you’d like to watch the video.

The state’s Common Core rollout has been compared to building an airplane and flying it at the same time.

Long Island Regent Roger Tilles termed it worse than the “Obamacare” rollout. Now Tilles will join a Regents task force charged with finding out why things went so wrong. He’s a good choice.

Tilles has been a persistent but often lonely voice speaking out about the inept implementation of rigorous Common Core standards that he vigorously supports. He has condemned all the excessive testing, especially testing English language learners and those with learning disabilities at an inappropriate grade level.

He was alone in condemning the rush to implement a deeply flawed teacher evaluation system.

All of this was done to gain federal Race to the Top funds. But most turned a deaf ear to Tilles’ warnings, especially Chancellor Merryl Tisch and Education Commissioner John King. They finally got more than an earful from parents and educators at forums across the state, including some contentious sessions on Long Island.

While it’s good that Tisch established this task force, it’s also time to take a fresh look at how the Regents themselves performed. Why did they fail to provide oversight over state education officials responsible for this train wreck?

Perhaps reforms need to start with the Board of Regents. Maybe it’s time to consider electing the Regents, as Rockville Centre Principal Carol Burris recently recommended in Newsday.

With the notable exception of Tilles, experience suggests that the Regents–all appointed by state legislators–are out of step. They should be made accountable to the people.

Merit Pay

In his State of the State address this week, King Andy Cuomo proposed that New York should develop a merit pay system that would allow the state’s “highly effective” teachers to earn bonuses of “up to $20,000”.  He didn’t specify where the money would come from, nor did he mention that merit pay has been tried many places across the country over the last century and has always failed to have any impact on student learning.  But why should King Andy worry about pesky things like research and facts when deciding what to force onto the peasants of his kingdom?  You can be sure by “highly effective” he means teachers who score the best on the infamously flawed, junk science APPR that he helped force into place.  Also note that “up to $20,000” can be as little as $1.00.  Something tells me that this isn’t the sort of deal that would be good for the large numbers of great educators across our state.

One teacher has already started this petition, asking legislators to reject Cuomo’s proposal.  Head on over and sign it.  Thanks to Rob Pearl for the link.

Diane Ravitch wrote today about teachers in Massachusetts who rejected merit pay that they were being given from the Gates Foundation.

Ianuzzi Seeks No Confidence Vote in King

Via Dick Ianuzzi’s Twitter…

They should add Empress Tisch and King Andy Cuomo to that vote as well… and John Flanagan, Ken LaValle, and a whole host of others…

I have no confidence in either of these buffoons.
I have no confidence in either of these buffoons.

Gov. Cuomo Continues to Avoid Addressing New Yorkers on Public Ed

Via NYSAPE, of which the PJSTA is a member…

Governor Cuomo Continues to Avoid Addressing New Yorkers on Public Education

Parents, educators and community members are deeply disappointed by Governor Cuomo’s failure to address widespread concerns regarding the disastrous implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards, excessive high stakes testing and the collection and sharing of private student data. In recent weeks, Governor Cuomo has remained silent on these harmful reforms and today’s State of the State address confirms that the Governor has failed to fulfill his promise to “put students first.” NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) is dismayed that while he once called himself the “lobbyist for students,” Governor Cuomo has joined the ranks of those in power who have dismissed the voices of tens of thousands of informed parents working to protect their children, their schools and their communities.

One year ago, Governor Cuomo reminded us that, “the purpose of public education is to help children grow, not to grow the public education bureaucracy.”  However, today the governor has confirmed his commitment to political ambition and corporate interests over the millions of students that he was elected to represent and protect. Lori Griffin, Copenhagen public school parent says, “When parents started to seek answers and ask for help, this Governor stayed in the shadows and ignored our pleas to examine the state of public education and the effects on New York’s children.”

Rather than delivering the honest leadership that NYS students and parents deserve, the Governor used his remarks to distract from what will go down in history as an abysmal track record on public education. “We don’t appreciate his thinly veiled diversionary tactics by attempting to shift the attention to medical marijuana, instead of on these abusive and onerous reform initiatives. Cuomo needs to keep his promise that he is the students’ lobbyist” stated Tim Farley, a parent and a principal of the Ichabod Crane School in Kinderhook, New York. Regarding Governor Cuomo’s refusal to address parent concerns, Eric Mihelbergel, a Buffalo public school parent and co-founder of NYSAPE says, “Governor Cuomo needs to either step up or step aside.”

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters says, “Though the Governor has called himself the lobbyist for students, he has refused to take any position on the state sharing personal student data with inBloom and other vendors without parental consent. With 8 out of 9 states having pulled out of inBloom or put their data-sharing plans on hold, New York is now the worst state in the country when it comes to protecting children’s privacy. Leaders of both parties in the Legislature have spoken out against inBloom, called for a moratorium and have bi-partisan legislation to protect parental rights and student data. It is deeply disappointing that in his speech today, the Governor again failed to show leadership on this critical issue.”

“It’s very telling that while Governor Cuomo not only supported and endorsed the State’s rushed adoption and implementation of these so-called reforms, he now seems to want to wash his hands of any responsibility for the botched initiatives. The fact is, it is well within the Governor’s power to slow down their implementation through legislative means” says Bianca Tanis, New Paltz public school parent and steering committee member of Re-Thinking Testing, Mid-Hudson Region.

New York State Allies for Public Education represents forty-five grassroots parent groups from every corner of the Empire State. The organizations are proud to stand with the parents, community members and fellow educators in NYSAPE to call for a change in direction and policy beginning with new leadership at the New York State Education Department.

Arrogant Cuomo Doesn’t Care What New Yorkers Think

I don't care what research says! You'll do what I say... and you'll like it!
I don’t care what research says! You’ll do what I say… and you’ll like it!

In his State of the State address, Andy “Lobbyist for Students” Cuomo chose to completely ignore the growing revolution by students, parents, and educators over his education reform agenda.  Rather he doubled down on his efforts instead, proposing a merit pay system that would pay “highly effective teachers” a $20,000 reward.  The same merit pay system that has, time and again, failed to work anywhere it has been tried.  No mention of the bungled implementation of the Common Core State Standards.  No mention of how deeply flawed those standards are.  No mention of the obscene amounts of testing being used to torture students.  No mention of the disastrous APPR system that he’d want to base these “bonuses” on.

To make it perfectly clear, Governor Cuomo chose to use his most visible platform of the year to completely ignore the concerns of New Yorkers across the state. Instead the message he sent was, “I don’t care what concerns you have.  I am King Andy and we will continue to jam this ill conceived agenda down your throats!”

Of course Cuomo/Tisch puppet John King thought Cuomo’s idea was wonderful.  “We certainly support rewarding highly effective teaching. We know there’s an opportunity to identify teaching practices and allow them to be mentors for their colleagues.” King said.

Over at Perdido Street School, Reality-Based Educator had a great idea (emphasis mine)…

The revolt over Common Core, the Endless Testing regime, inBloom and APPR is not going to go away just because Sheriff Andy ignored it and made as if it doesn’t exist.

If anything, Sheriff Andy threw more kindling on the revolution bonfire by doubling down on the agenda with a merit pay proposal based upon test scores.

The key now is to have people ask him at every campaign stop he makes in 2014 why he refuses to listen to students, parents and teachers on education issues, why he refuses to acknowledge his APPR evaluation system is an unworkable mess, the CCSS implementation has been nightmarish and every other state dropped out of inBloom so why is NY State still in it?

Put him on the spot every day of his campaign for re-election, that’s the goal here.

…

Still, if some students, parents and teachers show up at every Cuomo campaign appearance around the state protesting his education reform agenda (one which he won’t defend publicly anymore – he just continues to implement it), the press will notice, as will his GOP opponent, and eventually he will have to take a public stand on this stuff himself.

The point is to make him pay a political price for his refusal to listen to criticism and opposition to his agenda.

He wants to run up the score in his 2014 re-election bid in order to set up a 2016 White House run.

He got some help yesterday when Chris Christie’s chances of getting elected got stuck on traffic outside the GWB.

But students, parents and teachers angry over his education reform agenda can put a crimp in Andy’s re-election campaign this year by putting him on the spot over it.

That should be part of the movement against CCSS, APPR, inBloom and testing going forward – continued pressure on the politicians in Albany, especially Governor Cuomo.

Over at the B-LoEdScene Blog, Sean Crowley writes that Cuomo Promises Edsels, New Cokes, and 8 Track Players to Highly Effective Teachers.

The esteemed Diane Ravitch writes, Cuomo Supports Failed Ideas of Corporate Reformers.

Take Action Tomorrow!

From PJSTA President Beth Dimino…

Yes I know tomorrow is the first day back to school, and it is also

the first day in 2014 that we get to show the people in Albany that we
still mean business and we will fight till they get rid of the Common
Core and high stakes testing!!!  Please be there tomorrow and bring your friends and be sure to post this everywhere….

Show King and Cuomo that we are not going to stop until they hear us!
Nassau and Suffolk Take action against King and Cuomo’s Common Core
Agenda this Monday, at 4 pm, in front of Channel 12 Newsroom, 1 Media
Crossways, Woodbury, NY 11797

URGENT: Make Cuomo & Legislature know we are still here!

A message from PJSTA President Beth Dimino…

Now that the holidays are behind us and our legislators are planning
to return to Albany for the 2014 Session next week, we’ve noticed
media coverage of Common Core has quieted down significantly. Our
mission is to ensure this quiet time is not misinterpreted as
complacency.
Governor Cuomo is scheduled to deliver his State of the State Address
on January 8th. We need to apply statewide pressure on him to
specifically address the failures of education reform in New York.
Doing so would get this issue front and center in the media again.
We have an idea that will be very effective, and we need your help.
Starting on Thursday, January 2, we begin the “New York New Year Blitz”
on Governor Cuomo and the Legislature. We will call, fax, email,
Tweet, and snail-mail Governor Cuomo and ask him why he has turned a
deaf ear on our voices, why he refuses to acknowledge the failure of
Common Core in New York State, and why he has not spoken one word
about education deform in response to our testimonies and appearances
at NYSED’s and Senator Flanagan’s hearings around the state. We will
do the same to our legislators (Assembly and Senate) and remind them
that we are still here, we are still not happy, and that they work for
us! They need to ignore Flanagan’s proposed legislation and do
something that throws Common Core out of New York.

Public protests and picketing at local/regional television news
stations across the state would put us front and center with a unified
message to the Governor that this issue isn’t dead, and that
Flanagan’s report of his statewide hearings was an abysmal
misrepresentation of the shortcomings, experiences, and objections
presented by parents, educators, administrators, and early childhood
development experts. On Monday, January 6th beginning at 4 p.m. outside
each TV news station listed below, we make our voices heard. We will
call on the media to get our message out. We will bring signs,
placards, bullhorns. We will apply as much pressure and generate as
much noise as humanly possible. We will post this activity to every
social media outlet and make it go viral. After the Governor’s Address
on the 8th, we get on the phones, we get on our computers and we flood
every New York State Senator’s office (both locally and in Albany)
with the message to get this fixed and not stop until it is. We keep
the heat turned up high until someone steps forward with a REAL
common-sense solution to this mess. It is only the majority of people
statewide that will show Flanagan how wrong he has been about the
Common Core and his interpretation of the message we have been
sending.
THIS IS IT FOLKS!! What we’ve been training for…our Marathon Day! This
is the effort that must happen without a hiccup. We have it from a
reliable source that January is CRITICAL and our efforts are URGENTLY
NEEDED. WE ARE CLOSE TO WINNING THIS! This activity will have to be a
skillfully choreographed dance and can only work if we are ALL pulling
on our oars at the same time in the same direction. These are OUR
children, OUR teachers, and OUR schools. Let no arrogant politician
stand in our way!

Governor Cuomo’s Contact Info
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Office of the Governor
NY State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Phone: 518-474-8390
Fax: 518-474-1513
Email: Gov.Cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us
http://www.governor.ny.gov/
www.facebook.com/GovernorAndrewCuomo
www.twitter.com/NYGovCuomo @NYGovCuomo Use #StopCommonCore and#fixNYschools
NY State Senate: http://www.nysenate.gov/ NY State
Assembly:http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/
TV Station Rally Locations for January 6th
Albany
WTEN (ABC Network)
341 Northern Blvd
Albany, New York 12204
518-433-4286
Binghamton
WIVT-TV (ABC Network)
203 Ingraham Hill Road
Binghamton, NY 13903
607-771-3434
Bronx & Brooklyn
News 12 Bronx/Brooklyn
930 Soundview Ave
Bronx, NY 10473
Phone:(718) 328-7504
Buffalo
WGRZ (NBC Network)
259 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo,NY 14202
716-849-2222
Elmira
WETN-TV (NBC Network)
101 East Water Street
Elmira,NY 14901
607-733-5518
Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk Counties)
News 12 Long Island
1 Media Crossways
Woodbury, NY 11797
516-393-1200
E-mail: LIDesk@News12.com

Lower Hudson Valley
(Rockland & Orange Counties)
News 12 Lower Hudson Valley
235 West Nyack Road
West Nyack , NY 10994
Phone: 845-624-8780
Fax: 845-735-1601
E-mail: news12hv@news12.com

Manhattan
WNBC-TV
30 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA
NEW YORK,NY 10112
212-664-4444
Plattsburgh
WPTZ (NBC Network)
5 Television Drive
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
518-561-5555

Rochester
WHEC-TV 10 (NBC Network)
191 East Avenue
Rochester,NY 14604
585-546-5670

Syracuse
WSYR-TV (ABC Network)
5904 Bridge Street
East Syracuse,NY 13057
315-446-9999

Utica
WKTV (NBC Network)
5936 Smith Hill Rd
Utica,NY 13502
315-733-3477
Watertown
WWNY TV7 (FOX and CBS affiliate)
120 Arcade Street
Watertown,NY 13601
315-788-3800

Westchester
News 12 Westchester
6 Executive Plaza
Yonkers, NY 10701
(914)378-4800

King and Tisch Finally Roll Into NYC

After nearly two months of stops across New York State, the King & Tisch “We’re Not Listening Tour” finally rolled into New York City last night.  This time the dynamic duo split up, with Tisch visiting the Bronx and her puppet John King stopping by Brooklyn.

Mark Naison of the Badass Teachers Association has the story of Queen Merryl’s trip to the Bronx.

John King’s Brooklyn visit was quite a bit different from most of his other stops.  It was a meeting that was well attended by John Flanagan’s pals from Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirstNY.  Additionally it had numerous charter school operators in attendance.  These people, of course, benefit from the harmful reforms being pushed through by SED and the regents.  So naturally it became a glowing report on how swimmingly things are going.  Interestingly enough these people truly are representatives of special interests groups.  Yet John King wasn’t complaining about the meeting being co-opted by special interests tonight, as he did when parents lambasted him at the PTA Town Hall Meeting in October.  MORE‘s Katie Lapham writes of her experience there last night.  Capital New York with the story here.