The Official Website of the PJSTA

NYSAPE Action Alert

The PJSTA is a member of the New York State Allies for Public Education.

As a member of NYSAPE we are issuing an Action Alert:

Change NYS Board of Regents Elections – ACTION ALERT!

ACTION ALERT: The following Board of Regents members have terms that are set to expire, and we MUST affect the appointment process:

•  Christine Cea (Staten Island)
•  James Jackson (Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster)
•  James Cottrell (at-large)
•  Wade Norwood (at-large)

Never before has the Board of Regents appointment process been held to public scrutiny. But this year WE WILL MAKE AN IMPACT. The interests of our children MUST be represented by our elected NYS Assembly Members.

Here are 4 steps that we all must do on a weekly basis:

1.) Call and email:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D)                    Phone: 212-312-1420    speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
Assembly Dem. Maj. Leader Joseph Morelle (D)    Phone: 585-467-0410    morellej@assembly.state.ny.us
Governor Andrew Cuomo                                        Phone: 518-474-8390    gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us

2.) Call and email Assembly Education Committee Chairpersons:
Catherine Nolan (D) Phone: 718-784-3194 and 518-455-4851 nolanc@assembly.state.ny.us
Deborah Glick (D) Phone: 212-674-5153 and 518-455-4818 glickd@assembly.state.ny.us

3.) Call and email each of the following Assembly members:
To affect Christine Cea appointment:
Matthew Titone (D) Phone: 718-442-9932 and 518-455-4677 titonem@assembly.state.ny.us
Michael Cusick (D) Phone: 718-370-1384 and 518-455-5526 cusickm@assembly.state.ny.us

To affect James Jackson appointment:
Aileen Gunther (D)                                                   Phone: 845-794-5807 and 518-455-5355  gunthea@assembly.state.ny.us
Keven Cahill (D)                                                       Phone: 845-338-9610 and 518-455-4436  cahillk@assembly.state.ny.us
John McDonald (D)                                                  Phone: 518-455-4474     mcdonaldj@assembly.state.ny.us
Patricia Fahy (D)                                                      Phone: 518-455-4178     fahyp@assembly.state.ny.us
Phil Steck (D)                                                           Phone: 518-377-0902 and 518-455-5931  steckp@assembly.state.ny.us
Angelo Santabarbara (D)                                         Phone: 518-382-2941 and 518-455-5197 santabarbaraa@assembly.state.ny.us

To affect James Cotrell appointment:
Focus on the legislators in items 1 and 2 above

To affect Wade Norwood appointment:
David Gantt (D) Phone: 585-454-3670 and 518-455-5606 ganttd@assembly.state.ny.us
Harry Bronson (D) Phone: 585-244-5255 and 518-455-4527 bronsonh@assembly.state.ny.us

4.) Use the guidelines here to tell them that we need NEW Board of Regents members:
– Tell them there are 4 Regents up for re-appointment.
– Tell them you demand the appointment of Regents who support an immediate moratorium on Common Core, high stakes testing, and data sharing.
– Tell them the public will hold NYS Assembly members accountable for their votes for or against the appointment of the NYS Board of Regents members.

Here is a sample letter to email that you can also use as a script to guide you on the phone:
Dear__________________________________
This year 4 members of the NYS Board of Regents are up for re-appointment, Cea, Jackson, Cotrell, and Norwood. New candidates will be interviewed by the Education Committees in February, and you will be voting on these re-appointments in March of 2014. I am writing to let you know that I am very concerned about the damaging effects of Regents Reform Agenda, and that this year, the public will hold NYS legislators accountable for their votes for or against the appointment of individual Regents. Therefore, I am asking that you please appoint Regents who support an immediate moratorium on Common Core, high stakes testing, and the uploading of student information to the inBloom cloud. The Regent’s Reform agenda in NYS is destroying public education and violating student privacy. As an elected NYS legislator, you MUST represent the interests of our children and the will of the people.
Sincerely,

Background Information on the NYS Board of Regents:

– Candidates wishing to apply to become a Board of Regents member must send a resume to the Assembly Education and Higher Education Committees before January 31. In-person interviews are conducted by Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan and Debra Glick in February.

– Legislators vote in early March, but they are generally given one or two nominees to vote on, less than 24 hours before the election, that are selected by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Although the public is told that the entire legislation votes, in reality it is Sheldon Silver that chooses. Many legislators abstain because the process is so dysfunctional. WE MUST CONTACT THE ELECTED OFFICIALS ABOVE SO THAT WE CAN INFLUENCE THE BOARD OR REGENTS APPOINTMENTS.

– The Regents preside over the New York State Education Department and SUNY.

– The Board consists of 17 members; 1 from each of the State’s 13 judicial districts and 4 members who serve at large.

– The Board is headed by the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, Merryl Tisch.

– Those serving on the Board of Regents come from diverse backgrounds and fields. Some are former educators but most are not.

– The duties of the Board of Regents include: setting graduation requirements, testing regimens and curriculum and approval of the State Education Department’s budget.

– The regents are not paid a salary and are not required to have any educational training or background.

Why is this important?

– The Board of Regents is responsible for the appointment of the Commissioner of Education. They also have the power to replace the Commissioner of Education.*
(* It is interesting to note that John King was appointed as The Commissioner at the age of 36 with only 3 years of classroom experience. It would also be interesting to note that John King and Merryl Tisch pursued their doctoral degrees together at Columbia University.)

– While Commissioner King may have proposed the haphazard and incompetent implementation of the Common Core and subsequent testing, The Board of Regents approved this rollout.

-The process by which one becomes a regent is not widely understood. Members of the NYS Assembly may nominate a potential regent. Their appointment is confirmed by a joint vote of the legislature. The Democratic Majority in the State Assembly currently controls the selection process.

– Although a regent’s term expires after 5 years, historically a current regent is automatically re-appointed and will serve until they resign or retire. We must change this.

The Board of Regents wields a great deal of power, and they must be held responsible for their actions. Many parents have appealed to individual Regents and asked for their support of parent efforts to resist harmful education reforms. Likewise, powerful advocacy representing parents, teachers and school administers have also appealed to the Board of Regents but they are not listening.

Retired PJSTA Member in Newsday

Retired PJSTA member Philip Tamberino wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in Newsday…

Supporters of the Common Core seem to believe that teachers and administrators don’t want the accountability connected to testing. They foolishly think that this opposition is just a roll-out problem, people will get used to it, and we will be better off. They refuse to recognize the revolution occurring right in front of them.

Teachers put their students first. The overwhelming majority were graded effective or above even with a faulty, inappropriate and invalid test. So the premise that teachers have a self-serving motive is nullified. Teachers oppose these tests because they are not developmentally aligned to the students on their grade level.

Administrators understand that tying test scores to teacher evaluations creates an atmosphere that poisons schools. When your job depends on a score based on an invalid test, and students who have given up because it is just above their ability, you cannot get an accurate depiction of a teacher’s proficiency.

As a veteran, retired teacher, I cannot recall a time when teachers, administrators, superintendents and parents have been so aligned. That has to mean something. Yes, there is a revolution occurring, and the next step is to keep our children home on testing days.

Philip Tamberino, South Huntington

Make Merryl Tisch Hear You Tonight

The Albany Times Union published a comprehensive report about how wealthy “donors” in New York State use their money and influence to essentially run the New York State Education Department. The major donors include the Gates Foundation, the GE Foundation, and many of the other plutocrats who we typically see funding education reform in the United States. The most egregious name on the list, however, is none other than Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch.

Via the Times Union…

A team of two dozen well-paid analysts embedded in the State Education Department is having a dramatic impact on a reform agenda that’s causing controversy throughout New York.

None are public servants.

Supported with $19 million in donations from some of the nation’s wealthiest philanthropists, the Regents Research Fund team makes up a little-known think tank within the education agency. It is helping drive reforms that affect the state’s 3.1 million public school students and employees of almost 700 school districts.

So people paid for by private entities, not NYSED, are making policy decisions about education reform in New York State.

Barely heard of outside education circles and a mystery even within them, the “Regent fellows” are paid from entities such as the Gates Foundation and some salaries approach $200,000 a year. The arrangement is stirring concern in some quarters that deep-pocketed pedagogues are forcing their reform philosophies on an unwitting populace, and making an end run around government officers.

“We’re a public education system,” said Carol Burris, principal of South Side High School in Long Island’s Rockville Centre. “Having the wealthy pay for it, you’re seeing an agenda that is being pushed … at a rapid pace, and outside the system of public accountability.”

As Burris correctly points out, this is how the plutocrats get their way in regards to New York State education without having to be held accountable by the public as normal operatives of the state would. Sean Crowley from B-LoEdScene describes it quite nicely as well…

The idea of creating a merry band of edupolicy wankers and dressing them up as helper elves who operate outside of the state, the law and any real department is yet another of those clever shuck and jive maneuvers our oligarch class likes to use to put them and their wealth in a position to call the shots with no annoying checks, balances or any of that other quaint democratic process nonsense. They are charitably called the Regents Fellows and they are none of your business thank you very much. Tisch and her hubby kicked in the first million or so and soon after came the flood of cash from all the usual selfless altruistic billionaires. In short they work the will of Tisch and Co. and are accountable to nobody in State Ed or Washington or in any of the local school districts.

The Times Union continues…

What was envisioned as a short-term, relatively small augmentation to SED staff has grown exponentially. Fellows operate independently and communicate regularly with King and many interact regularly with state workers, but are not bound by Public Officer’s Law or ethics rules imposed on government officials.

The Regents appear serious about expanding the group. Fellows who signed on for two-year stints have been extended, new research and policy analysts have been hired, and state officials cannot say if or when the experiment will end. Fellows say they don’t know when they’ll be done, but expect their assignments will run their course.

So things are progressing so swimmingly here in New York State that Merryl and her minions want to expand this group!

What have these “fellows” been responsible for?

The fellows have been involved in mapping teacher and principal evaluations, redoing student exams and working through the state’s implementation of the Common Core standards — reforms that have moved with a speed that many parents and teachers across the state have protested as hasty and harsh.

Ah yes, successful reforms such as teacher evaluations, standardized testing, and Common Core implementation… all the hallmarks of what is wrong with public education today.

So what does Queen Merryl think about all of this?

“Any state would be proud to have people of this capacity working as an arm of the state education department,” said Tisch, emphasizing her regard for staff staffers. “They couldn’t do it without the leadership, without the people who work for the department.”

Yes, we should be proud to have these people pushing an agenda that abuses children and aims to destroy public education! After all our primary goal for education in New York State should be to further line the pockets of the Tisch family and their cronies. Who are those people you may ask? Let’s refer back to this 2009 article from the New York Times, titled “Advancing Education, Through Work Ethic and Connections”…

… her rank in New York’s ruling class as the wife of James S. Tisch, the chief executive of the Loews Corporation, a conglomerate that includes hotels, insurance and oil-drilling operations.

She has enjoyed a decades-long friendship with her Upper East Side neighbor Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. She has celebrated Passover Seders with Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein. She counts among her closest friends Iris Weinshall, the wife of Senator Charles E. Schumer.

And then there is this…

It is such social connections that make Dr. Tisch’s influence difficult to quantify.

“When she needs something, she’ll pick up the phone and call the mayor or governor,” Mr. Fliegel said. “Merryl is not reluctant to intercede if she thinks it’s the right cause.”

Those aren’t the only people she calls. Who does Queen Merryl call when her refrigerator isn’t working?

“When my refrigerator is broken, I don’t call the service department,” said Dr. Tisch, the newly elected chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents and, by marriage, part of one of New York’s wealthiest families. “I call the head of G.E.”

Oh right, the head of GE. That’s who I typically call too.

So what do the other members of the Board of Regents think about these fellows? This New York Times article from 2011 gives us a look…

“Private people give money to support things they’re interested in,” said Roger B. Tilles, a lawyer and longtime education administrator who has been a regent for six years.

…

Betty A. Rosa, who spent 23 years as a teacher and principal before becoming a New York City regional superintendent and a regent, said it was “absolutely wrong” that the fellows had spent what she considered to be so little time working in schools. Six of the 11 have never taught. The five others have a total of 10 years in the classroom and one as a principal.

…

Saul B. Cohen, a former president of Queens College who retired in December after 18 years as a regent, is angry that the board was not consulted about selecting the fellows. “They’re supposed to be advising us, but we had no role,” he said.

Dr. Cohen was also upset that the state’s Race to the Top application — which included major policy decisions like using student test results to evaluate teachers and principals — was not shown to the Regents before it was submitted to Washington. “The board had to rubber-stamp it after the fact,” he said.

Dr. Rosa said the Regents saw only “bits and pieces” of the application beforehand.

Several board members said they had been marginalized under Dr. Tisch, who took over in 2009 and is widely considered to be the most powerful, controlling chancellor in memory.

Tisch’s agenda has become crystal clear. Use private money to hire outside “help”. Use that help to marginalize the people who New York State has appointed to handle matters of public education. Allow the “help” to recommend and push a reform agenda that makes considerable amounts of money for the very people who “donated” money that pays for the help. Laugh all the way to the bank.

So tonight, if you are attending Senator LaValle’s dog and pony show at Eastport High School, speak your mind. Let Dr. Tisch know how you feel about her actions as Regents Chancellor. LaValle, King, and Tisch think they can control the agenda by pre-selecting the speakers and questions. It is a situation that begs for civil disobedience. Tisch has skated away for too long without having to answer to anyone. Make her answer to you tonight.

Peter DeWitt addresses the Regents fellows in this September article from Ed Week.

Reality Based Educator says that Tisch and King should be forced from power. He then wonders if Tisch has been subpoenaed yet?

Hold Your Applause

We are entering an important period of time in the push back against the education reforms in New York State. Fearing for their jobs next November, we are beginning to see some movement from state legislators on the school reform agenda. This is to be expected, as they have been hearing more about this agenda than anything else. Recently Senator Flanagan indicated that when the legislature convenes in January we should see quick action on the student privacy issue. Make no doubt, this is excellent news and it shows that finally legislators are starting to listen.

This, however, is not nearly enough. It became fairly predictable a couple of weeks back that there would be some movement in this direction. Legislators are fearing for their jobs and Commissioner King has had enough vitriol directed towards him that the state is now willing to throw us a bone. But as we have stated time and again, nothing but a full withdrawal from Race to the Top in New York State is acceptable. That is the message our legislators should continue to hear until they have delivered it.

There is a danger that with the passage of legislation restricting the data sent to inBloom people will be appeased. That is what John King and Merryl Tisch are hoping. That is what Andrew Cuomo is hoping for. That is what John Flanagan, Ken LaValle, and the rest of the legislature is hoping. That they can offer up the privacy issue in the hopes that the public will thank them, jump into their holiday season, and forget all about the rest of the abusive reform agenda.

There have been signs that some people are ready to head down this road. Here is No Kids Data NY:

Thank you Senator Flanagan…. The late night hours are starting to pay off! We have been heard http://t.co/8r4BAKcnTA

— NoKidsDataNY (@NoKidsDataNY) November 22, 2013

And NYSUT’s Kyle Belokopitsky…

Thank you @NYSenate Flanagan and @NYSA_Majority Nolan and ODonnell for your leadership! We must protect our children http://t.co/cw1RUjTqFQ

— Kyle M Belokopitsky (@kbelokopitsky) November 22, 2013

Again, let me be clear, limiting student data that is passed on is a win for our movement. It is something to be thankful for and a feather in our cap. But I am not ready to throw too many plaudits in Senator Flanagan’s direction yet. Keep in mind, Senator Flanagan is a major reason we are in this mess to begin with. Along with Andy Cuomo, puppet John King, and puppet master Merryl Tisch, he has been at the forefront of pushing the abusive reform agenda in New York State. Senator Flanagan has a long way to go before I am sending him a thank you card. A lot needs to be accomplished before I can be assured that the money that his chief campaign contributor, Michelle Rhee, gave him is not being spent to continue to harm students and teachers in New York for the benefit of private corporations.

The Smithtown News recently published a great editorial, titled “Change course on King/Flanagan agenda”, about Flanagan’s role in harming public education in New York State. It’s behind a pay wall so I’ll only give you the highlights. All bolded emphasis is mine.

On the organized opposition against the reform agenda…

Call it the King/Flanagan agenda, and it stinks.

The opposition has become so angry that wherever Senator Flanagan, SED Commissioner Dr. John King and Regent Chancellor Dr. Merryl Tisch go from one end of the state to the other, people start screaming at them.

On what may be part of Flanagan’s motivation (though the Rhee bucks help too)…

Ever since NYSUT refused to endorse him for re-election in 2010, Mr. Flanagan has been out to get public school teachers and he is hell-bent on taking the public school system down with them. He has jumped to the center of the charter school bandwagon, which drains money from public schools, he has fostered implementation of an inherently unfair and flawed APPR system, he has ushered in the misguided and premature implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards and he has allowed the implementation of the abusive testing of students.

After commenting on the $1 billion in state aid that Long Island districts have lost while Flanagan has either been the ranking Republican or Chairman of the Senate Education Committee…

Never has Long Island faired so poorly in terms of state aid as it has under the educational leadership of John Flanagan, and now his failed policies are threatening to destroy the quality educational system that we have enjoyed here on Long Island for generations.

On Flanagan’s hearings around the state that are dedicated to the reform agenda…

The hearings should have been held before implementing these new policies, not after. The intent now is only to act as political cover for Mr. Flanagan, who will try to emerge as if he resolved this difficult problem.

Remember though, he is the root cause of the terrible situation facing public school education right now. He needs to be replaced whether the problem is ultimately solved or not.

It really was a great article that reminds us that John Flanagan is one of the primary reasons we are in this mess. So I will hold my thank you until the entire agenda is repealed.

Dimino’s Response to Bruni

“I critique food, therefore I know all about your jobs too.”

The New York Times, like much of the mainstream media, has continuously shilled for the corporate driven Common Core State Standards. This weekend they posted this op-ed from food critic Frank Bruni. Mr. Bruni quotes Beth Dimino in it and then suggests that the anxiety Mrs. Dimino spoke about may becoming more from their parents than the endless amounts of standardized testing that is done in school these days.

Here is Mrs. Dimino’s response to Mr. Bruni…

Mr. Bruni, it comes as no surprise to me that as a food critic you believe that you are uniquely qualified to comment on the ramifications of the high stakes testing portion of the Common Core on New York’s children. You’re not a parent or an educator and you weren’t at the forum where I spoke, but you believed that you could write an informed article for the New York Times and insert my speech without bothering to ask me why I made the comments or to familiarize yourself with the topic. It seems like so many intelligent people, even New York Times writers, just don’t get it. Or is it that you don’t want to get it? Teachers give students tests to evaluate what the child has learned and to better inform themselves about their pedagogy. These tests are not administered for those reasons. Are you aware that the students who are tested in the spring do not receive their grades until the fall? Did you know that Commissioner King created a test that he accurately predicted 70% of the State’s children would fail? Does it matter to you that children as young as 4 years old are required to take these tests? I have some suggestions for you Mr. Bruni. Buy and read Diane Ravitch’s book, Reign of Error, if you want a different perspective about American Public Education. Investigate why more than half of the States are now reevaluating whether or not to withdraw from Race To The Top. Contact me if you would like to know what’s really going on in a New York State public school classroom. Count your lucky stars that your English teachers prepared you for your New York Times gig!

Reality Based Educator also has a great take on the Bruni propaganda.

Who is it Gonna Be?

Via Newsday…

Diane Ravitch, the outspoken education historian, policy analyst and author, called on educators across Long Island Tuesday to boycott Common Core-related curricula and refuse to administer state tests as an act of defiance against the state and federal governments.

“Your community is your boss, and you do what’s best for children,” said Ravitch, speaking at a Hauppauge meeting that drew about 175 school superintendents and administrators from Suffolk and Nassau counties.

“Do not take the Common Core tests. Stop the testing,” said Ravitch, of Southold, who wrote the critically acclaimed “Reign of Error,” which defends the American education system and criticizes privatization moves as a drain on public schools. “Neither teachers or students are prepared for these tests. Stand together and there will be no punishment.”

This idea has been bubbling for some time now. Just waiting for the right person to put it out there. There is no better person to suggest the idea than Diane Ravitch. This is the year to do it. It is the perfect storm. Parents will be refusing in droves. Teachers are finally feeling emboldened enough to speak out about the reforms that are killing their school. It’ll be the spring of an election year. Legislators wouldn’t dare impose consequences on a district (or districts) who boycott the tests as a way of protecting the children in their communities. We’ve already seen the governor in an all out sprint, attempting to distance himself from the reform agenda. All it will take is for one school district to take the courageous step. To say, “No. Not to our children. You will not continue to abuse our children. No state testing in our schools this year.” Middle Country School District Superintendent Roberta Gerold was quoted in the Newsday article saying, “I would really have to think about it. I would love us to have the courage.”

Once a district takes that step others will follow. At that point the entire reform agenda crumbles. So now the question is, who? Who is going to be the courageous first district to take that step? Whoever it is will have the strength of all of our state’s teachers and an enormous number of parents behind it.

Test Refusal… Dimino

Via Port Jefferson Patch…

When asked about why teachers didn’t speak up about how awful the reform agenda is earlier.

“I sat in that man’s office, Joe Rella, and he knew right away. However no one would have believed me until they actually saw it…now you see how insane the testing is. So now what can you do? I can’t tell you what to do? I can’t but what I can tell you is this…if my children were in school I wouldn’t have them take the test. I would not allow my child to be abused. Hand it in tomorrow (a refusal letter). Hand it in to the principal or the teacher.”

The Student Lobbyist Abandons His Public Education Agenda

Andrew Cuomo, who once proclaimed himself to be the “lobbyist for students” is trying to escape his education reform agenda as quickly as possible.

Via capitalnewyork.com…

“I’ve heard quite a bit from the parents who are very concerned about Common Core,” Cuomo told reporters after an event on Staten Island. “It’s part of a national curriculum that the national experts say is actually going to be beneficial.

“But there’s no doubt that there are significant elements, at least in the transition, that are problematic,” he continued.

“It’s actually a decision that the state Education Department is going to make, which ironically, although the state Education Department does not report to the governor … it’s something we’re watching very closely,” he (Cuomo) said. “And it’s something that might be the subject of legislative changes next year. But it’s not anything that I control, so we are watching.”

Cuomo is trying to detach himself from the agenda that has very much been his agenda throughout his term as governor. Go back and look at his state of the state comments in 2012 to see how this is his baby. Now, with his numbers starting to tank, Cuomo is running for the hills.

As usual, the Perdido Street School Blog does a great job covering (and exposing) Cuomo…

Also, from @ The Chalk Face is Chris Cerrone with “Cuomo: No longer the ‘Lobbyist’ for students?”

Ken LaValle, Bodyguard to John King

Next Tuesday evening will be the final Common Core Forum on Long Island that features John King. Earlier in the fall King cancelled his PTA Town Hall Meetings because he didn’t like to be called out on his abusive agenda. So they created new forums for him to come around and discuss the Common Core with parents, students, and teachers. However the rules were changed a bit as Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch descended from her ivory tower to sit next to King and hold his hand. Additionally districts were limited to the number of representatives they could have speak and the amount of time those people could speak for. At last week’s forum at Ward Melville High School, for example, we were limited to three speakers who were each permitted two whole minutes. Apparently that was too difficult for Dr. King because the rules have changed once again.

At next week’s forum, hosted by Senator Ken LaValle, district’s are being asked to submit the name of the person they would like to speak for them along with the comments that speaker will be making. Then, if you are lucky, LaValle’s crack team of hacks will choose you as one of the winners and you will get to speak. That somehow passes for democracy in this day and age. I can’t wait to hear what tough questions the commissioner will have to face. Probably something like, “Commissioner King, why is the Common Core so amazing?”

Ken LaValle, no friend of public education, is making a real mistake here if he thinks this is the way to go about a forum like this. Parents and teachers are angry. They are angry at King and Tisch’s abusive agenda. They are angry that their elected officials, like LaValle, are permitting their children to be bullied. Now they will be angry that their voice is not being heard. They are creating a situation where people will need to shout to be heard. They will need to stand up and demand that their voices be heard. They have created a situation that unquestionably calls for civil disobedience.

The only question remaning is whether or not those who demand to be heard will be treated like this Common Core opponent in Maryland was…

A Few Things to Read

A few good links to check out…

Reality-Based Educator wonders “Where Is Cuomo On His Education Reform Agenda Now?”

Dr. Rella’s letter to puppet Arne Duncan.

Presidents from two of our parent unions, Randi Weingarten of the AFT, and Dennis Van Roekel of the NEA, sit on a board with noted ed deformers Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, and others. Whose side are they on anyway?

Ed Deformers play the race card in regards to the ire towards John King.

From the same article is this quote from Queen Merryl Tisch…

“John is doing a yeoman’s job, staying cool, focusing on the policy issues,” said Merryl H. Tisch, the chancellor of the State Board of Regents, who has served as one of Dr. King’s psychological bodyguards at the forums. “People are asking complicated questions, but I haven’t seen him miss a beat.”

He hasn’t missed a beat. He has stayed the course with his mission to destroy public education.