As has been reported everywhere, NYSED Commissioner John King is stepping down from his position so that he can accept a job as one of President Obama’s underlings at the US DOE. This seems to be a reward for King for sticking with his reformy plans despite a wave of students, parents, educators, and common sense that opposed virtually every decision he made.
No word on who the next commissioner will be, though you can expect it will be another reformy type who will bring more of the same. It is important to note that the problem here in New York State never was John King. King was merely a mouthpiece for Merryl Tisch and the other plutocrats seeking to profit off of the destruction of public education.
My lasting memory of John King will bewhen he was on the receiving end of this tirade last year…
The state’s largest and most powerful teacher’s union on Saturday issued a declaration of “no confidence” in state Education Commissioner John King, a symbolic but unprecedented gesture calling for King’s removal from his post by the state Board of Regents.
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The resolution states that the board declares “no confidence in the policies of the Commissioner of Education.” Earlier this month, NYSUT president Richard Iannuzzi announced that he would seek the action in an interview on Time Warner’s “Capital Tonight” program.
NYSUT’s board also withdrew its support for the state’s new Common Core learning standards “as implemented and interpreted in New York” until the State Education Department “makes major course corrections” and “supports a three-year moratorium on high-stakes consequences from standardized testing.”
“SED’s implementation plan in New York state has failed,” said Iannuzzi in a statement. “The commissioner has pursued policies that repeatedly ignore the voices of parents and educators who have identified problems and called on him to move more thoughtfully.”
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UPDATE: Education Commissioner John King and state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch issued a statement Saturday afternoon in response to the NYSUT vote. The statement follows, in entirety:
“Every year more than 140,000 New York students leave high school without the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in college or the workplace. Many are essentially trapped in a lifetime of economic despair. Together with the Board of Regents, the Governor, and legislature, we will make necessary adjustments and modifications to the implementation of the Common Core, but now is not the time to weaken standards for teaching and learning. Our students are counting on us to help them develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life. The higher standards the Common Core sets will help them do just that.”
This is a huge step in the right direction for NYSUT. Of course Tisch and her puppet John King don’t care. We have known for quite a while that they are not listening to anybody and that they are planning to steamroll forward with their agenda. Tisch and her plutocrat cronies, after all, have far too much money to lose should this privatization scheme fail in New York State. She isn’t going to let hoards of teachers, students, and parents get in her way. Which of course is why it is exceedingly important to keep the pressure on your state legislators and the governor. Let them know that if there is not a full withdrawal from Race to the Top, they will pay with their jobs in November.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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…
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.
It is well known in these parts that John King is merely a puppet for Merryl Tisch and Andy Cuomo. A mouthpiece to spout off their talking points and take the heat coming their direction. He is nothing more than their marionette as they pull the strings. The same can be said for Arne Duncan, who plays the puppet to puppet masters Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Jeb Bush, and a whole host of ed deformers. It’s not that guys like King and Duncan have skills or are at a superior intelligence level that has helped them to rise to their positions. They simply make good lap dogs. Stroke their egos, give them scraps of good food and they will be happy. More than willing to be loyal to your agenda, even if that agenda is one of child abuse.
For years this sort of existence has worked like a charm for both the deformers and their puppets. The deformers have gotten to use the media to spout their propaganda about how bad our schools are, how we need accountability and choice, even going so far as to say that our schools are so terrible that they have become a threat to our national security! The media of course has eaten it up at every turn and have feted Duncan and King as though they could do no wrong.
But this year a funny thing happened. Parents stopped buying the nonsense they were being fed by Fox News. They stopped paying attention to the plaudits that MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough heaped upon Duncan. They no longer paid attention to Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post as it pounded our state’s public schools. This all started to change, of course, because their kids started to be picked on. Their kids were the ones who wanted to stop going to school. Their kids were the ones who were slamming their heads against their desk during last spring’s ELA or breaking down into tears in the midst of the math test. All of a sudden their children were the vicitims of bullying. That’s where the tide began to turn.
Since that time a lot of questions have started to be asked. A lot of motives have been called into question. The parents, whose children are being abused, are no longer content to sit idly by as they listen to rehearsed talking points. That’s when things begin to fall apart for the deformers. Because stooges like King and Duncan are ill prepared to offer any real defense of the Common Core. Because there really isn’t a good defense for it. Instead you get John King complaining of “special interests” and taking his ball and going home. Or you get Arne Duncan crying about “white suburban moms” whose children “aren’t as brilliant as they think.” Of course anyone with half a brain would know not to incite an angry mob. But this is King and Duncan we are talking about. They don’t have half a brain combined. So their words have only served to fan the flames and in New York State we now have a full blown revolution on our hands.
It is now time for us to move our focus to the bigger guns. Move on to the puppet masters. In New York State Andy Cuomo and Merryl Tisch are behind the curtain, writing the script for John King. They are the ones to go after now. Tisch is put in place by the state legislators who are all up for re-election next year. So is Andy Cuomo who has his sites set on the White House in 2016. It’s time to ratchet up the pressure. To put the full court press on. Make sure the deform agenda is attached to the people who are really pushing it and make them pay next November.
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