Tag: King

More Coverage of Tuesday Night

Speaking of our very own Beth Dimino, Diane Ravitch wonders, “Is this how a revolution begins?”

Norm Scott of the famed Ed Notes says “The Slugs are on the Run”.  Speaking of PJSTA President Beth Dimino, and taking a well deserved shot at our parent unions, he says, “You mean there ARE union leaders who stand up instead of seeking a little stool at the table?”

Describing Dimino’s words for Tisch, King, and Flanagan, Sean Crowley of B-LoEdScene says “Beth Dimino unloads on them with all the subtlety of Ray Lewis going unblocked on a zone blitz.”  He then says that “Port Jeff (we gather he means Port Jeff Station!) has a kick ass blog”.  Thank you very much Mr. Crowley, your blog is a kick ass blog as well…. and one every PJSTA member should be reading daily.

Dimino: “You have awoken the mommies!”

In front of 900 in the Ward Melville High School auditorium, and several hundred more in the overflow cafeteria, PJSTA President Beth Dimino shredded NYSED Commissioner John King, Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, and New York State Senator John Flanagan.  She first called out King for what his agenda is: child abuse.  Then she urged Tisch to fire King, citing the 350 letters she has collected supporting this stance.  Finally she warned Flanagan that he had “awoken the mommies” and that “The mommies in New York don’t abuse their children and they’re not going to let bullies do that either!”  She walked off to a rousing standing ovation.

Tisch later stated to the crowd, “I know you are passionate.  We hear you, we get it.”  But of course we know she doesn’t.  We know that as currently constituted, NYSED, the New York State Board of Regents, the state legislature, and the governor have no plans to abandon their abusive reform agenda.  Plutocrats like Tisch stand to make far too much money to abandon the agenda.  Instead they may make minor alterations that change very little.  They will claim these alterations are examples of them listening to parents, students, and educators.  Nobody will buy it.  Their agenda is now crystal clear.  Too many people can now see what’s going on here.  That’s why nothing short of a full withdrawal from Race to the Top, the Common Core, and test based evaluations is acceptable.  Not waivers for special needs students.  Not a three year moratorium.  Only a full withdrawal from the entire agenda is acceptable.

Community members like the ones who filled the auditorium last night can’t fire the puppet John King.  We also can’t fire puppet master Merryl Tisch.  But next November we can vote out John Flanagan.  We can vote out Andrew Cuomo.  Then we can let a new state government deal with Tisch.

Flanagan, who hid in his office two weeks ago when 1,000 people rallied outside, looked like he wanted to slither away and hide under a rock last night.  Don’t let his arrogance fool you.  He knows the days of shoo-in victories in his senate district are over.  He knows, that palling around with John King and taking big money from Michelle Rhee have now attached him to this agenda as much as anybody else.  He knows that next November he will have to answer for the child abuse that he has supported as the chairman of the New York State Senate’s Education Committee.  He knows now that he has awoken the mommies!

There was a slew of coverage of last night’s event.  Just a bit of it is below…

YouTube sensation Dimino:


Fox NY’s coverage.

Newsday’s story.

News12’s coverage.

Perdido Street School’s story.

Diane Ravitch’s story.

PJSTA President Beth Dimino Speaks at Ward Melville High School

PJSTA President Beth Dimino calls NYSED’s agenda “child abuse”, calls for John King’s firing, questions whether the cowardly John Flanagan is really hearing us, and receives a rousing standing ovation from 1,000+ people at tonight’s forum at Ward Melville High School.  More follow up to come tomorrow.  Enjoy the video below…

Flanagan and King at Ward Melville November 6th

**Update** The date of the meeting has been changed to November 12th.

On November 12th, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, Senator Flanagan will be hosting a forum for his friend John King to address the Common Core.  This is one of the forums that is being held in place of the PTA Town Hall meetings that King cowardly canceled earlier this month.

In the least surprising news of the morning, the meeting will not be open to the public.  I repeat it will NOT be open to the public.  Senator Flanagan, no friend of ours, has called each school district in his senatorial district and told them that they can invite two people to speak for two minutes each at this forum.  Each district will be allowed to have 50 people total attend.  No word on what will happen if somebody tries to speak for longer than two minutes.  Or if thousands show up and attempt to get inside.

Once again John Flanagan is standing up for his friend John King.  Placing the protection of King’s ego above giving his constituents a voice in their democracy.  This is Flanagan and King’s way of placating parents and educators.  Of throwing them a bone.  They don’t really wanna hear from anyone, so they’ll only give a handful of people two minutes each to speak… then they’ll hope those people stop sending letters and making phone calls calling for King’s resignation and New York State’s withdrawal from Race to the Top.

John Flanagan is a politician of the worst kind.  This is just one more reason to vote him out next November.  Typically the Democrats run only a warm body against Flanagan.  Hopefully next year they will choose more carefully and select a candidate who supports not just public education, but somebody who is interested in giving their constituents an opportunity to have their voice heard.

As a reminder, we will be picketing at Senator Flanagan’s office in Smithtown tomorrow afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00.  Rain or shine.  Please come.  Tell everybody you know to come.  We promise to give you more than two minutes to express your feelings!

Friday Notes

The NEA, to whom we pay dues,  continues to sell out it’s members.

The AFT, to whom we pay dues, continues to shill for the Common Core.  Here is Randi Weingarten in tandem with John King.

President Obama, whom the NEA and AFT endorsed twice, is bringing in a new education aid to join his team.  He’s just what we need too… the leader of a philanthropic group who raises money for charter schools!

While we are on the topic, B-LoEdScene speaks of Upside Downland.

Andy Cuomo thinks John King should not step down.  After all “change is hard.”

What are Pols Saying About NYSED’s King?

A few state legislators have begun to weigh in on John King’s cowardly acts from last week.

State Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk writes…

Dear Dr. King,

I was greatly saddened to read about your decision to suspend four planned PTA-sponsored Town Hall Meetings on the Common Core.Common Core and the standardized testing mandates we’ve placed on our schools, teachers and students are among the most significant challenges ever faced by our public education system. They deserve a full airing, and those involved — parents, students and teachers in every part of the state — must have the opportunity to be a part of the process and to have their concerns addressed.One of the recurring complaints on common core and testing is that parents and teachers were not brought in to the planning process. To now refuse to hold future meetings would only reinforce the perception that State Education Department is forcing the curriculum without proper planning and public input.I think the Friday night meeting in Poughkeepsie can be taken as a teachable moment.  I am certain that the Town Hall events can be structured in such a way that they provide for a useful give and take, and I strongly urge you to restore these community meetings. Further I am hopeful that you will attend an education forum I am hosting with other State Legislators on October 22, at Kingston High School from 5 pm to 7 pm.Your attendance would help assuage the frustrations, fears and concerns of the parents, teachers and school administrators in my district.Sincerely,

State Senator Jack Martins has a lengthy reply here, and ends with this…

At the moment New York needs a caring pragmatist willing to address real concerns raised by caring parents and educators who see a system being manipulated from above to the detriment of their children. Unfortunately, we have John King. He should immediately reschedule these forums or he should immediately resign.

State Senator Timothy Kennedy urged King to reschedule the meetings.

It should be mentioned that State Assemblyman Steve Englebright initially called for King’s resignation in August.  He was ahead of the curve!

The state senators representing Comsewogue have been curiously silent.  However, they say a picture speaks a thousand words…

John King and John Flanagan

Surprise! NY’s Teacher Evals Don’t Work!

File this under “least surprising news of the year”.  A story in The Journal News reports that New York’s teacher evaluation system is pretty much a failure and a waste of millions and millions of dollars.

“Our fears were realized,” said Harrison Superintendent Louis Wool, who was president of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents when the study was started in the spring. “The first round of assessments did not accurately measure the value of teachers whose students are in poverty, in special education or speak limited English. We are concerned that we have spent countless hours and millions and millions of dollars to produce results that are not comparable across the state and do not inform teacher practice or student learning.”

Countless hours and millions of dollars, not to mention the fear and intimidation that has become prevalent in many schools throughout the state as teachers are bullied into teaching explicitly to the state tests.

Bruce Baker, a Rutgers professor and expert on school finance adds…

“For the state to continue to enforce these measures in the face of contradictory evidence is over-the-top ridiculous.”

Ah, but this is New York.  Home of corporate reform-loving plutocrats like Merryl Tisch, corrupt politicians like Andrew Cuomo, and their lackey John King.  They’re not going to let things as inconsequential as evidence, wasted time, or wasted tax payer dollars stand in the way of corporate reforms.  The show must go on!

King, responding to NYSUT’s call for a three-year moratorium on using high stakes testing to evaluate teachers, called the request a distraction and added, “We all agreed to the evaluation system: the governor, the Legislature, NYSUT and the state Education Department.  We committed to the evaluation system knowing that we were going to implement the evaluation system alongside a change in the standards through the work on the Common Core.”

Which brings us to another question.  Why is NYSUT, the AFT, and the UFT calling for a three-year moratorium?  A garbage evaluation system today will still be garbage in three years.  Junk science is junk science.  What really should have happened is that they never should have agreed to an evaluation system that evaluates teachers based on standardized test scores.

But alas, they did and we are stuck with a system that a study now proves does not work.

Ianuzzi, Mulgrew, and Cuomo sing the praises of their evaluation system.

Firing John King isn’t Enough

When Cuomo/Tisch water boy John King is fired they’ll just look for a new lackey to do their dirty work.

 

By now it is clear that John King will likely be fired as the New York State Education Department Commissioner.  Let’s recap why…

  • King was speaking last Thursday at what was to be the first of several PTA Town Hall meetings intended to act as a Q & A on the Common Core State Standards.  The meetings were supposed to be an hour of King presenting and an hour of questions from the audience.
  • King spoke for over an hour and a half.  When parents started to ask questions and and express anger during the remaining time, King spoke down to them and continuously told them that they needed to be quiet and listen to him.  That made them angrier.
  • On Friday King cancelled the remaining PTA Town Hall meetings scheduled for the rest of the state.
  • King released a statement in which he referred to parents and educators as “special interests.”

In the interim nobody has come to King’s defense.  Not his friend Andrew Cuomo.  Not his good pal Merryl Tisch.  Not his first day of school friend John Flanagan.  Not surprisingly they have been in hiding since King went off the deep end.

While King’s friends have been off cowering in remote corners of the state, educators and parents have become further incensed.  First at being so arrogantly dismissed by King and then by being labeled “special interests” by the guy who bows down to the all mighty Pearson.  Their outrage is beginning to reach a fevered pitch and cannot go unanswered for much longer.

By this time it is almost certain that King will get the ax.  Deservedly so.  He has almost zero experience as an educator and is clearly in over his head.  The powers that be, namely Cuomo and Tisch, will see to it that King is made an example of.  But that won’t be enough because the real problem here isn’t John King.  John King is merely a lackey.  He is the water boy for the big players in the education deform movement.  He exists simply to do the dirty work of Cuomo and Tisch.  If he is fired he will simply be replaced with another reformy type.

Without John King we will still have the Common Core.  Without John King we will still have the same high stakes testing.  Without John King we still have Race to the Top, a junk science APPR, and a crippling tax cap.  Without John King we are left with the same industry of trash that we have now… minus John King.

Cuomo and Tisch are the big guns.  They are the ones setting the agenda.  Cuomo taking money from hedge fund managers as he  seeks presidential glory in 2016.  Tisch as she seeks to further line the pockets of her fellow plutocrats.

So by all means, call for the firing of John King.  Contact all of your elected officials about it.  Scream and yell.  Get mad.  His behavior was an outrage and he deserves to be fired.  But don’t stop there.  Because that should just be the tip of the iceberg.  2014 is an election year.  For Cuomo, for Flanagan, for Ken Lavalle, another enemy of public ed, and for the entire state legislator.  If you really want to enact change, begin by voting them all out.  A King firing is a victory, but a minor one at that.  It is an action that should serve only to embolden teachers and parents.  A sign that it’s time to ratchet up the heat on the ones pulling the strings.

 

The PJSTA Calls for the Resignation of John King

As a Member of the New York State Allies for Public Education The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association Calls for the Resignation of NYS Commissioner of Education John King

Billed as an opportunity to “gather information, ask questions and share concerns with NYS Commissioner of Education John King”, the NYS PTA sponsored  Town Hall Meeting on the Common Core and privacy issues was anything but. After speaking uninterrupted for 1 hour and 40 minutes, Commissioner King allowed parents 20 minutes to speak. During this time, parents expressed concerns and attempted to share stories regarding the impact that the CC has already had on their children. Commissioner King repeatedly interrupted parents and refused to answer parent questions or address their concerns. Commissioner King subsequently cancelled all future scheduled town hall meetings, called concerned parents “special interests groups” and stated that the forum was “co-opted by special interests whose stated goal is to ‘dominate’ the questions and manipulate the forum,” King went on to state that “Essentially, dialogue has been denied.”

When a public official such as Commissioner King refuses to participate in the democratic process and refuses to hear the concerns of parents while simultaneously carrying out educational policies that affect thousands of children, he is no longer fit to carry out the duties of the NYS Commissioner of Education. Commissioner King, we would argue that it is because of you that “dialogue has been denied.”

According to award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side High School in New York, last week’s Town Hall meeting in Poughkeepsie, NY highlighted the fact that “The New York State Education Department has lost its moral authority.” Burris states.  “One might imagine that if John King had first been a principal of a New York City public school, or the superintendent of a district, he would have become skilled in dealing with emotional and boisterous groups… Leaders must listen deeply, learn and respond.  They must be willing to consider alternative courses, and even in loud crowds, hear truth.”

Anthony Cody, nationally recognized educator, public speaker and writer for Education Week says, “Speaking truth to power, as these parents did, is an intoxicating thing. It delivers to both speaker and witnesses a shiver, an awakening to the fact that we do not need to suffer in silence, or allow our children to suffer without objection. Those in power may cancel future hearings, but these parents’ voices are ringing out, like a bell that cannot be un-rung.”

We would say to Commissioner King that in this age of apathy, you should be proud to represent a state where parents have taken the time to inform themselves about the current education reforms and have taken the time from their busy schedules to engage with public officials such as yourself.  Aren’t these parents the kind of critically thinking, involved citizens that our public schools hope to create? We would argue that a competent leader does not run away from concerned parents, or call them a “special interest group.” Commissioner King, you are a disgrace to the field of education. It is not surprising that in NYS, your lack of teaching experience would not allow you to be granted tenure in a public school.

The NYS Commissioner of Education sends his own children to a private school, a school that is not legally bound to carry out the same testing and data sharing mandates that he is subjecting thousands of public school children to.  He has stated, “I believe that every parent should have the right to choose the school that is right for their child.” Commissioner King subjects public school students to harmful practices while maintaining that parents do not have the right to refuse these mandates. This certainly does not afford all parents “the right to choose the school that is right for their child.” Commissioner King is guilty of promoting inequitable education policies that essentially create a different set of educational opportunities and experiences available to those with the means to afford private school and those who attend public school.  This is an attack on the freedoms and rights that are afforded to every American citizen and on public education itself.

The Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association calls for the immediate resignation of Commissioner of Education John King as he is unfit to carry out the duties of his position competently and he is no longer able to conduct himself in a manner that is consistent with the principles and ideals of the American democracy. The PJSTA urges parents, educators and concerned citizens to:

Spend 10 minutes adding these emails and phone numbers to your contacts.  Call, email, and fax Governor Cuomo daily.  CC all emails to Senator John Flanagan, Speaker of the House Sheldon Silver, Senator Dean Skelos, Assemblywoman Nolan, and Senator Jeffrey Klein along with the entire Board of Regents.  Call your local Regent and let them know that:

  • New Yorkers deserve a COMPETENT leader who listens to and engages his or her constituents
  • New Yorkers deserve a COMPETENT leader who can handle the concerns and dissenting opinions of educated and involved New York parents.
  • John King has let abusive testing and data sharing practices dominate the implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards
  • John King runs away from the public.
  • John King calls concerned parents “special interest groups.”
  • John King is not competent to be the NYS Commissioner of Education

NYSED Commish John King is a Coward!

Last night, at a PTA Town Hall meeting upstate, NYSED Commish John King was absolutely lambasted by parents and educators for the reform agenda that he has forced onto New York State Public Schools.  As a result, King, who is a coward and a crony of Senator John Flanagan, has canceled all remaining PTA Town Hall meetings.

Via the New York State PTA’s Facebook page…

Dear PTA Members and Friends,

The NY State Education Commissioner’s office has requested suspending the remaining Town Hall meetings on the Common Core scheduled for:

Tuesday, October 15-Garden City HS, 170 Rockaway Ave, Garden City

Wednesday, October 16- Shenendehowa HS West, 970 Rt 146 Clifton Park

Thursday, October 24- Williamsville North HS, 1595 Hopkins Rd Williamsville

Wednesday, October 30-New Hartford SHS, 33 Oxford Rd,New Hartford

While our goal was to provide an opportunity to learn and share, based on review of the initial October 10 meeting, the Commissioner concluded the outcome was not constructive for those taking the time to attend. Please know that NYS PTA will continue to work with all education and child advocacy partners to keep our members updated and informed on education, health, safety and welfare issues affecting children and families.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and express our sincere appreciation to those who have given their time to assist with organizing this initiative.

New York State PTA

This is absolutely unthinkable.  It’s one thing to ignore the pleas of educators over the last few years.  But now the commissioner has essentially told parents that he doesn’t care what they think either.  He and his merry band of reformers will just shut us all out and continue to jam the reforms down our throats.  Nothing will stand in his way of pleasing the plutocrats behind this agenda.  Not teachers, not parents, and certainly not children.  If this does not enrage you, then you should be checked for a pulse.

Every educator and parent in New York State should be bombarding their legislators this weekend telling them to “Fire John King!”

Here is King being skewered last night…