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.
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…
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…
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.”
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.
For those not paying attention, New York City Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has gone on record as saying that he would place a moratorium on co-locating charter schools in New York City. Co-location is when a public school has to give up parts of it’s own building so that a charter school can have that space to operate in. It has become a major problem for New York City public schools. Additionally de Blasio has said that he would charge those charter schools rent for operating in public school buildings.
“Anything that you do that makes it prohibitive for charter schools to grow and thrive in New York City is not a great way to proceed,” Tisch said. “I’m sure charter school operators are paying attention to campaign rhetoric.”
She added: “I want New York to be a place where charter schools grow and thrive. Charter schools are public schools. Charter schools have been a valuable alternative to failing schools. They’ve been a valuable part of rebuilding public schools.”
The New York State Education Department’s Commissioner John King, who should be fired, wants the Board of Regents to have the ability to take over school boards in districts that are “failing”. WGRZ in Buffalo has the story.
So let’s get this straight. John King wants to use junk science to label school districts as “failing”. The he wants to give Merryl Tisch and the Board of Regents the ability to take over the school boards of those “failing schools” so that they can “fix” them? Keep in mind this is the same Merryl Tisch who has said that the public dislikes teachers. She also claimed that our “scientific, objective” evaluation system, which is neither scientific nor objective, would fix that problem.
It’s a rigged game folks. Unless we raise our collective voice to a roar we’re gonna get steamrolled.
Our friend Diane Ravitch today called for the resignation of New York State Education Commissioner John King. Citing the harm King has done to children and educators, Ravitch is calling on all concerned parents, educators, and citizens of New York State to contact the New York State Board of Regents to demand the resignation of John King. Regent Roger Tilles represents Long Island. Merryl Tisch is the chancellor at large. Tell them how you feel about the harm done to your students, your own children, and your profession.
The Official Website of the PJSTA 