Change the Stakes: New York City Public School Parents Deserve to be Heard by Education Commissioner John King

NYC’s one million public school students account for a third of the state’s total public school enrollment. Yet not a single forum will be held in New York City.  Change the Stakes calls on state legislators who represent NYC students, their parents and their teachers to demand that the Board of Regents schedule a public forum in each of the five boroughs. .... CTS

Another shot at King from our great parent activists at CTS:

Unacceptable!  Commissioner King opting out of any NYC forums; Our Parents Deserve to be Heard http://wp.me/p1Tx83-vG

STATEMENT: NYC Parents Deserve to be Heard

October 22, 2013 · by Grassroots Education Movement · Bookmark the permalink. ·

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           Contact: changethestakes@gmail.com

New York City Public School Parents Deserve to be Heard by Education Commissioner John King

New York City – It is unacceptable that State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. and the State Board of Regents are planning to hold a series of 12 forums across the state to meet with parents and educators to discuss the Common Core Standards and other education reforms, yet not a single forum will be held in New York City. NYC’s one million public school students account for a third of the state’s total public school enrollment. Change the Stakes calls on state legislators who represent NYC students, their parents and their teachers to demand that the Board of Regents schedule a public forum in each of the five boroughs. These forums must offer meaningful public discussion in which education officials acknowledge and respond to questions and concerns rather than dismissing them or explaining them away.

The Regents scheduled the forums, along with four additional events to be broadcast on public television, after Commissioner King abruptly cancelled four  state-sponsored PTA town hall meetings after parents responded angrily at being given little time to speak at an event in Poughkeepsie. King later alleged that the meeting was “co-opted by special interests whose stated goal is to ‘dominate’ the questions and manipulate the forum.” The newly scheduled forums will undoubtedly be much more tightly controlled than the original large, town hall meetings.

King’s outrageous statement about “special interests” and the shutting down of public debate are indicative of a much larger problem: New York State education officials, from the governor on down, have completely disregarded the genuine, sincere and deeply-felt concerns of parents about what is in the best interests of our children. It is demeaning, demoralizing and downright undemocratic to attempt to silence parents, teachers, principals and others who, day in and day out, witness the harmful effects on children of poorly formulated and rashly implemented state education policies.

Commissioner King: The public school parents and educators of NYC deserve to be heard.

According to an October 18th press release from the State Education Department:

The first forum will be held in the Albany City School District on October 24. Other locations for the forums are Rochester, Westchester, Suffolk County (2), Nassau County (2), Schroon Lake, Binghamton, Amherst, Syracuse, and Jamestown. 

 The four PBS televised forums will be in Syracuse -WCNY (November 7), Plattsburgh-WCFE (November 20), Binghamton- WSKG (date tba) and Rochester- WXXI (December 3). King said more PBS forums will be scheduled.

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 Change the Stakes (changethestakes.org) is a group of parents and educators working to reduce the harm caused by high stakes-testing, which we believe must be replaced by valid forms of student, teacher, and school assessment.

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NY State Ed Comm John King Enters Witness Protection Program

DUCK, INCOMING:

Commissioner John King faced a tough crowd while meeting with parents last night. (GS in Brief)

Reformy NY Education Commish gets taken to the woodshed by parents. .. The Chalkface

King has "suspended" the four remaining forums on Common Core after last night's town hall in Poughkeepsie (including Oct. 15 in Garden City).

Commissioner King Gets Spanked.
King gets the Cathy Black treatment.
Unbelievable that King spent an hour and 40 minutes talking about our children but didn't want his children mentioned for one minute. So what if they do Common Core--they don't get tested and their teachers don't get fired!
King loves to speak in front of friendly groups like E4E. Not this time.

It is interesting (unfortunate) that the NYS PTA is backing the commissioner, not the parents!  Just like the UFT!!  Certainly the people at the meeting are on our side.
I love the title of Chris Cerrone's blog post, "Reformy NY Education Commish gets taken to the woodshed by parents."
We need to do everything we can to fan the flames.

The word late last night via Facebook is that the remaining four NYS PTA town halls were "suspended"--presumably because of the Oct. 10 meeting! I know Long Island was ready to go with signs in hand and a strategy to get people signed up to speak and make the most of the allotted time. 

The video needs to go viral so that it will get NYC media attention; I was telling the LI parents there should be a press release about the fact that the Oct. 15 event was suspended and should link to the video.

Perdido St. School blog uses Danielson to meadure King 's rigor and excellence.
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2013/10/in-which-i-use-danielson-rubric-to.html?m=1

http://criticalclassrooms.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/nysed-commissioner-john-king-runs-away-lessons-from-the-trenches/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P_Eiz406VAs#t=160

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Naison Calls for John King's Removal

We've had 3 DUD NYSTATE Ed Comms in a row since 1995. Time to move on.

Dear Speaker Silver and Assembly Member Nolan

    It is time to remove John King  Education Commissioner of the State of New York. Commissioner King purposely decided to score state tests in such a way as to insure that the majority of the students in the state failed. The result was collective humiliation- of ELL students, of special needs students, of students living in poverty- and intimidation of the state's teachers, who future careers will be determined by these scores. The test results were a conscious, malicious "set up"-- and a power grab- by the Commissioner to close more schools, remove more school boards, and put more power in the hands of the state government at the expense of local school districts.

    This is an abuse of power by an unelected public official.  All throughout the state, teachers, parents, students and concerned citizens are rising up to say that excessive testing is squeezing the heart out of public education in our state, driving out the best teachers and principals, and destroying the confidence and morale of our most vulnerable students.  It is time elected officials heard their voices. It is time those who serve the public say no to policies that when all is said and done, amount to collective child abuse.

  I understand that some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the state support Commissioner King's policies. However, I urge you to hear the voices of all those quietly suffering because, through no fault of their own, they, their children and the students they teach, have been labeled "failures."

  Please work for Commissioner King's removal and put in his place someone who actually listens to the voices of teachers, principals, parents and students.

Sincerely

Mark D Naison

Professor of African American Studies and History

Fordham University

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