FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 9, 2014
More information contact:
Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education www.nysape.org
New Yorkers Outraged by
Governor’s Flawed Common Core Panel
The leaders of the NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE), a
coalition of more than 45 parent and educator groups from throughout the state,
expressed their outrage at Governor Cuomo's choice of appointees to his Common
Core Panel.
As Lisa Rudley, Ossining public school parent and founding member
of NYSAPE said, “As a parent I am offended that the Governor's Panel is stacked
with known supporters of the Common Core, eliminating the chance for an
objective evaluation. The chair, Stanley Litow, Vice President of IBM,
has already written an Op-ed saying full speed ahead with its implementation. Dr. Charles Russo is one of the very few
Superintendents in the state to publicly support the standards, including the
flawed NYSED modules known to be rife with errors and questionable
content.”
As Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters pointed
out, “Several members selected by the Governor belong to organizations that are
heavily dependent on funding from the Gates Foundation, which has spent more
than $170 million on developing and promoting the Common Core. These include
Dan Weisberg of The New Teacher Project, which has received $23 million from
the Gates Foundation, including $7 million in the last year alone. Nick Lawrence is a prominent member of Educators for
Excellence, which received more than $3 million from the Gates Foundation
in 2013. This evident conflict of
interest undermines their credibility not only concerning the Common Core, but
also the highly controversial issue of whether the state should go ahead with
sharing personal student data with inBloom Inc., a corporation established by
the Gates Foundation with $100 million."
“Parents are tired of having education policy in this state
hijacked by deep-pocketed billionaires who do not send their own children to
public school and would never consider having their education stifled by a
rigid regime of instructional text, scripted modules, test prep, and their
personal data provided to for-profit companies without their consent,” said Eric
Mihelbergel, Ken-Ton public school parent and founding
member of NYSAPE.
Bianca Tanis a New Paltz public school parent and special
education teacher noted, “Experts in special education, early childhood
development and elementary school teachers have all noted that the Common Core
standards are developmentally inappropriate, were created without their input
and need significant reform. And yet not
a single individual from any of these groups was selected for the Panel,
ensuring that their recommendations will be profoundly deficient.”
"I am astounded that the governor would fail to include any
teachers of younger students and those with special needs, especially since
many of the criticisms and concerns surround the issue whether the standards
are appropriately designed for these children,” pointed out Lori Griffin, a Copenhagen
public school parent and educator.
“The Governor argues that no decision should be made on the Common
Core until this Panel has come up with its recommendations. The fact that this Panel is so heavily
stacked only reinforces our conviction that there is no reason to wait for the Panel's
conclusions. The Common Core standards
must be immediately pulled back and revised, with input from educators and
parents, the over-testing must come to a halt, the teacher evaluation system
scrapped, and the contract with inBloom cancelled,” said Jeanette Deutermann,
Bellmore public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt-Out.
Jessica McNair, New Hartford public school parent concluded, “Our
children are suffering and cannot wait. If Commissioner King does not
immediately stop the runaway train, call a halt to the standards and the
testing, and withdraw his agreement with inBloom, the Legislature must act in
his place.”
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so what's new?
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