King's claim that parents are being "manipulated" by special interests; does he deserve to stay in office?

Commissioner King announced he was pulling out of already-scheduled PTA forums, after parents and teachers had freely vented their frustrations with the Common Core and testing during town hall meetings in Whitesboro and Poughkeepsie last week.  More on the blog about these events from yesterday’s blog here.

In the statement released to reporters yesterday, King claimed he was cancelling his participation in future PTA forums because parents were being dominated and manipulated by “special interests.” Though Dennis Tompkins, NYSED spokesman, refused to identify to reporters who was meant by this term, King was clearly referring to the teachers union. 

Here and below is the full video of the Poughkeepsie forum, revealing that parents became increasingly frustrated at having to wait one hour and 23 minutes before being allowed to speak, and were angered when the 30 minutes they had been promised were continually interrupted by King; and in the end, their time was cut short at 20 minutes. 

The video also includes revealing responses from King, showing how he answered questions read from cards about his insistence on sharing personal student data with inBloom (the first question that met with applause from the audience, at 41 minutes in) and why he won’t allow students to opt out of the state exams (at 1 hour 4 minutes in).

Here are stories from the Buffalo News (read the comments especially); and Poughkeepsie Journal, which quotes parents:

“I believe that Commissioner King is running away. He doesn’t want to be challenged by the parents or anybody else,” said Lisa DiStefano, 38, a mother of three from Pleasant Valley, who attended the meeting Thursday.

DiStefano said if parents no longer have a say in their children’s education, that the state Education Department is “acting as an authoritarian, telling us we don’t want to listen because you no longer have any rights.”

Anna Shah, 41, a parent in the Spackenkill district, said the PTA’s flier for the event advertised it as an opportunity to gather information, ask questions and share concerns with King and other education department representatives.

“Those of us who were at the meeting saw firsthand that Dr. King must have missed the memo,” she said via email. “The meeting ended abruptly after five speakers presented, leaving at least 75 who were denied the chance to speak.”

The Newsday article includes comments from a Long Island school board member:

Port Jefferson resident Ali Gordon, 41, a trustee on the Comsewogue Board of Education, criticized King, saying he was ducking a town hall she and "many, many others" planned to attend. 

"It's very disappointing to see the leader of our state Education Department essentially hide from parents and teachers who are so directly affected by the decisions that he makes and the rushed implementation of the Common Core in New York State," she said.

Here is the full statement from Commissioner John B. King, Jr.:

"I was looking forward to engaging in a dialogue with parents across the state.  I was eagerly anticipating answering questions from parents about the Common Core and other reforms we're moving ahead with in New York State.  Unfortunately, the forums sponsored by the New York State PTA have been co-opted by special interests whose stated goal is to "dominate" the questions and manipulate the forum.

"The disruptions caused by the special interests have deprived parents of the opportunity to listen, ask questions and offer comments.  Essentially, dialogue has been denied.

"In light of the clear intention of these special interest groups to continue to manipulate the forum, the PTA-sponsored events scheduled have been suspended.  My office will continue to work with PTA to find the appropriate opportunities to engage in a real, productive dialogue with parents about our students and their education.

"Parents don't deserve to be dominated and manipulated."

King’s insistence that parents are pawns of the union is not only utterly false – it is denigrates their intelligence and autonomy. 

The reality is that parents, researchers, early childhood experts, school board members, district administrators and principals have all criticized the Common Core standards, the way they have been implemented in New York state, the curriculum and modules NYSED has offered, the poor quality and the invalid scoring of the state exams, the huge expense and amount of time taking up in standardized testing, test prep and scoring, the stress this puts on students, the unreliable and damaging teacher evaluation system tied to test scores, and King’s determination to share the most private student data with vendors without parental consent – all issues that go far beyond the critique put forward by the teacher’s union, which has so far only argued for a moratorium on the consequences of these exams.  Indeed, it is he who is refusing to engage in a real dialogue on these issues.

What do you think?  Does King deserve to head the NY State Education Department, unless he acknowledges and addresses the legitimate concerns expressed by parents and community members from throughout the state?

NY parents react in fury to Common Core and testing; Commissioner John King disengages. Watch the OTHER video to see why.

So the fury of parents and teachers with the state's botched implementation of the Common Core, testing and data collection was vented full blast on Thursday night, at a Town Hall meeting in Poughkeepsie, in which parents practically booed Commissioner King off the stage.  That much-watched video is here, with more than 8500 views as of Saturday afternoon.

One point to help explain the vocal anger expressed: parents had been required to sit quietly for almost two hours and listen quietly to a lengthy presentation by John King about how the Common Core is absolutely necessary for their kids to be college and career ready.  They had be given only 20 minutes at the end of a two hour meeting to express their views, which helps to explain their frustration when he kept interrupting their minimal speaking time.

Moreover, these Westchester [and Dutchess County] parents  have elected school boards, and are used to having their voices heard.  Their schools are generally well-resourced and run, and more than 90% of their students graduate from high school in four years, go on to college and do quite well there.

Now they feel their children's lives and education being severely disrupted  by all the stressful and constricting testing, test prep and scripted modules coming down from the state, and they deeply resent how their children's personal information is being shared with vendors without their consent.

At the same time, their schools have suffered increased class sizes and loss of valuable programs, due to Cuomo's budget cuts and tax cap. To add insult to injury, Commissioner King justifies that all these expensive and time-consuming mandates are necessary to ensure that students will be college- and career-ready, as his one-size-fits-all rationale, when they know that their children were doing just fine before all these policies were imposed from above.

After Thursday night's explosive meeting in Westchester, sponsored by the NYS PTA, the Commissioner cancelled the four remaining PTA meetings around the state, including next Tuesday's town hall that was to take place at  Garden City HS on Long Island. The State PTA explained, "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."

These cancellations have  provoked even more  anger and resentment, with parents saying that while King won't allow their schools or children to opt out of the Common Core, standardized testing or data sharing with vendors, he is opting out of an important dialogue with parents.  As of Saturday afternoon, however, there is still a town hall meeting with King scheduled for Oyster Bay HS on Long Island, at 3 PM on Tuesday afternoon, October 15; co-sponsored by Senator Marcellino.  More information here.

Thursday's Town Hall followed yet an earlier one that occurred Wednesday night, co-sponsored by Senator Griffo in Oneida County, which also featured an appearance by Commissioner King.  This town hall allowed more time for parents, teachers and students to express their views. Without all the yelling and interruptions, this meeting included even more eloquent explanations from these essential stakeholders, explaining how the state's Common Core testing and instructional mandates were wrecking their schools.  Take a look.