This spring, the five-year terms of four members of the New York Board of Regents expired. Many parent groups mounted a campaign to persuade the State Assembly to replace all four of them, since they refused to listen to parent complaints about the Common Core and the fiasco associated with the Common Core implementation and testing.
The Assembly responded by selecting someone with no experience in education and apparently no knowledge of the Common Core or the controversies surrounding it. Presumably, Commissioner John King–a target of parent anger–will bring the new Regent up to date.
Here is a description of the process by Tim Farley, an elementary-middle school principal in the Hudson Valley of New York:
Something is seriously awry in the state of New York. This year, four Regents positions were open. All four incumbents were seeking re-appointment. The appointment of Regents has historically been an Assembly-Democrat controlled process, and most years the Republican legislators don’t even bother showing up for the vote because they feel they really don’t have much of a say in the process (and they don’t). However, this year has been unique on many levels.
Since the Regents oversee Commissioner John King, the selection of Regents cannot be more critical than they are at this juncture. Much attention was focused on the interviews of the 20-plus candidates (including the incumbents). Regents candidates were required to apply by January 31, 2014. Applicants were informed that they would be interviewed in February. The four successful applicants would have their nominations voted on by a joint session on March 11. On Friday, March 7, several Assembly members were notified that a new set of interviews would occur on Monday, March 10. The newest candidate was Josephine Finn, a lawyer from Monticello, Sullivan County, NY. Regent Jackson is the incumbent Regent for this District (III) and he abruptly resigned with no public comments made to date.
According to a Times Union article (http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/207983/regents-candidate-has-an-entrepreneurialspiritual-side/ ), Finn “admitted to legislators that she wasn’t steeped in details of the Common Core controversy but said she was a quick study”. Ms. Finn also has some unique websites. For example, her website: “Josephinefinn.com” was quoted in the article as being dedicated to “applying spiritual principle to business practices as well as to everyday life.” Another one of Finn’s sites, “Mommashands.com” is dedicated to “spiritual growth.”
Finn, who was called in at the 11th hour, was interviewed and quickly nominated and won a seat on the Board of Regents, starting ironically enough on April 1. The Legislature rushed the nomination and appointment of a non-educator who has not “steeped” herself “in the details of the Common Core controversy”. It begs the question: Why was Finn allowed to even apply to be a Regent when she didn’t meet any of the deadlines to be a candidate? Why couldn’t the Assembly members nominate someone from the 20-plus candidates that they had already interviewed and several with substantially more educational experience than Finn? This is clearly a demonstration of the Legislature’s abdication of their duties. Their role in appointing Regents who oversee our children’s educational programming could not be more critical, and this is the person they appointed. Here is a link to her entire March 10 Regent interview (http://youtu.be/AWj4SshfaEU ).
Ms. Finn may be an excellent lawyer. She may be a really nice person. But what qualifies her for a Regent position more so than several other candidates with excellent credentials? Perhaps it is her past affiliation with the Casino Advisory Board (http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9510051112/naacp-lawyer-joins-oneida-indian-casino-gambling-advisory-board ). According to this recent report (http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Cuomo-names-gaming-commission-chairman-for-casino-5126092.php ), it appears that Cuomo is on a fast track to establish Casinos in New York, and in particular, Sullivan County. Perhaps it is just a coincidence. Perhaps there was some “horse trading” going on. If I were a betting man, I would bet on a trifecta – Silver/Casinos/Cuomo. They seem like a sure bet to me.
Addendum: Valerie Strauss wrote about the newest member of the New York Board of Regents here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I don’t understand why the spiritual stuff on her website should be held against her.
That’s like saying just because someone is open about how they live out their faith, that they should not be a candidate for public service. I get why the rest is problematic, but I don’t see how that plays in. Those are her websites.
I agree with you that the spiritual stuff is a side note, but most of the other points are more than relevant.
In the grotesque carnival of the absurd and mendacious that is so-called education reform, it’s more than fitting that a Regent tout her “spiritual” entrepreneurialism.
After all, they don’t call it “free market fundamentalism” for nothing – even though that too is a lie, since in essence it’s all based on cronyism and wealth-as-free-speech – and the fundamentalists require ample human sacrifice (in the form of teachers, children and the public schools) in order for their “spiritual” election to be validated.
Just more of what that affable snake-oil salesmanship, Ronald Reagan, touted as “the magic of the marketplace,” which in this case provides a New Age gloss to what is essentially looting and rent-seeking.
But think about it. . .
to me this is no different than folks in the 1960s saying, “well there’s this black preacher and he wants to be crafty with getting those of us who have money to pay for the black people who go to his congregation. . .he’s religous. That’s bad!”
Or is it acceptable only for the disenfranchised to be spiritual?
I agree with public school and I don’t like neo-liberal economics. But I don’t think it is productive to attack folks for spiritual preferences. It takes away any clout the arguments have.
Imagine if people characterized EVERYONE based on spiritual habits of mind.
Joanna, I draw a big distinction betwee, “religious” with “spiritual,” the latter being much closer to a buzzword intended to give a nebulous, New Age gloss to ones interests and appetites.
Ms. Finn didn’t say she was religious, but rather that she was “spiritual,” which is a meaningless term that in my experience is used by people who want the benefits of appearing to be concerned with matters of the spirit, without engaging in the difficult work of grappling with them.
Again, I’m just referring to my own experience, but when someone tells me they are very “spiritual,” I get the same feeling as when someone tells me they are an “artist” – Oh, really? What do you do, paint, sculpt, make prints, or just pose? – which is see someone who’s really telling me they are better and more virtuous than the rest of humanity.
Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that. But in this age of political correctness, I would just assume that “spiritual” might mean she just doesn’t want to get specific about what branch of spiritualism she might be a part of. I get what you’re saying. . .I just figure it was not something that strengthened an argument against her for a job.
@ Joanna – In the comments below, I posted the cache of one of her websites. You should take a look. I totally agree with your points, but when I saw her website I was disturbed by how “fake” and self serving the site looked to me. It reminded me of education reform. People that tell you they are here to help the children, but they conveniently will turn a profit from their “help”.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:p9LaYLLpygUJ:mommashands.com/index.php+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
I think, for the reasons I stated above, it is news worthy.
I dared ask my Assemblywomen who she voted for and she went after my job.. Details are here http://rlratto.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/representative-government-101/
Horrible, just horrible. Thank you for your courage to teach kids about democracy. You would think an assemblymember would encourage teachers to teach how the government works. Everyone should be contacting their assemblymember with the same question. Make them accountability in public for their decisions behind closed doors.
Wow you covered a few lessons-Abuse of power etc. It’s funny how a simple call turned into a bizarre experience. Apparently she thinks she’s above everyone.
By the way, Judge Finn took down her web pages after the Times Union Article came out.
You can still find them if you use the cache feature on Google: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:p9LaYLLpygUJ:mommashands.com/index.php+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
If this link fails to work, the do a goodle search “josephine finn momma hands” and chose the cache version of the page.
goodle = google.
Aileen Gunther, a NYS Assembly Member, represents Judge Finn and played a role in bringing her to the Board of Regents. She also represents the area where I teach. I’ve known Mrs. Gunther for many years and, in fact, she’s mentioned to me more than once how strongly she feels that the Board of Regents members need to be more in touch with the people they represent. Aileen has always been very supportive of public education. She was not a career politician and still brings her excitement for being part of a democracy to everything she does. I trust her.
I can’t speak to Judge Finn’s knowledge of what’s going on in education these days but I do know that she is very highly regarded in this part of upstate New York.
Time will tell what role she plays on the Board of Regents. But at least we have someone who I KNOW I can talk to much more readily than the guy who was on there before! I know that was Aileen’s goal.
-John Ogozalek