FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 2, 2015
More information contact:
Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager BATs or Melissa Tomlinson, Asst. General Manager BATs
Contact.batmanager@gmail.com
The Badass Teachers Association at badassteacher.org
Today the White House confirmed that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would be stepping down. The Badass Teachers Association, an education activist organization with over 70,000 supporters nationwide, celebrate this decision. Sadly, at the same time we rejoice the resignation of a man who has done more destruction to public education than any other sitting Secretary, we are horrified that President Obama has chosen to replace him with John King. John King is the former Commissioner of Education in New York.
John King’s tenure in New York was one of controversy and with an established agenda of dismantling public education by using corporate education reform tactics. King was run out of New York in 2014 because of a staggering test opt out rate, because he ignored and dismissed parents at education forums, and because he refused to fix an education system that he himself destroyed. The state teachers union, NYSUT, had a unanimous vote of no confidence in him prior to his departure.
“While we are glad to see Arne Duncan leave his post as one of the most destructive people to hold the title of Secretary of Education, we remain concerned that he will be replaced with yet another non-educator that will continue the Corporate Education Agenda. What we need now more than ever, is a compassionate, knowledgable, and experienced educator at the helm of this country’s highest education post.” – Gus Morales, Massachusetts BAT and Public Education Teacher 9 years
“John King did more destruction to the New York State education system than any sitting commissioner I have known in my tenure as an educator in New York State. He dismissed the parents, teachers, and students of New York State by calling us “special interest groups.” The fact that he has been elevated to the U.S. Secretary of Education is beyond appalling.” Marla Kilfoyle, New York BAT and Public Education Teacher in New York for 29 years.
John King taught for three years in a “no-excuses” charter chain that had a high suspension rate. His agenda in New York State was to attempt to destroy the public’s confidence in public education. He grossly miscalculated the parents, educators and students of New York State. We anticipate he will continue his failed New York agenda while head of the United States Department of Education.
# # #
I am literally shocked that Obama has hired John King to run the Board of Ed. John King? Is he kidding? I am embarrassed for the country… In America, leadership literally requires no expertise at all. Obama might as well have picked a name out of a hat. I sincerely hope that this policy will end with the end of this administration.
Appalled, yes, but shocked? After nearly 7 years of Duncan? What could be more shocking than that?
Anyway, picking a name out of a hat probably would have resulted in a better candidate for the job.
I bet he’ll be the good cop to Duncan’s bad cop. Now that they’ve rammed thru everything they wanted, it’s time for a tone change to “collaboration”.
Shocked right alongside you. Were they out looking for the MOST proven offensive candidate?
King is a liar. In the infamous Poughkeepsie town hall, he claimed that his kids’ Montessori school teaches the Common Core. Subsequent posts to this blog proved this a lie.
Here’s the Poughkeepsie town hall:
Here’s a couple lies debunking John Kong’s “my kids private Montessori school teachers the Common Core” lie:
He later claimed that “special interests” had taken over this town hall, and so he was cancelling the town hall. One of the parents at that town hall was furious and wrote this:
“On October 10, 2013, SED Commissioner John King spoke at the Spackenkill School District in Poughkeepsie, NY. This was the first of several forums on the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) that NYS adopted on July 19, 2010.
“It has been widely seen in social media that Dr. King’s presentation was not well received by the audience. However, his perception of what transpired is not shared by those in the audience. He is quoted in Newsday as saying, “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.”
“Au contraire. If you take the time to watch the video (http://youtu.be/swWm9b_LUAU), you will see that Dr. King dominates the first hour and 40 minutes. At that point, audience members were allowed to speak for a whopping 23 minutes. Between speakers, Dr. King was defensive and tried to control the “dialogue”. A dialogue is supposed to be a two-way conversation where both sides speak and are listened to. The audience did their part by listening to him. King failed to do his part.
“What “special interests” is he talking about anyway? Parents and teachers are not special interests. Pearson, inBloom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, et al, are special interests and their interests are money, not children. He tries to depict the audience as having been infiltrated by an angry mob with an agenda. If you take the time to watch the video, you will see that the entire audience was filled with parents and teachers who have legitimate concerns for their children. Their frustration and yes, anger, were delivered to the man it belongs to.
“Some have expressed concern about this anger – that it may come across as unseemly or unprofessional. I say that their anger can be defined as “righteous anger”. In John 2:13-22, Jesus shows his righteous anger toward the “money-changers” doing work in his Father’s home. This is the way many of those adversely affected by the reform movement feel. The work we do is sacred. What could be more sacred than working with children? In Matthew 18:6, Jesus talks about the special care given to children; woe to those who would harm one hair on their heads.
“The parents in the audience were angry, very angry. It is justified and righteous. Dr. King has harmed a lot of children with his dictates and mandates. He has aligned himself with the “money changers” and they have assembled themselves in one of our sacred places – our schools. He has violated a trust that we have in education and he needs to suffer the consequences.
“Dr. King is a failure and if he were evaluated with one of the tools in which we evaluate our teachers, he would rate as “ineffective”. Please join the many parents from across the state who will be demanding King’s resignation this week. Please call Governor Cuomo’s office (518-474-8390) and demand his resignation. Take back the schools from the corporations and give them back to our teachers and students. They deserve it.”
————————–
John King is also a manipulator with his use of words. When it was brought up that his own kids were flourishing in a private Montessori school, he didn’t call it a private school; he called in a “non-public school”… as in “non-public schools are part of the community of schools in New York state”… as if the having the words “public” and “school” back-to-back in the description would subliminally make those parents find a common bond with him.
And of course, no discussion of John King would be complete without the parody of his reaction to the parents’ resistance to Common Core:
Jack,
Saw that last clip a year ago. It’s hilarious!
Both of them “Beyond Appalling” says it all. Absolutely awful selection from Team Obama. Worthy of a March On Washington.
Interesting idea.
However, I ‘marched on Washington’ several times before the bombing of Iraq and, of course, it did absolutely no good. In one instance, the DC Police estimated a crowd of 200,000, and the leaders in the march around many blocks (from the Mall around the Capital Building) and back) were back to the Mall (Washington monument-Reflecting pool) before those last in line had even started.
Result? On my way home, I heard NPR report that ‘tens of thousands’ had marched. Almost no other so-called ‘mainstream’ news coverage reported the event. And, of course, you know it had absolutely no effect on policy.
Lately, I’ve viewed the magnificent 1967 film of the Peter Weiss play ‘marat/sade’ (available on You-tube for free, but R rated, I would say). In many scenes, the lighting is set to mimic that chosen by
David in his famous painting, “The Death of Marat”. In the movie, a clearly deranged inmate playing Duparet slipped his chains and lunges at the inmate playing Charlotte Corday. He is grabbed by the inmate playing Marat and thrown to the ground. Marat (the inmate) then looks directly into the camera and says, “Do not think that you can beat them without using force!”.
I think we are beyond the tipping point. Just today I received a ‘robocall’ asking me to stand up for civil rights and demand that school’s need ‘accountability’. I’m on a list because I often support ‘Color of Change’, for example, even though I’m of totally Northern European white background and live in a former ‘sundown county’ in Tennessee. They think I’m Black, and thus the pitch.
The words were a bit vague, but clearly this was another attempt by the usual suspects to promote their agenda to destroy public schools. They have the deep pockets to deliver the twisted messages to every individual, tailoring it to the online behavior of that particular person. How many people in my State will think they should call (ironically) Lamar Alexander and support the reform agenda? Based on my call, I’d say over 90%.
The Godzilla of unchained capitalism is on the rampage. To contain or tame it will require either ‘starving the beast’ through restrictions, such as antitrust breakups (not likely, as it feeds on an immense carcass, worldwide) or, as Marat said, force.
“To borrow a favorite phrase from Arne Duncan, leadership matters tremendously in education—in classrooms, school districts, states, and in Washington. For nearly seven years as Secretary of Education, Arne has demonstrated courageous and humble leadership and generous, nonpartisan partnership.”
Teach For America needs to look up the word “humble”.
Duncan was certainly “nonpartisan” but that just means DC is lockstep on “movement” ed reform, so I’m not sure it’s something to be celebrated. That they all agree doesn’t mean they’re right, it just means they all agree. I can think of three times in just my adult life when they’ve all run off a cliff together.
https://www.teachforamerica.org/about-us/media-resources/news-releases/statement-teach-america-ceo-elisa-villanueva-beard?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=ownedsocial&utm_content=insidetfa&utm_campaign=mktg
Obama avoids having Congress approve a replacement for Duncan by merely filling the space for remainder of term with King.
I like this new business model. FAILING UP. We should encourage all people to do poorly, not try their best, follow worst practices and then they too shall have a chance to rise the ladder of success. This is beyond horrifying. The Commissioner of Education of New York was fired from her previous position as Superintendent of Hillsborough Schools in Florida. John King was basically ousted out of NYS. I mean is this the best we can do?
It would have been better if the President had picked his friend, “Bo”. He is smart and pretty obedient also.
🙂 Best suggestion yet.
One is reminded of Tim Robbins’ character Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption, when he said to the warden, “How can you be so obtuse?” Breathtakingly bad choice!
Don’t let his soft spoken demeanor fool you; John King is an education terrorist.
Why is anyone surprised? This is what Obama’s masters, ahem donors, want..
What a disaster…makes me almost want to vote for a republican next year.
Control yourself now, control yourself. Think and vote third party.
Better think that one over. Same masters, same results, only done more efficiently without the lockstep ‘Obamahate’ in the Republican Congress.
Doesn’t Obama have a dog?
In any case it seems that Obama is fond of charters and Rheeform, so why the surprise?
Did Duncan say why he was stepping down?
The only I thing I have read is that he will be returning to his family and that he hopes to do something that will have an effect on every child’s success. Vague isn’t it? I suppose we are not really done with him. Will he work on the global initiative? Makes me wonder.