The New York Board of Regents has demonstrated that they are out of touch with the people they serve.

One of the few independent-minded Regents, Harry Phillips of Westchester, said recently that the Regents would not fireccommissioner John King despite his arrogant, dismissive treatment of parents at a community forum in Poughkeepsie.

Leave arise for the moment that nearly half the principals in the state have put their name on a petition objecting to his half-baked, destructive educator evaluation plan. The other half were not willing to stick their necks out, in a climate characterized by fear and intimidation emanating from Mr. King.

The issue at hand is that Mr. king announced five public meetings at which he promised to engage in dialogue with parents and listen to their concerns. What happened in Poughkeepsie was no dialogue. Instead, Mr. King lectured parents for over an hour, then gave them two minutes each to respond. He frequently interrupted parents to disagree with them. When the meeting degenerated into boos and catcalls, Mr. King stalked off, claimed that the meeting had been captured by “special interests,” and canceled the four other scheduled meetings around the state.

Many parents have stepped forward to say that their “special interest” is their child, and the only person trying to manipulate the meeting was Mr. King, who clearly had no interest in hearing from parents unless they agreed with him. He made the mistake of thinking he was in North Korea, but he was in Poighkeepsie, where parents rightfully believe that the state commissioner is a public servant, not their supervisor or boss.

So the Regents will keep John King. Will he take lessons in listening instead of lecturing? Will he learn how to show respect to the parents who care more about their children than he does? Can he pretend humility?

Although John King and Arne Duncan claim that the only critics of the Common Core standards and testing are Tea Party fanatics, we have learned in recent days that the man who is most effective in building opposition to the Common Core in New York is John King himself. Parents have learned that the state does not care what they think, does not care about the damage they see done to their children, and is deaf to their voices.

We will watch with interest to see how the next parent meeting with John King goes, if there is one.