Michael White, the editor of the Riverhead News-Review and the Suffolk Times in Long Island, attended one of the state’s open forums about the Common Core standards and tests. He got an earful, and he reported it here.

He understands the larger context behind the creation of the CCSS:

While nonprofits such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and political lobbyists like Students First flood statehouses with cash and bombard the Internet with buzz-word-laden propaganda in pushing for the Common Core State Standards, Long Island teachers are appalled by what they’re experiencing in classrooms.

He quotes Terry Kalb, a retired special education teacher, who is outraged that no one is accountable, no one takes responsibility, and no one can change what’s wrong:

“These reforms are not only so disastrous, they’re funded by billionaires who are accountable to nobody,” said Ms. Kalb, also a former Shoreham-Wading River school board member. “And that’s the problem. If the decision-making was in local hands, common sense could prevail much more quickly and readily over Common Core. But the decision-making has been removed from anyone the public could impact.”

That disconnect between the public and the policy was on full display at a packed forum last week in Manorville, where state education commissioner John King was peppered with specific concerns and questions over Common Core and related education reform measures.

In his responses, he stuck largely to recounting numbers and data and studies. He took refuge in generalities, without trying in any way to level with those in attendance through concessions or even empathy. Then again, why would he have given it any effort? Mr. King doesn’t answer directly to the public. Like a 14-year-old at a great aunt’s funeral, he was only there because someone made him attend. (He had wanted to cancel the forums.)

Board of Regents chancellor Merryl Tisch said nothing, other than to tell the crowd to calm down.

At the very least, politicians would pretend to give a damn, and they may just feel the pressure to do something. The Common Core Standards were not created through legislation, so elected leaders can respond to complaints to their offices simply by saying: “It wasn’t me.”

Kalb had the opportunity to address King and the Regents:

She took Mr. King and the Regents members who were on stage last week to task for overlooking the basics of educating children — especially those with disabilities, of which only 5 percent reportedly passed the Common Core assessments last school year.

She spoke of one special needs child she knows who’s being tested four grades above where he’s functioning. And of a parent who asks her: “How can my son learn if with every task he’s given, he fails?” Another student, who’s autistic and had been mainstreamed into regular classrooms, is now being sent back to a self-contained environment because he “can’t keep up” with the scripted Common Core lessons, she said.

“Every teacher understands you don’t teach and test children at the level you wish they were functioning at,” Ms. Kalb said to wild applause. “The way to do it is you meet them where they are and guide them forward toward building their confidence and meeting success every step of the way.”

She and other educators see a bleak future for public education in this country. Between the huge cost of implementing the Common Core — and, at least in New York, the 2 percent tax cap — extracurricular programs that make school fun will be whittled away. Dropout rates could soar.

Yet private schools will continue to emphasize the importance of arts and music and sports.

If parents want to save public education, they must become involved and advocate for the public schools of their community—or lose them.