New York parents, especially in the politically powerful suburbs of Long Island and Westchester-Putnam, are outraged by the failure of the New York Board of Regents to take more decisive steps to fix the Common Core.
They want a thorough review of the standards by New York practitioners, and not those picked by CC-loving Commissioner John King. They want a true moratorium on the CC testing until the standards are made developmentally appropriate. Some want to eliminate them and use New York’s existing standards.
The consensus seems to be that the Regents tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the public, but parents were not fooled by half-measures.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A pattern is emerging. Protesters of the common core who also protest against the public education robber barons and the wolves of Sesame Street seem to be ignored at every turn as corrupt bought and paid for politicians continue down the path of reform as if they are moving toward an ultimate goal already set down in the granite of a master plan.
The deformers are on a roll. Ever since they changed tactics away from the ballot box where they often lost and shifted to stuffing courts with their own appointed judges and fill legislators, Congress and the White House with politicians they own, they have revealed that democracy is not important to them.
It’s obvious that the deformers are racing time to destroy the public education system before the slow wheels of democracy stop them at the ballot box during local and national elections. The recent mayor election in NY is a case in point.
Once the public education system is in total wreckage, all that will be left will be the schools that replaced them—the ones the deformers own and operate.
As a proponent of Common Core, I have a question for you:
What if a U.S. Surgeon Generaltold the nation’s parents that a
great new vaccine has just been invented, and it’s going to
revolutionize the health of children and their ability
to fight off disease … blah-blah-blah…. all the while
the Surgeon General is being handsomely compensated for pushing
this vaccine.
And then someone asks, “Mr. Surgeon General… why don’t you give
that new vaccine to YOUR OWN children? If the
vaccine is so great, why do you spend tons of your own
money so that your kids get an entirely different, and—
by all measures—a superior vaccine?”
“My children’s vaccination is none of your business, and
not fair ground for discussion.”
And to add insult to injury, the hypothetical Surgeon General intones, “Your kids
are all going to be forced to take this vaccine whether
you like or not.” With the power of the state behind
him, he says that, figuratively speaking, he and the state
will shove it down your kids’ throats, or strap them to a chair and forcibly inject
into their biceps whether or not their parents desire such a vaccine.
“This is what we’re doing, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us… so just shut
up and accept it.”
You can see how parents might be a little vexed by such a prospect.
Of course, you know I’m talking about New York State
Ed. Commissioner John King and his forcing Common Core on other people’s
children, while keeping his own children… figuratively speaking… as far away from
Common Core as his Gates-originated salary can afford.
Seriously… if Common Core is the greatest thing ever for a kid’s education, why
does King spend tens of thousands of dollars of expensive private school
tuition to make sure his own children are kept away from it?
Check out the crucial final 20 min. of last October’s town hall in
Poughkeepsie, New York, where NY State Ed.
Commissioner John King faced the public over his
backing of Common Core.
Here is the colorfully titled YouTube video —
“Commissioner King Gets Spanked”:
This meeting was a Rhee-like farce where King spoke for 2
hours straight, and was scheduled to to be followed by 1 hour of
public comments and questions.
Note that… ***was scheduled to be followed…***
The best laid plans…
Indeed, 20 minutes in, neither King nor the NY State PTA
moderator “could stand the heat, so they got outta the kitchen.”
They were totally unprepared by how well-informed and
confrontational these parents were.
At about the 10 minute mark, one parent brought up the fact that King
sends his own kids to a Montessori School which has a curriculum that
is the antithesis of Common Core as a Montessori school is…
(to quote its wikipedia entry)
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“… characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits,
and respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical, and social development….
“… and has these elements as essential:[1][2]
” — Mixed age classrooms, with classrooms for children aged
2½ or 3 to 6 years old by far the most common
“— Student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options
“— Uninterrupted blocks of work time, ideally three hours
“— A Constructivist or ‘discovery’ model, where students learn
concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction.
“Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her
collaborators
“— Freedom of movement within the classroom
” — A trained Montessori teacher
“In addition, many Montessori schools design their programs
with reference to Montessori’s model of human development
from her published works, and use pedagogy, lessons, and
materials introduced in teacher training derived from courses
presented by Montessori during her lifetime… ”
– – – – – – – – – – – –
This disclosure of his hypocrisy and implied attack on King pretty
much ended things.
King made the dubious claim that his kids’ Montessori school scrupulously
follows “Common Core”
This totally enraged the audience of parents as it was and is a ludicrous and demonstrably false claim that was rightly met with skepticism and loud booing,
enraging the crowd… if for no other reason that folks don’t like to be lied to or have
their intelligences insulted.
Seriously… if Common Core is the greatest thing ever for a kid’s education, why
does King spend tens of thousands of dollars of expensive private school
tuition to make sure his own children are, figuratively speaking, kept as far away from
it as as Gates-funded salary can afford.
It’s like if a Surgeon General told the nation’s parents that a great new vaccine has just been invented, and it’s going to revolutionize the health of children and their ability
to fight off disease … blah-blah-blah…. all the while the Surgeon General is
being handsomely compensated for pushing this vaccine.
And then someone asks, “Mr. Surgeon General… why don’t you give that new vaccine
to YOUR OWN children? If the vaccine is so great, why do you spend tons of your own
money so that your kids get an entirely different, and— by all measures—a superior
vaccine?”
“My children’s vaccination is none of your business, and not fair ground for discussion.”
Anyway, back to the town hall video…
The flustered moderator then quickly wrapped it up, “We’re going
to allow two more people to speak.”
At which point people began screaming even louder:
“WHAT HAPPENED TO ‘ONE HOUR’ ?!!!”
This is absolutely riveting video.
Again, you can see that crucial
final 20 minutes at:
Lloyd, you have summed it up nicely. I used to think that the deformers would destroy the schools before anyone knew it was happening. I am starting to think that they have angered too many people…too soon.
Opt Out Long Island is leading the charge.
My concerns re: NYC is putting young children in schools without being inspected.
All schools need to be inspected for safety and health regarding indoor air quality, removal of toxic PCB lighting and location of microwave cellular emissions. Putting kids in these schools is premature. If they are using common core in Pre K, may as well leave them with a she wolf. Bloomberg dumped many children onto the Brownfield sites of his real estate associates. “All” of the schools that were closed due to H1N1 virus were within one block of a State spill site. Also, we need to investigate locations of microwave transmitters and routed tech labs since children do not have developed brain cell barriers.
If NY ever gets back to PARCC testing, AIR CONDITIONING is going to be an issue. PARCC requires testing at 75% and 95% of the school year. Computer testing in JUNE could see real feel heat index levels at 100+.
Air conditioning is already an issue in some of the leafy suburbs on Long Island. Many parents in my community have complained bitterly about the heat index inside our kids classrooms, beginning with the first heat wave. Kids are hot and sweaty all day long in the classrooms, as are the teachers. It’s a wonder anyone can concentrate. Computerized testing will require the appropriate infrastructure and wiring… an interesting feat given the 60+ year old school buildings in many districts. In fact, the possibility of installing air conditioning in my daughter’s 85+ year old elementary school was scrapped after the cost evaluation to update all the electricals and install ductwork made the BOE’s eyes glaze over. And now the building is supposd to support computers????
Reblogged this on 21st Century Theater.
The important point here is that people who have power are outraged. Cuomo is scapegoating his own regents who serve at his pleasure. There are well educated, upper middle class people who can make a difference. Their schools don’t and never needed reform. Now that the deform movement has moved onto their radar screen, it will have a fight on its hands. These are people who can sneer at the avaricious power plays of corporations, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists bent on making a buck. No one is going to score off of their children, and now that they have been forced to see it, they will fight for quality public education for all children. Not all people are venal, money grubbing slugs. Come on people! Remember the lessons you learned about a democratic society when you were in school. Will you allow it to become a joke?
I do believe the Regents in NYS are appointed by the legislature, yet their relationship with Cuomo is perplexing, at best.
Yes, Deborah, I read after I wrote that post about Cuomo and the regents that they are appointed by the legislature. I do remember reading somewhere that Cuomo has significant influence with choosing the candidates presented to the legislature. Since I am from Illinois, treat my blathering about NY with an appropriate amount of doubt. I am very bad at remembering direct references.
It was allegedly reported by Meryll Tisch to a local legislator and parent leader that he could replace her with a committee of qualified candidates. What message does that send?