The Néw York State Badass Teachers Association expressed their delight that John King is leaving as State Commissioner.
In a press release, they said:
“The New York Badass Teachers Association (BATs), an activist organization of 2250 educators, voices its joy that Commissioner John King has resigned. During his tenure as New York State Commissioner of Education, King ignored the voices of experienced educators, parents, and children, even dismissing parents as “special interests.” He was the puppet for moneyed interests in New York State who seek to privatize, and profit from, our public education system. Many New York Superintendents and Principals indicated that they had no confidence in his ability to lead the education system in New York State. “
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Before we all get too excited, I was informed at my BoE meeting tonight that he has gone to work for Arnie Duncan! It also leave Meryl Tisch in place!
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If you follow the link, you’ll see they cover that in their blog.
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Yes, now he can wreak havoc on the entire country.
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Good for NY BATs for speaking out not just against the disastrous tenure of King, but also for demanding a public process for his future replacement. That is what we in Los Angeles need now that our own king of the reformers is gone.
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BATS speak the truth!
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I will probably get killed for asking this, but the Elephant in my room is asking, if Mr. King were not African American would he have been appointed?
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Never realized til today’s pic online that he was AA. Doubt this has any more to do w/race than that our AA POTUS follows ed policies underwritten by all those whitey pundits & corporatists & Southern/ Midwestern govs et al. Neolib knows no color.
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I think BATS could not be truly “rejoicing”. I liken it to getting a splinter while trying to hold up a falling tree. Yup you got the splinter out but the tree is about to fall on you! King is not just leaving his job and riding off into the “ed reform” sunset. He is going to an even higher position where he will be involved in setting national policy which some new appointee in NYC will probably be strong-armed (or worse yet willing) to follow hook, line and SINKER. Ughh… Unfortunately, Obama will not care about this issue as he is not trying to get reelected and has proven himself entirely anti public education through his support of Duncan and all the big business control of what is supposed to be a democratic institution – public education!
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Likely scenario…
Cuomo’s masters saw King as a liability at this point to push their charter explosion agenda.
Need to pull the wool over public’s eyes again. Can’t do that with King
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That’s exactly the same situation in TN. with Kevin Huffman. He was hated by teachers, parents, administrators, superintendents, and several rt wing Republicans.
However, his agenda is entrenched and Achievement School District (ASD) in Memphis is moving to take ovre schools across the state.
These reformers are like a deadly virus. One dies and the others evolve into a more resistant version.
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“. . . and the others evolve into a more resistant version.”
YEP, they’re mutants for sure!
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Yes, but he’ll be a senior adviser for Arne, so I don’t think the country will be better off.
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“King of the Road” (apologies to Roger Miller)
Public schools for sale or rent
Rooms to let…fifty cents.
More VAMs, more stress , more tests
I can’t let those teachers rest
Ah, but..3 years of pushin’ doom
Buys an eight by twelve White House room
I’m a man of schools by no schools
King of the road.
Third flight, red-eye express
Destination…White House, yes.
Old worn out claims and shoes,
I don’t pay no union dues(!),
I smoke old stogies I have found
Short, but not too big around
I’m a man of schools by no schools
King of the road.
I know ev’ reformer in every state
All of their children, and even Bill Gates
And every handout in every school
And every child that opts out
I ain’t no fool
I sing,
Public schools for sale or rent
Rooms to let…fifty cents.
More VAMs, more stress , more tests
I can’t let those teachers rest
Ah, but..two years of pushin’ doom
Buys an eight by twelve White House room
I’m a man of schools by no schools
King of the road.
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I don’t know why everyone thinks it’s a promotion. I would imagine a state ed executive has much more power than than an “adviser” to an appointee of a President in his last two years where his Party got absolutely creamed in the last election.
I don’t think it makes much difference nationally. Duncan hasn’t budged an inch off the lock-step ed reform agenda since he was appointed. I think it’s pretty clear the supposed compromise on standardized testing was baloney. He announced there was too much testing then announced another initiative that relies on standardized testing. These two positions are incompatible. They won’t reduce the reliance on standardized as long as they’re putting in new mandates that hinge on standardized testing. They’re moving forward with exactly the same approach they’ve used since 2009. If anything they’ve doubled down.
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Chiara… for me a little bit of “stop and reflect” has gone a long way! I totally see your point and those expressed by several others. This “promotion” is a bit of a sandcastle in the air. With more reflection… this “appointment” was a PR move. Calm the ANGRY NYC MASSES down (the anger increasing by the minute) by getting King out of the NYC hive and give him a “title” which appears as a “promotion”. In DC with Obama at the tail end of his time in office, King will just be a “shuffled around “has been” who shuffles pencils and paperclips all day. Although with megamillionaires controlling Duncan’s agenda, I am always suspect of just what nonsense can be pushed through with a “bit” of money!!
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NY Ed Commissioner is one of those jobs where there isn’t really any “promotion” or clear path up a career ladder. A high-ranking US DOE job will probably give him more options going forward. Meryl Tisch, Arne Duncan, (former) President Obama — that’s a pretty good rolodex.
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all educational idiots.
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Maybe Eva Moskowitz told Cuomo she needs to be in charge of the whole state.
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I for one cannot rejoice. This proves the Peter Principle. King gets a big promotion and we are left with wondering who will take his place. We also see how Chicago fudges the charter numbers.
Every middle class citizen in these scenarios loses, especially the students! Wall Street and politicians are having very happy holidays!
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Whether King’s job is a promotion or not is irrelevant. The immediate question is who Cuomo will appoint to inflict continuing damage on the NYS public schools and what, if anything, can be done to ameliorate the cruelty of King’s replacement.
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Agreed. King is water under the bridge. Let’s focus on the tidal wave that is coming our way. Imagine if we had union leadership on our side.
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union leadership????? yeah, right. that and token will get you on the subway. shameful, but you know that already. import barbara mandeloni from massachusetts, give karen lewis her health. seriously you have to mitigate the damages by exerting whatever influence is available.
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600,000 NYSUT members have paid their union dues only to be abandoned as political orphans on the doorstep of the Madman from Albany. We must fight back but in order to do so teachers must stop being fearful. No one in Albany can over ride our first amendment right to speak out against the testing madness. The educational malpractice of the Duncan regime/Regents Reform Agenda can be stopped. Stay fierce and fearless NY teachers. All the veiled threats of “consequences” or “sanctions” against us have no policy or law behind them. We have the power of the US Constitution, the power of numbers, 600,00 strong, and the power of being in the right!
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As reported in “Perdido Street”, Tisch has declared that the search for and selection of King’s replacement will be a closed process- as in no public input at any stage in the process.
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Of course there are things that can be done. Of course. There is an organized, funded, historically-proven apparatus to counter all of these things. UNIONS! Here in New York, that apparatus is NYSUT. However, much of the larger picture here in NY as well as nationally IS NOT a story about Ed reformers running rough-shod over some of the most important ideals of our republic. The reformers are capitalists and funded by capitalists of the gilded-era sort. Their behavior is a known. Their behavior is predictable. Their behavior should not be a surprise. The real story is the FAILURE of the established and proven COUNTERBALANCE: strong, aggressive, philosophically sharp, nimble, and antsy-for-a-fight UNIONS.
NYSUT is none of that. Imagine with me for a second: the moment the next Commissioner is chosen (and as there are no forces with a say on who this shall be on our side, it will be a right-and-proper reformer of the Cuomo mold who won’t make the mistakes of his predecessor) NYSUT organized a state-wide teacher walk-out. Just imagine something of that sort. Or something akin to that. Or just something other than a lawyered statement on the NYSUT webpage. Forget the details. Just imagine the possibilities of saying no strongly. Ah well….
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NYSTEACHER,
The replacement will be cut from the same cloth with better social skills.
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NJ Teacher,
Absolutely agree. The problem here is that the reform (“reform”….its really ALL about privatiziation…) movement, it’s backers, it’s political apparatus (robust in NY as it is basically the Gov, etc.) are now nicely on a learning curve. Now round 2 of privatizing NY Ed. Commissioner will be more politically astute, more competent, and more dangerous. That’s the whole thing here. The opposition (us, we wish the unions, etc) is letting the privatizing side learn and mature. The golden opportunities of incompetent figureheads, ruffled fake philosophies, and half-baked ideas are deminishing daily from the scene. Aggressive action early is what was (is?) called for. There should have been no conversation re. Common Core (it’s the Trojan horse of privatization), absolute national and state Teacher Union backing of teachers refusing to administer tests, and a hard and fast culture of “NONE OF THE ABOVE” from the beginning. I know I harp on this ALOT, but this is a failure of the union’s (NYSUT here in NY) ability to first creatively predict the privatizers, then creatively and aggressively oppose them. A not-so-deep reading of history and labor history would have really helped ALOT. The Privatizers are acting in a historically predictable way….it’s the old story of unregulated, frenzy capitalism. I’m kind of sick of everyone being in shock at basically everything the reformers/privatizers are doing. It’s an old story! All of it! The sad and shocking thing is that the unions for the most part, have failed every big test. Sorry but true. I am a deep union person. Down to my DNA roots. The real story here is the failure of the unions. Why has this gotten so far!? King was easy compared to whomever round 2 will be! What a great and easy symbolic target to rhetorically destroy….but no. Always never enough and too little too late with NYSUT. It’s never cool to be accommodationist in the face of existential threat. All NYSUT does is accommodate.
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I wish he would take M. Tisch with him and good riddance to both of them
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The departure of king is an example of the state of the union in Albany. The mass confusion over the past few years is unprecedented in that there has been nothing short of constant confusion, deception and outright ugly management of people who serve the state. People like Ms. Tisch for example, are people who have stumbled upon the dollars of life and somehow believe this gives them brilliance of the mind. The irony is that quite the opposite occurs just look how Ms. Tisch works and relates to the people / parents / teachers of NYC.! When she speaks she sounds like your aunt offering you some cookies she just baked. She married some billionaire,was appointed to the position and walks around with fresh underpants thinking she is the wo(man). Hardly. Ms. Tisch NEEDS to get out next she is not capable of handling the volatile environment money has created. Lets face it, its all about money and the bible is right that is why there are more stories in the bible about MONEY than any other story.
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