David Gamberg, superintendent of the public schools in Southold and Greenport–two independent districts on Long Island in Néw York–denounced Governor Cuomo’s “education reforms.” Gamberg was blunt. He has the full support of his board.
Gamberg said that the Governor’s desire to make test scores count for 50% of teachers’ evaluation “could devastate the faculty and, thus, the students of Southold.
“The governor has proposed a teacher rating system that would base 50 percent of an instructor’s evaluation on student performance on state tests — an increase from the current 20 percent.
“If this plan were to become law, I will provide the board with direct, accurate evidence of [the teachers] who will get swept up — that should not get swept up — in this metric to the detriment of the students of Southold,” Mr. Gamberg said. “I think it would be the highest irresponsibility for our school district to just sit by and allow it to happen….
““It can not go through because it is, without a doubt, the worst construct of improvement in public education that has been enunciated in the history of New York,” Mr. Gamberg said.”
Cuomo is holding school districts hostage, said Southold school board president Paulette Ofrias, by promising them a 4.8% increase in funds, but only if they implement his ideas.
“The New York State teachers’ union did not endorse Mr. Cuomo in his bid for re-election last year and has fought his reform agenda in recent years.
“I know he’s doing it to get back at the teachers, but the bottom line is it hurts the children in New York State,” Ms. Ofrias said about the governor’s latest plan. “It’s just deplorable and disgusting.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If he is offering a 4.8 percent increase if a district follows his plan, then have the guts to say: “Keep your damn money!”
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Our current political system resembles “Game of Thrones.” The political power of the ruling class is such that brothers and sons and wives of the “king” are the only ones who get to sit on the throne. Cuomo is a perfect example. If his last name wasn’t Cuomo, he never would have been appointed to a position that would make him famous enough to end up as governor. 3 Bush family members, soon 2 Clintons. It just get’s worse. I think Cuomo is just filling his evidence binder to get the support of the rich 1% on Wall Street for his presidential run.
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If we get another Clinton or Bush, I will never vote again. I feel that my vote for the past few elections has not mattered because I am of the opinion it is fixed. NJ gave us Bell, R against Booker, a Dino – neither should be in politics. Christie? Ugh. The democrats didn’t even endorse his opposition, Buono, who seemed to come out of no where. The fix is in.
Meanwhile, Cuomo may be in jail soon enough. Us little people may demand it.
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Great comparison!
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Interestingly, the current Governor says he’s had to overcome the obstacles of his last name to become the success that he is. Yes, I’ve read this quote from him.
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Such a petty, little man should never have become governor much less president. Somewhere along the line, he forgot the difference between a toady and a public servant. Unfortunately, too many elected officials are of his ilk.
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“Keep your damn money” is a great comment. I can only think to improve it by saying demand your money because it is NOT Andy’s. It is the taxpayers of each districts’ money and it belongs to them.
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The state of new York is in a very bad place. The Regents, are corrupt, the governor has given them and M. Tisch the right to do what ever Wall street wants. The Wall street backers gave Cuomo an enormous amount of money and he sold the children of NY to them. He is evil, his policies are the worst I have ever seen. The worst part of his plan is that it will affect poor children, minority children far more than any other group. What is going on here?
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The problem is Wall St. has infected all our leaders with the greed virus. This infection will continue as long as they can get away with it. The middle class needs to take a stand and ,in unity, say, “Enough!” They must vote against corporate control of our states and nation. This is not just a fight for public education; it is a fight the middle class, for our children and grandchildren.
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@ Wes Locke: I cannot repeat this too often. Cuomo is holding hostage state aid that is ALREADY OWED to school districts.
The state legislature retooled the aid formula in 2007 in the wake of the court decision in favor of the Campaign for Fiscal Equality, but that aid, Foundation Aid, has been frozen at 2008 levels.
Then, to add insult to injury, in 2009 Gov. Patterson back-filled state’s budget gap by cutting school aid further, the infamous Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA). Cuomo and almost every other state legislator has promised to eliminate the GEA, but to date, they’ve only partially reduced it.
Federal money helped forestall budget crises in many schools during the recession, but those funds were never meant to replace state aid on a permanent basis. Also, districts by law cannot maintain large reserve funds. Small districts cannot afford to sock funds away anyway.
Fold into that confusing mix one of Cuomo’s signature accomplishments of his first term, the “tax cap”, which is more accurately a cap tax levy increases, thus making it even harder for districts to raise revenues to compensate for the loss of aid.
Because of these reasons, there is a yearly erosion of districts’ abilities to cover rising (esp. mandated but unfunded) costs.
So, here’s my state aid formula:
Frozen foundation aid + only partial GEA elimination + limited options for raising the local share = ever-deepening staff and program cuts = erosion of schools’ ability to provide a “sound basic education”, the reason for the 2007 law in the first place!
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Honestly, the “timing” of this “evaluation tool” is laughable.
Why don’t we institute a policy where we evaluate a foreign language instructor, teaching French IV, or better yet, Advanced Mandarin Chinese, on the scores of his/her first year students?
These poorly written, above reading grade level tests are unfair to average students, let alone to struggling or sped students.
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deb, everyone should become a foreign language teacher. Every student learns more in a year than they knew before, and how many evaluators can read Latin or Chinese anyway?
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Because teachers could not be trusted to grade their own exams NY State chose to end the Foreign Language Regents exams. Decades of trust in professionals out the window based upon King’s, Tuschies’, and Lil’Mario’s distrust. One of the first tip offs of their agenda.
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From the linked article, the full sentence quoted in part above:
“I think it would be the highest irresponsibility for our school district to just sit by and allow it to happen.”
Responsibility. The “R” word. And its opposite. Irresponsibility. They are so much more meaningful than the “A” word and its opposite.
¿? Accountability. And however you phrase its negative counterpart: “lack of accountability” or “unaccountable” etc.
Problem is, when it comes to the sacred metrics of “education reform” called $tudent $ucce$$, accountable always trumps responsible.
It’s about counting up [the loot], not about being counted on [to do the right thing].
[start quote]
As part of the departure agreement, Deasy is expected to receive about 60 days’ pay, or roughly $60,000, sources said. His contract requires a severance payment of only 30 days, even though Deasy was under contract through June 2016.
[end quote]
Link: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-deasy-steps-down-lausd-20141014-story.html
Wonder what a responsible, caring and hardworking teacher like Ms. Patrena Shankling, fired by John Deasy out of spiteful incompetence, got for severance. Hint: it wasn’t $60,000 for applying a wrecking ball to LAUSD with his $1.3 billion iPad fiasco and his MISIS disaster and the rest of his “education reform” plan.
Apparently the wages of sin are for the accountable, not the responsible.
Just my dos centavitos worth…
😎
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Allow me to elaborate on KrazyTA’s point. Words matter! Think about the difference between the roots of “responsible” and “accountable” (or their opposites).
Responsible = respond, with implies an interaction between two entities, such as individuals or groups. Think human beings.
Accountable = account, with its implication of counting and tallying. Think number$.
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Sharon in NYS: “Words matter!”
Yes, they do.
And if I may add to your succinct and excellent observation: notice how the self-styled “education reformers” have a way of deciding who “counts” and who “doesn’t count” aka “educational triage” [also known in other situations like the aftermath of the Costa Concordia debacle as “salvage operations”].
High-stakes standardized test scores label, sort and rank with numbers & stats. That’s what they do; those are features, not bugs. In rheephormish [thank you, Bob Shepherd!] they supposedly tell us who’s worthy aka “counts for something” and who’s unworthy aka “counts for nothing.” With the added proviso that the adherents of the High Holy Church of Testolatry [thank you, Banesh Hoffman!] think they are comforting and enlightening and helping us by ‘explaining’—
Our new and improved tests aren’t such black-and-white caricatures as our critics paint them. We can tell you—and figures don’t lie!—just how much or how little anyone counts. Our instruments are exquisitely refined and we never cease improving them. Why, we’ve got it down to 50 shades of vague and we’re still tweaking and twerking and laying it on thick…
😳
A word of thanks: I think it was something [years ago] by the redoubtable Deborah Meier re “responsible” and “accountable” that got me thinking about this.
But back to the accountabullies for a moment and their incessant use of mathematical intimidation and obfuscation.
“He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts – for support rather than for illumination.” [Andrew Lang]
Truer words were never said about what can be a dismal science—and by a poet, no less!
😎
P.S. And we have our own SomeDAM Poet. Another confirmation that a very dead and very old and very Greek guy got it right then and right now:
“Light is the task where many share the toil.” [Homer]
With SomeDAM Poet contributing, it doesn’t seem so much like toil.
😃
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Allowing teacher evaluations to account for 50% of teachers’ scores will negatively impact the teachers and the students! It is crazy to think about one test being used for 50% of my score…..one test that is so ambiguous and confusing…NOT valid at all!! I am grateful that there are administrators out there that are finally speaking up for this injustice! Parents, educators, and administrators need to stand together to defeat the ridiculous ideas NYS is imposing on our children’s future.
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I posted this on a different article, but since I live in New York, it may interest New Yorkers:
Both my husband and I are teachers in New York. He teaches high school English, and I teach French. We are both concerned about the state of education now, and I am actively taking steps to change my career after 23 years in teaching. Let’s make no mistake about the situation. The move toward privatization of public education, the destruction of unions, and the loss of our democracy is well underway. I personally feel that the only way teachers, administrators, and parents can counter this is by refusing to participate in Common core tests and any tests that are used to evaluate a teacher’s performance. Teachers are now giving pretests in the beginning of the year knowing that students will fail because they have not yet learned the material! This is absurd, not to mention immoral and unethical. We are losing our common sense. Teachers are being evaluated by student performance on tests and those tests are in NO WAY reflective of what students have done in class. For example, some teachers’ evaluations are based on how students do on a 15 minute computerized test–a test that does not count for the students! It’s not a test grade; it’s not a graduation requirement; it’s not a Regents exam. It’s an exercise that serves as a referendum on an individual teacher’s ability. Furthermore, the subject matter of the test is peripheral to the subject matter of the classroom. Many kids know this; therefore, instead of taking it seriously, they tap the keys and answer carelessly. Is this logical? Does this make sense? Would any businessman accept this evaluation system? In addition, I think parents and the public would be shocked to know how much time has been wasted on policies and plans that pop up and then are changed months later. I have worked countless hours on preparing items and then watched as the school discarded my work. Wouldn’t my time have been used better to create great lessons for students or helping them? There is no plan, no vision. The two pillars of this “reform” movement are corporate greed and misogyny. I say misogyny because in NY over 70% of teachers are women, and the teaching profession is dominated by women. Our NYS union NYSUT is headed by a woman, and recent NYSUT pictures show a child saying, “Gov. Cuomo you’re breaking our hearts.” This kind of appeal will not work to influence men. Men are influenced by ACTION, not by appeals from children. Example: In basketball, Coach Dean Smith installed the four corners offense. Instead of shooting the ball, he would have his players dribble for minutes on end. He did this because he knew the game needed a shot clock, and this was the action he took within the rules of the game to bring it about. This is why I say that we need to refuse the tests. It is ACTION we need in the actual academic arena to bring about change! And teachers, if you’re concerned about losing your job for speaking out, it may happen anyway if the Governor get his new teacher evaluation plan through the legislature! If you happen to be a teacher who has been around for a while and earn “too much” money, you’d better worry. In the beginning of this post, I said I was actively seeking a new career after 23 years in teaching. Why? First, the stress of day-to-day teaching. People think teaching is easy. Try being with children all day -some of whom are disruptive, disrespectful, and not motivated. Try helping students who haven’t eaten, slept or been loved by their families. Try listening to their stories of abuse, poverty, and helplessness. It takes a toll on you. Second, I’m tired of the loss of respect and professionalism that teachers have suffered. We are losing control of our classrooms, our creativity, and our independence. We are now at the mercy of administrators, politicians and billionaires who are creating curricula, assessments, and evaluation plans for financial gain. Mostly, I am saddened at the diminishment of intellectual curiosity and joy in learning that is pervasive in our culture today. None of the “reforms” currently suggested will positively influence this. Thank you for this forum, and thank you Diane Ravitch for your cogent arguments and your advocacy.
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In Utah, part of our evaluations starting next year is test scores. Another part of our evaluations is also parent and student surveys. So it’s a popularity contest. Charming, huh?
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“…recent NYSUT pictures show a child saying, “Gov. Cuomo you’re breaking our hearts.” This kind of appeal will not work to influence men.” Excellent…yes of course…Action is most crucial at this juncture and Opt out cuts off the data supply.
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I just posted this to the Facebook page of my local Democratic Party:
Dear Peekskill Democrats:
While Governor Cuomo has recently done many positive things for the environment and economic development, I want to discuss something he’s doing which is terrible for the Peekskill schools and may hurt the larger Peekskill community.
To get right to it, Governor Cuomo’s education reforms will destroy education in New York State as we know it. This is not hyperbole. It’s fact. I’m going to go through some of the worst ones (with links) to make this clear.
Cuomo now wants 50% of a teacher’s evaluations to be based on state tests. At present, they are 20%, and another 20% of the evaluation comes from a locally selected test. What this means is that half of a teacher’s evaluation will come from one single test (two if the teacher teaches elementary.) taken over three days. As well, teachers who do not teach a tested subject subject will now be evaluated on these state tests. This means now art, music, social studies, and science teachers can now be fired if students do poorly on a test in a subject they don’t even teach!
Diane Ravitch criticized these tests when she said, “Many analysts say that mass failure is precisely the goal of the people who designed the Common core tests: If they define ‘Mastery’ as Reading and doing Math two grades above current grade level, then by definition all but a tiny fraction of students will fail, and these ‘experts’ can proclaim that Public Education is a failure and must be abolished. It is an evil plan worthy of an evil genius.” To be clear, this means that 50% of a teacher’s evaluation is based on a test too difficult for most children, which means that when kids fail this test — and they will — teachers will be fired.
How do you think this is going to affect the education of our kids? Teachers will be forced more and more to teach the narrow skills that are on the Common Core tests. While some of those have value, I can say from my own experience as a middle school English teacher that they are not great. Many are developmentally inappropriate. The Common Core English standards are also based on a philosophy that strips text of its content and only focuses on abstract ideas such as, mood, theme, paragraph structure and others. For example, in the sixth grade state curriculum, students will read “The Lightning Thief” but they will be questioned on worksheets and author’s purpose, and not actually learning mythology. This is a poorly designed curriculum and a truly unfair tool to evaluate both kids and teachers.
To make matters worse, Cuomo’s plan gives the state power to put “failing” schools into receivership, which means stripping away local control. This means no more local school board. All the positions at the local schools will be in jeopardy because the proposal gives whatever body governing the schools the power to break negotiated contracts. Essentially, they can fire the entire faculty and staff of a school or school district. If an employee disagrees with receivership policy, that employee can be fired on the spot.
Consider what would happen to Peekskill property values if the schools in receivership. Many parents such as myself and my wife have worked hard to improve the local system. I can say from experience that the administration is listening and has begun to implement important changes. Cuomo’s proposal will ruin all this progress. As well, the local teachers have strong relationships with the children. Trust is not an easy thing to come by, especially for kids in need like those in Peekskill. Cuomo’s proposals would destroy all those relationships and hurt the kids badly.
I don’t know where the local party stands on this, but it should be in opposition to these policies. I want to urge the Peekskill Democrats to do so and stand with the community’s teachers and public schools. This is what the Democratic Party has historically done.
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Don’t stop with the Democrats! The Republicans need to hear the same message about Cuomo’s plans for public education.
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Sharon, thank you. You’re right about that.
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While I despise many of their views (particularly at the national level) the Republicans are more sympathetic to many positions teachers value. They support local autonomy and a good portion of Republicans still resist the idea of a nationally imposed curriculum. Bring them into the loop and you may find more support than you might anticipate!
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Public education should be above partisan politics, IMHO. Republicans and Democrats need to be told that — repeatedly, daily if necessary, like a mantra.
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You’re right! Cuomo’s plan will send many districts into receivership. As a result, they will be ripe for privatization, which, I believe, is his ultimate goal. The districts will the highest number of poor students will be the first to tumble. That is why opting out is so important so he can’t get bogus “data” to expedite his evil plot.
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Thank you to the superintendent of Southold and Greenport, David Gamberg…you are a true leader in he fight fo our public schools and our children…It would be nice to see other superintendents on Long Island stand up for our children…where are the superintendents of the Merrick and Bellmore Public School districts…it’s nice to see them and hear their speeches at events such as when they throw out the first pitch for the children in the spring, but their constituents would be most appreciative if they would stand visibly with superintendents such as Dr Gamberg in defense of our children against Cuomo’s destructive policies…policies that are meant to fleece our public school systems and destroy an essential element of our democratic values.
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the problem is Capitalism !
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Straight to the Honor Roll! Well done, Superintendent.
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I have the deepest respect and admiration for all the Long Island superintendents whom have found the courage and integrity to speak out and protect the children in their care. David Gamberg is a leader among leaders. Thank you for all your continued efforts and dedication. And to those other Long Island superintendents who sit, wait and do nothing….your silence also speaks volumes.
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Superintendants, BOE members, and teachers across NYS have been speaking out. Kudos and courage to all of them!
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