The Patchogue-Medford school district on Long Island in New York adopted a resolution in opposition to the confirmation of John King as U.S. Secretary of Education.
“February 22, 2016
The Board of Education of the Patchogue-Medford Union Free School District would like to go on the record as opposing the confirmation of Dr. John B. King, Jr. as United States Secretary of Education. Dr. King formerly served as Commissioner of Education in the State of New York and based on this tenure in this position we have the following primary concerns:
Dr. King was responsible for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind federal regulations and the introduction of the Common Core Standards in New York State. This was a total failure and caused countless problems in the field of education. All of his actions have now been reversed and/or under review by the Governor, New York State Legislature and the New York State Board of Regents. We are concerned that his failure to successfully implement these programs will now be repeated with a failure to implement the new Every Student Succeeds Act, a far more reaching education law for a much larger constituency.
Dr. King was extremely unresponsive to the input of parents and educational professionals. We are concerned that this failure to consider the data and opinions provided by these groups will continue if he is confirmed as Secretary of Education.
Dr. King has intimated that communities which have low participation levels in state assessments will be subject to an embargo of their federal funding. The lack of participation is the result of parental choice, which is clearly a constitutional right in our country, and are not under the control of local educational agencies. Regretfully our community, and those like it, rely very heavily on federal and state aid to run our district. We have a very large percentage of students who are new to our country and do not speak or read English. Many of our students receive free and/or reduced lunch, as well. We are concerned that this loss of funding, due to circumstances which we do not control, will compromise our ability to educate our students.
We cannot help but conclude that amplifying Dr. King’s abject failure as the leader of the educational establishment in New York State to the federal level is good for no one.
It is our recommendation that the President of the United States nominate, for our nation, a Secretary of Education who is proven leader in education, who has extensive public school experience, and proven success, as a both a teacher and administrator, who will be responsive to others, while being empathetic to the realistic needs of our nation’s students and working with the educational community.
Again, we urge you to oppose the nomination of Dr. John B. King, Jr. as Secretary of Education. We have included a very informative article by Dr. Carol Burris regarding Dr. King with this letter.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of our request.
Respectfully,
The Board of Education of the Patchogue-Medford Union Free School District
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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All of us should be contacting our senators to ask them to oppose John King’s confirmation as Secretary of Education.
Can we hope that the AFT and NEA are rallying their members to write their senators?
America relies on the people in the classrooms to advocate for the community, when it comes to education tax dollars going to profiteering bandits, outside of our states, towns, cities, villages and rural areas.
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As Peter Greene put it (I’m paraphrasing), if John King is not confirmed, it’s not like Diane Ravitch is the next name down on Obama’s list to call. The problem lies not with the Secretary of Education but with his boss.
Here in Chicago we replaced Jean Claude Brizzard, who was notorious for his brusque ways and not listening to parents/teachers/other stakeholders, with Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who was supposed to be kinder, gentler and a better listener. If anything I think I preferred Brizzard because he didn’t try to pretend. I think when BBB came along a lot of people responded to her “kindness” and let their guard down.
Anyone Obama appoints is going to screw public education. Personally, I prefer the guy who’s going to do that as obviously and brutally as possible so people have no choice but to take notice. There’s a reason that the Opt Out Movement is so strong in New York.
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Hooray for this school district for speaking out!
Why is it so hard for other districts, mine included, to do the same?
And more importantly, where are my NYS union leaders in all this? One small blurb from NYSUT’s president on their own website hardly amounts to leadership.
Call me naive, but I can’t understand why there’s so much silence in a state that knows first hand the damage John King can do.
I completely agree with Carol Burris when she sums up the issues so succinctly:
-His style is inflexible and he is quick to criticize the motives of those with whom he disagrees;
-His strong, unquestioned support for the Common Core and other Race to the Top reforms turned implementation in New York into a costly experiment riddled with problems; and
-He doesn’t address errors, but stays the course regardless of consequences.
Where are the other voices who know how damaging this man’s actions can be?
In case there’s anyone who would like to join in, there’s the BAT’s letter writing campaign, and there’s still an opportunity to sign a petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/102/056/568/stop-john-kings-appointment-to-secretary-of-education/
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The rethugs promise to block any SC nominee put forth by the Obomber while at the same time will probably be voting to approve King. Meanwhile the Dims whine and moan but will go along with the rethugs on King. I don’t see two parties, I see “bipartisan” fleecing of the American citizenry.
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