Here is the first part of the Newsday piece on a forum on Long Island that was held last evening.
An emotional crowd of about 1,500 parents and educators packed Ward Melville High School's auditorium and cafeteria last night for a forum with state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr., cheering speakers who assailed state testing and Common Core academic standards and at times shouting down King as he tried to speak.
Eric Gustafson, a teacher in Three Village school district, brought those in the 900-capacity auditorium to their feet, cheering and clapping, when he said that Common Core and a new system of teacher and principal evaluations are "draining us of time and resources."
"Your approach has taken the joy out of teaching and the adventure out of learning," Gustafson said, adding that parents and teachers are begging for delay in implementation of new curriculums and tougher tests, but "nothing is happening."
The right and the left are coming together against the ruling elite on Common Core.
Today there is another John King Forum at Mineola High School in Nassau County at 3:30 pm. If you are in that neighborhood, stop by please. Principal and leading deform opponent Carol Burris will be there.
I gather the people at the State Education Department are going to hear some more from parents and educators who are not pleased with so called education reform.
If only King cared. My guess is he's been told by those pulling his strings to sit there and smile and not be as much of an ass this time. Like the NYC PEP meetings, these meetings are for show, nothing more. In a way the press coverage works for him as he gets to control the message and repeat the deformers standard catch phrases. Without these meetings maybe the media might catch on to the real issues of poverty and the false message that our schools are in crisis. All the media need do is peel even one layer deep and the onion is revealed. It's sad that there is very little real journalism anymore.
ReplyDeleteThis fire is spreading. I am not sure they can contain it.
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