A few days ago I asked, rhetorically. I admit, why the President of the NYSPTA would disregard the manifest grievances of teachers and parents and come down on the side of anti-teacher, anti-parent NYSED Commissioner, John King. As it turns out, her kid runs a test prep company, her old man had to shell out $115 mill in restitution after being busted defrauding the disability system. Hers is a case of conflicted special interests between the kid 's investment and return on high stakes testing and Hubby 's dabbling with 1% issues, we know how the Brahmin love the smell of ed reform in the morning... So I think we know now where she's coming from, bless her little privileged heart.
Today's assignment friends, in keeping with the rigor we're so enamored of in edutopia these days, is not going to be answered as easily. A pair of intrepid educatrixes scribbling blithely for the Education Week, Jill Berkowicz and Ann Myers to be exact have come out of the teacher's lounge with their tongues clucking and fingers wagging "Shame, shame, shame, you parents and teachers were very mean to poor little Commissioner King..." I have reviewed this self hating bucket of cowardly tripe several times yet still it offends me the way the old man's eye unhinged Poe's guy in The Tell Tale Heart. The sniveling mommy knows best tone is unbearable and the notion that these two bozos sitting at their keyboards doing edu spin for Common Core have a clearer understanding than the Dad who said his smart little boy now hates school is so ridiculous it's not even funny.
Read their opening salvo:
Dr. John King, New York's Commissioner of education has been met with disrepect and an exceptional lack of civility. How many of us, as leaders, have had to stand in front of a hostile audience and deliver an unwelcome message? More and more of us are in those situations. So when we see someone else in that situation does it bring up compassion and empathy or does our darker side of judgment enter and say he/she could have done it better or differently? Does seeing this make us want to join in and stand shoulder to shoulder with that person or back out the door?
If I were stuck in a foxhole with either one of these two high minded sell outs I think I'd take my chances and charge the wire. With back up like these two lovelies we all better learn to fight for ourselves.
And at this pivotal moment, we are tossed a frigging bone from AFT. It's called 'Reclaim the Promise'...... http://action.aft.org/c/44/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=7122........Good god. Are we to sign our names on another inane website? Why? To reclaim the "promise" that has already been tossed away by our union leadership? What gall. I posted on Perdido School today. Here is that post (yes, I am recycling it) The time has passed to sign our names to a dubious web effort by AFT. The time is now to respond to King, in person. As the top line of your blog reads: "John King Does Not Serve the Citizens of New York. It's Time to Remove Him. By Any Means Necessary."
ReplyDeleteHere is my Perdido School Post:
Pineapple HareOctober 19, 2013 at 12:09 PM
We have one of the dumbest regents here in Western New York, Bob Bennett. Should have retired years ago. He's been an apologist for King during King's entire reign. Affluent gasbag, yet dangerous, as he allies totally with the 1% of our local wealth mavens. A seemingly avuncular guy, he wafts among the wealthy, trotting out his little hired 'poop boy' John King. He keeps John King well away from the urban core of Buffalo, as he knows the parents and teachers will tear the little prince to pieces if allowed. We really have no reason to be polite to the little King anymore. It's time to throw the rotten veggies and shoes that King so richly deserves. If King did not have the 'wealth protection' that the regents affords him, he would crumble. Get mad, people. The time for writing on blogs is over. (Love the blogs, though!)It is time to attend each and every little piece of theatre that is being carefully planned for the King. We need to show the country that we do not respect this little twerp nor will we allow him to continue. I cannot wait to see what will be forthcoming in the new "NYSED roadshow". I imagine 'invitation only" and bodyguards waiting to expel any rabble. Hopefully, the real message will be sent by the great unwashed and uninvited who will show up anyway, just like the little" Who's from Whoville, the tall and the small..." who outfoxed the Grinch.
So, yo, Randi. I'll put my name on your website as soon as you step down.