NYCDOE Official Andrew Kirtzman: Teachers Are "Special Interests"

Former NY 1 reporter Andrew Kirtzman, now a "senior advisor to the chancellor" at the NYCDOE, had this response to Randi Weingarten's call for a moratorium on the high stakes tied to the new Common Core tests:

While King and Tisch took pains not to criticize Weingarten, Andrew Kirtzman, senior advisor to the chancellor, came out swinging.

“This is about a special interest that doesn’t want this to happen because of fear for their jobs,” he said, noting that this is a mayoral election year. “This is about the union protecting itself. The UFT cannot wait to get control of the city schools again in the next administration and New Yorkers should be very, very worried about it.”

Although the Department of Education only chose a new curriculum for teachers two months ago, Kirtzman said city teachers have been using Common Core materials all year and that the D.O.E. is not “oblivious” to the stress that they and their pupils experience. But, he said, “we are holding kids to a higher standard so that they can do better in college and their careers. This isn’t a game. This isn’t about politics. This is about improving the future of the children of the public schools.”

Andrew, teachers know "this isn't a game."

We're the people who spend seven hours a day with these children, every day, for 186 days a year, watching the effects the battery of high stakes testing, formative and summative assessments and the rest of the education reforms are having on them.

We're the ones who see the consequences of an education system that forces 20% budget cuts on individual schools even as it ratchets up the testing mandates so that principals have been forced to cut all kinds of programs and services that these children need - especially in the areas of social and emotional learning and support.

We're the ones who see how guidance counselors no longer have time to counsel because they're so busy trying to keep track of the latest testing data for the hundreds of students in their case loads and we're the ones who try and pick up the slack despite the increase in our own mandated duties.

We're the ones who see the increase in self-harm, eating disorders, depression, suicidal feelings and other problems students are experiencing as they try and deal with all the stresses in their lives - from their home lives to the streets to their schools.

Clearly the DOE is oblivious to the "stresses" students are experiencing these days or they wouldn't be cutting the budgets for the programs and services that would help children with these problems.

We're with these children every day and we know what they need - and it surely isn't a battery of high stakes tests on a curriculum they haven't yet been taught that will be used to make decisions on their grade promotion, their teachers' evaluations and their schools' very existence.

As for your "special interests jibe", if you want to see what a "special interest" looks like, take a look at all the washed up reporters and journalists brought onto the Bloomberg payroll these days to churn out the pro-Bloomberg propaganda at Bloomberg Views, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg's philanthropic endeavors.

There are some special interests for you.