Nonetheless Capital Confidential reports that there were 67 speakers at last night's forum and the overwhelming majority of those were not King- or SED-supporters:
The good news for King is that the new format goes far to ensure that the retooled schedule of sessions around the state will remain civil despite the almost uniformly negative reaction to the Common Core by the 67 people — the vast majority of them both teachers and parents — who got up to speak over the course of the three-hour event.
At Myers, the combined presence of state lawmakers, including several with concerns about the Common Core, flanking King on stage and the moderating duties handled with gentle discipline by the League of Women Voters kept things far calmer.
If the only goal here is to have some forums that don't break into chaos, then mission accomplished, Commissioner King.
But I don't think that is the SED/Regents goal.
I think the goal here for them is to try and win over people to their reform agenda or at least fool the public into thinking the merry reformers at SED and the Board of Regents are listening to parent and teacher concerns.
From the news reports, the tweets, and other posts I have seen about last night's forum, King did not accomplish either of those two goals.
As I noted earlier, he and SED have no intention on changing any of their agenda.
Parents and teachers are not going to be fooled by the dog and pony shows they put on a dozen times around the state if the SED/Regents agenda remains the same.
Ultimately King, SED, Tisch and the Regents have to not just listen to public concerns, they have to address them.
Since they have no intention on doing that, no matter how "civil" these forums come off, the underlying problem for SED and the Regents remains the same - a growing number of parents and teachers have turned against the SED/Regents reforms and want that agenda changed.
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