NYSED Commissioner King Compares Himself To Martin Luther King Jr.

I bet you're thinking, nah, he didn't do that.

Yeah, he did - on Tuesday.

Jessica Bakeman had the story at Capital NY.

Here's the set-up:

ALBANY—In a keynote speech to teachers on Tuesday, education commissioner John King began by describing a cartoon about turkeys who revolt to avoid becoming Thanksgiving dinner, and he ended by comparing the state's adoption of the Common Core standards to the U.S. Civil Rights movement.

King spoke Tuesday morning to teachers from Hudson Valley school districts who traveled to Albany for a Common Core training, and he stressed thankfulness and perseverance.

OK, got the set-up? 

Common Core PD with teachers who have traveled to Albany for Common Core training.

King talks about how he is grateful these teachers have ignored the "distractions" of the past few weeks and come to Albany to listen to him say how great the Common Core is and how important the work they are doing is - and then comes this:

As he neared the end of the 20-minute speech, he stressed that worthwhile reform efforts are difficult and require patience and commitment. That's true for the transition to the Common Core like it was true for the Montgomery bus boycott during the Civil Rights movement, he argued.

“Things that matter are hard, and they take sustained commitment,” he said.

Paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr., the commissioner said: “In a real sense, this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested.

“Change is hard,” he continued. “It is challenging, and it is tiring, but the goal, their goal, was to advance the cause of civil rights. Our goal is to advance the cause of civil rights through educational justice, through ensuring that all of our students have access to the richest possible instruction that prepares them to succeed when they graduate from high school, in college and careers, and prepares them to be good citizens.

“It will be hard; it will continue to be tiring,” he said. “I am sure there are some sore feet in the room. It will continue to be tiring, but we must remain laser-focused on the outcome we seek for our students.”

Watch here (the Civil Rights talk starts at 17:13).

So now King is Dr. Martin Luther King and these teachers come to Albany to learn the Common Core PD and go back to their schools and teach this drivel to their colleagues are the Freedom Riders.

Unbelievable.

Commissioner King has a messianic complex larger than Merryl Tisch's husband's bank account.

Let me say something directly to Commissioner King:

Commissioner, you are not MLK, the Common Core is not the Civil Rights movement, and the Common Core Fellows or whatever the hell you call these teachers come to Albany for the Common Core PD are not Freedom Riders.

Got that, Sparky?