The stunning success of the test-refusal movement in New York is a vote of no confidence in our state educational leadership.
Even as the numbers showed clear dissatisfaction with the path and pace of education "reform" in New York, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch downplayed the opt-out movement, and painted parents as confused patsies of a labor action, a misreading of the facts.
The Board of Regents sets educational policy for our state. The board needs a strong leader who is willing to guide education policy, communicate the mission clearly and stand up to meddling politicians. Merryl Tisch should cede leadership of the board and allow a fresh start for the board, and for education policy in New York.
Read the whole editorial - it's a scathing indictment of Tisch's failure as a leader.
In particular, they call her out for being Cuomo's lapdog instead of acting in the best interests of the people of this state.
They also note how time and again, she fails to listen to parents and teachers and continues to impose the state's reform agenda.
Tisch enjoys the support of many editorial boards around the state so I doubt she'll accede to LoHud's call here.
And the LoHud editorial page has not been a supporter of many of the reforms Tisch and the Regents have imposed over the years.
Still, it's extraordinary that they're calling her out in public like this.
One more symbol for why Tisch's time in charge is almost done.
Her buddy Shelly Silver's under indictment, she's lost allies on the Board of Regents, many parents and teachers despise her, and now we have the Journal News calling her Cuomo's lapdog and demanding she step down.
Better late than never! When else have two completely inexperienced people (Tisch and John King) been put in charge of a $60B enterprise? King ended up being laughed out of Albany--as a member of our wealthy calss Tisch will need to be shamed to leave. She has done great damage!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't the parents in LoHud just set a date for a rally?
ReplyDeleteTisch's arrogance and unwillingness to engage the educational field in meaningful discussion shows that she is just another wealthy stooge with a total lack of understanding of public schools. She is where she is NOT because she is a great mind and champion of education. She got where she is because of her husband's $$$ and political connections. BEFORE Tisch we had chancellors who were bonafide educators. It is time for a MAJOR change in Albany. The pressure to dump Tisch will really blossom after this week's math test opt out figures. Make no mistake, Merryl ... your days are numbered. Take your money and your skewed loyalties and go where you truly belong ... charter schools. If I was a NYS Regent I would be outraged that this person is still in charge. She is a joke, corporate and hedge fund lackey and it's time for her to go.
ReplyDeleteI retired from public school education just a year ago. What is wrong with NYS (aside from all the corrupt politicos we have installed in Albany, Cuomo, Tisch, union leadership that has betrayed its membership over and over again and, a legislature that needs to remove itself from legislating ANYTHING having to do with schools and teacher evaluation) here is a very simple analysis of what is wrong with public school education:
ReplyDelete1. a breathtakingly abject failure on the part of NYS government to engage the professional public school field and to TRULY listen to REAL educators;
2. a willingness on the part of those WE HAVE ELECTED to sell-out to money-waving hedge fund investors and faceless corporate organizations looking to privatize public school education;
3. a FAKE, media-driven smear campaign directed at public schools and the educational community (public school teachers and administrators) in order to distract and divert public attention from the very apparent and ever-increasing divide between wealthy and poor public schools in NYS and the rest of America;
Money WILL NOT bury or silence us. Tisch and her Koolaid-drinking minions at SED had better start to wise up. The "sleeping giant" (a.k.a. PARENTS) have been awakened and there will soon be a push back of EPIC proportion. As corruption is rooted out in Albany the ONLY ones who survive will be those who start LISTENING.
I do not consider myself the eternal optimist BUT, during my career in education I have ALWAYS see folks get their comeuppance. I know that we have all suffered at the hands of these pretend "leaders." They're going down folks ... just give it time. If Merryl is smart, she'll step down BEFORE her term is up ... she can blame "circumstances beyond her control" (or, that even all her husband's $$$$$ couldn't BUY her more time as chancellor). Cuomo will perish on his own sword (heck, just look at his autobiography book sales ;-) ).
I'm looking forward to watching the walls come tumbling down (and, so should all of you, my friends)! In the immortal words of a friend of mine waiting to pass an incredibly painful kidney stone ... "THIS TOO, SHALL PASS!"
Merryl: don't let the door spank your rear end too hard as you exit state ed! BUH-BYE!
Who is going to pay the salaries of her "Fellows" now? Oh, that is OK they were only there to advance her passion for Cheater Schools!
ReplyDeleteThink about how bad a condition NYSED is in right now. the Acting Commissioner would not know how a public school operates--she has never been a teacher, or an administrator. Based upon her training and experience she knows nothing about education. The Deputy Commissioner (who just started 3-4 months ago) cannot wait to get out of the Tisch Mad-house--he is leaving for Niskayuna in early June. The bureaucrats who run the place are tired of the silliness that King and Tisch have imposed--morale is down the tubes. It is time for this woman to leave and to hide her head in shame! Tisch personally brought in two leightweights as Commissioner. One left in a hushed up scandal (Steiner quietly resigned after taking expensive international travel from the Pearson Foundation in return for signing a $32M contract for NY's Tortoise/Pineapple exams). John King was laughed out of Albany in a deal made with the Feds to get him out of town. Why would a competent person apply to become Commissioner having to work alongside a witch like Tisch to straighten out her huge mess? It will take decades to overcome the damage Tisch has done to public schools in her few years leading NYSED! Legislators and Cuomo need to explain how she got where she did...and why she was not removed a long time ago?
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