Is NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Really Softening Her Stance On Opt Out?

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia made a couple of media appearances to try and calm the furor over her recent comments that parents who opt their children out of state tests are "not reasonable," teachers who support or encourage opting out are "unethical" and the state was looking into legal means to cut down on opt out rates next year.

The first was on NPR with Karen DeWitt:

“Superintendents have asked me, ‘Is it the law?’ ‘Exactly what does this mean for us?’ ‘What are the ramifications of (a high opt-out rate) in terms of the federal law?’,” Elia said. “So it would seem to me the logical thing for me to do as the commissioner in the state is to find out the answers to those questions, and tell my colleagues that. That’s what I said.

“This is not a threat — I’m just trying to get information out there so people understand it,” she said.

Elia discussed the “toolbox” SED is assembling to address a range of issues concerning the tests.

“Really, the idea of the toolbox for leaders in the state came from a request from a number of superintendents,” Elia said. “I think it’s really looking at what we can do to communicate better. I think the work that’s been done in New York, much of it is very good, but there are areas where we haven’t been on top of things like I think we could have been — and this is common across the country.

“Parents have a right to have their child test or not,” she continued. ” … But I think we haven’t done enough communication so that parents — if they understand it and they still want their child to opt out, that certainly is their right — but I think a lot of parents feel like the tests had problems with them, from their perspective.”

Elia then proceeded to list a number of the reasons why a parent might want their child to opt out — and seemed to agree with at least one of them.

“I’ve had teachers tell me the tests are too long. I’ve had them say they don’t think they’re matched to the standards. We’ve done a lot of work in matching and looking to see that that’s done,” she said. “But I would tell you, I think that they are long.”

Next was Capital Tonight:

During a CapTon interview last night, Elia said there’s definitely an ethical “line” teachers should not cross when it comes to the third-through-eighth-grade English and math exams.

The commissioner said educators should not use the “pulpit” provided by their positions to reach out to parents and encourage them to opt out, but should feel free to answer questions about their personal position on the issue when asked – especially if those questions are posed outside the classroom.

“What I’m concerned about is taking a position and influencing children and families simply because they know their telephone number or someone might come in,” Elia said.

Elia acknowledged that it is perfectly legal for parents to decide not to have their children sit for state tests, but also said she believes parents need to be educated about the importance of those tests as a diagnostic and “assessment” tool.

She said she isn’t threatening anyone with sanctions, but is reaching out to superintendents to provide them with information to give to parents on this issue. At the moment, Elia confirmed, no districts will be losing federal funding as a result of unusually high opt-out rates.

These interviews came on the same day that she backed up the right for parents to opt their children out of vaccinations for religious reasons.

She's still hammering home the idea that parents who are opting their kids out just don't know any better but by golly, she's going to educate them by communicating with them (“Parents have a right to have their child test or not…But I think we haven’t done enough communication so that parents..."; she believes parents need to be educated about the importance of those tests as a diagnostic and “assessment” tool.)

The State of Politics blog described Elia's media tour yesterday as Elia's "softening" her stance on the Opt Out movement, but I didn't hear much different from her yesterday on opt out at all.

She did acknowledge the tests are too long, so there's one minor concession from her, though she has always said the state was going to review the tests for quality, so presumably that length critique comes under that purview.

But other than the critique about the length of the tests, I didn't hear much that was new.

She has acknowledged parents have the right to opt their children out of the state tests (including parents who are also teachers), so that isn't new.

She's claimed before that her NYSED "toolbox" project isn't going to be a way for the state to coerce parents to have their children sit for the tests, so that isn't new either.

Quite frankly, I heard more that was new in her statement supporting the parent's right to opt her child out of the MMR vaccines for religious reasons than I did in her media tour yesterday.

It seems that Elia's trying to walk back the mess she made by calling parents who opt their children out of state tests "unreasonable" and teachers who support or encourage opt out "unethical," but that kind of language isn't easily erased from the minds of those who were targeted with it and while news reporters might have heard her "softening" her stance against opt out in yesterday's media tour, I heard much of the same old, same old message offered with less strident language.

She's still claiming parents who opt their children out need to be educated about the swellness of the tests.

She's still saying the "toolbox" will be a way for districts to educate these parents.

The threat is still implicit in the "It's the law..." remarks that districts that don't get parents to comply are going to have some legal trouble from the state (e.g., "at the moment" no districts will lose funding as a result of high opt out rates...)

Meet the new MaryEllen Elia message, same as the old MaryEllen Elia message, just with slightly less judgmental language.

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Puts Together A "Goon Squad" To Intimidate Parents, Teachers

Readers of Perdido Street School blog will not be surprised to find out that NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is fast wearing out her welcome as the new head of the New York State Education Department nor that she is proving to be a tone deaf figure with a talent for divisiveness and controversy.

Elia was fired from her previous gig as superintendent of Hillsborough School District because she openly feuded with members of the school board, treated many of those who worked with her or under her with disdain and scorn, and refused to take responsibility for student safety problems or  district complicity in the deaths of three students.

In sum:

She had a reputation for creating a "culture of fear" in her office where subordinates felt "browbeaten" and "bullied."

Was accused of trying to cover up district complicity in the death of a 7 year old special needs child.

Was the target of parent protest for lack of district response after a second special needs child died at a Hillsborough school.

Oversaw a school district that has been accused of racial discrimination in its discipline policies and is the target of a federal complaint.

Oversaw a school busing and choice program that created a "reign of chaos" at McLane Middle School for ten years.

Was dubbed "MaryEllen EVILia" by some parents for pursuing district policies that harmed children with special needs.

Couldn't play nice with the school board and was ultimately whacked in a 4-3 vote in January.

When Elia was hired to replace John King at NYSED, she was hailed by members of the Board of Regents, many in the Legislature, the education reform community and NYSUT as a great hire, someone who would listen to and work well with others.

Given her track record at Hillsborough, it was absurd to think that she wouldn't be as divisive, controversial and tone deaf here in New York as she was in Tampa.

It hasn't taken too long for Elia to demonstrate exactly that.

Last week she said parents who choose to opt their children out of the state standardized tests are "not reasonable" and called teachers who support or encourage opt out "unethical."

She threatened "ramifications" for schools and/or districts with high opt rates in 2015, then after that "tool" was taken from her when Regents Chancellor Tisch and Governor Cuomo both stated there wouldn't be punitive measures taken against parents or schools for opt outs this year, promised that she would engage parents and teachers for next year to make sure that opt out rates drop in a way that sounded awfully threatening.

Elia has said "it's the law" that students take standardized tests and she's going to make sure that educators are aware of where the line in the law is drawn over what they can and can't say about opt out.

Her engagement plan has some thinking that she plans legal action against teachers who encourage or even support opt out, like this commenter at Perdido Street School blog:

Cuomo's, Tisch's, and now Elia's recent statements are suggesting how they will be approaching Opt Out.....3020A'ing any "educator," Admin or teacher, who in any way support or do not OPPOSE opt out. Cuomo and Tisch were putting the happy face on it to parents.....no penalties! And Elia was very clear in saying that any educators who support opt out are "unethical." That suggests the "moral character" language of a 3020A.

Their path forward cannot be penalizing parents, kids, or funding of schools...that's a political shit storm and they know it. The only thing left on the table are those that they are trying to destroy anyway.....educators....so that's where the hammer will fall for opt out.

Today some members of the Assembly have joined in the public warnings over Elia's parent and teacher engagement plans:

Elia told Politco New York that she’s putting together a “tool kit” to help school superintendents reverse the boycotts in their schools, and has been talking to the education department’s legal staff, in order to provide the school administrators with more information on laws requiring that the exams be administered.  Those remarks set off some lawmakers.

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco spent a decade as a special education teacher in the Schenectady school system.

“I call this the goon squad,” said Tedisco. “ They are going to intimidate the parents.”

Assemblyman Bill Nojay, a Republican from the Rochester area who describes himself as libertarian leaning, was never a teacher, but his mother was one. He says education officials should be listening to the parents instead.

“The parents, the teachers and the students have got more than enough information,” Nojay said. “They don’t need somebody who is new to New York State to say ‘listen to me, I know better than you do’.” 

In addition, Al Graf has started a petition to call on the Legislature to pull back support from both the Common Core and NYSED Commissioner Elia.

Graf, Tedisco and Nojay are part of a Republican minority in the Assembly, so they will have little opportunity to influence policy in the Legislature, but their public statements warning over Elia's so-called engagement plans with parents and teachers will put pressure on Assembly Dems in the majority carrying water for NYSED and the Cuomo education agenda as well as Cuomo himself.

As Elia goes to war with parents and teachers over opt out (and make no mistake, that's what she's doing by threatening legal action), Assembly Dems and Cuomo are going to have to decide whether they want to back her in that war and risk enmity from the growing number of public school parents who are opposed to the state's education reform agenda and Endless Testing regime.

Same goes for the Board of Regents.

We know that both Regents Chancellor Tisch and Governor Cuomo support that reform agenda and Endless Testing regime but neither wants to be the face of it - that's why Tisch made some soothing statements about opt out and special needs children and Cuomo backed parent right to opt children out of state tests.

Nonetheless as Elia gets more and more shrill over opt out and threatens punitive measures (or even levies them) - as she puts together her "goon squad" to fight her war against opt out - the Board of Regents, the Legislature and Governor Cuomo are eventually going to have to take sides.

You would have to think given Cuomo's careful statements over opt out, given Tisch's softening tone on whether children with special needs should take the standardized exams, given Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's recent statements that maybe there's more to education than just testing, that Elia may not get the public support she's going to need in her war against opt out.

Elia can only use her goon squad if she's got the political support for it.

Her political support is already waning - you can see that in the statements from Graf, Tedisco and Nojay as well as the anger she is engendering among some parents for her opt out threats.

When a member of the Legislature says the NYSED Commissioner is preparing a "goon squad" to intimidate parents and teachers over state tests, the writing is already on the wall:

MaryEllen Elia is wearing out her welcome in a New York minute and whatever political support and leverage she thinks she has to threaten parents and teachers is tenuous and thin.

To top it all off, Elia's going to war over opt out at the same time she is fighting a second front back in Tampa - she has had to defend herself from allegations by some members of the Hillsborough School Board and her successor as Hillsborough superintendent that she left a financial mess in the district.

For some reason, the New York press and political establishment haven't taken an interest in the mess Elia made in Tampa nor in the harm she has done to students there, but as the political fallout from her Hillsborough days continues to follow her, it won't be long before they do.

And once that happens, Elia will have the notoriety she truly deserves as just another incompetent, tone deaf educrat who refuses to take responsibility for the messes she makes even as she threatens accountability and responsibility for others.

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Threatens Legal Action Against Educators Who Support Opt Out

Just as some commenters on Perdido Street School blog pointed out would happen, NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is going to target educators who support the Opt Out movement with legal action:

ALBANY — Education commissioner MaryEllen Elia already has begun a battle to stop the rapidly growing opt-out movement before next year’s state tests, reaching out to department attorneys and meeting with superintendents, she told POLITICO New York.

“We’re trying to pull together a tool kit, if you will, to support superintendents in how we can communicate in a much more effective way to people across the state,” Elia said.

That kit will include legal information, which is why she has reached out to lawyers, Elia said.

“I want the superintendents to understand the reflections and law that they can use as an information piece when they talk to people in their community … It’s important for them to be able to say, ‘Listen, it’s the law.’”

Ooh, it's the law!

I am so impressed by that statement.

Segregation and slavery were the law too, but that didn't make those laws right or just.

Many states continue to have sodomy laws on the books too, but that doesn't make those laws right or just either.

Same goes with the "law" regarding standardized testing in New York State.

Giving standardized tests that have been rigged to fail 70% of the children in the state may be the law, but that doesn't make that law right or just.

Implicit in her statement that giving the tests is "the law" is that legal action can be used against people who flout that law.

She has already said any educator who supports or encourages opt outs is "unethical," so you know when she dangles legal threats around over opt out, that's who she's aiming at.

If Elia wants to threaten legal action against teachers who support the Opt Out movement - go for it.

With opt out rates going from 5% in 2014 to 20% in 2015, I can understand why Elia feels threatened over the Opt Out movement.

But threatening legal action against teachers who support opt out, I don't think that's going to be a winning proposition for her.

When push comes to shove, will she get back-up from the Legislature or the governor in a battle over the tests?

Governor Cuomo is a huge fan of bashing and scapegoating teachers, but even he has tread lightly around the testing and opt out issue, knowing that there is a growing opt out movement in the state that can hurt him politically.

It remains to be seen what Elia can do to teachers other than threaten them for supporting opt out - unless she wants NYSED to engage in thousands of 3020a disciplinary cases over opt out, that is.

Is that the plan?

If so, it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Another thing that's not a winning proposition for Elia - equating support for opt out with ignorance on the part of parents.

Elia keeps saying (echoing Regents Chancellor Tisch) that NYSED has to get the message out to parents why testing is swell and kids should shut up and take their tests.

Elia even said last week that support for opt out is "not reasonable" - a statement that equates parent support for opt out with insanity.

This isn't sitting well with some parents:

When asked if she thinks opt out will continue to grow, Elia replied: “It’s incumbent upon us to get information and support out to those educators and leaders across New York … I think we have a lot of work to do in terms of communication and we have to do it a multiple levels.”

Some parents, like Jessica McNair, say they already are informed about Common Core and the opt-out movement should not be dismissed as a lack of information.

“I think she has a lot to learn about the parents in New York State,” McNair said. “We’re not going to back down until we see tests that are developmentally appropriate, and tests that are decoupled from the teacher evaluations.”

Opt Out CNY, which has 4,120 members, already has a 2015-16 refusal letter available to parents on its website — and some already have it signed and in their child’s book bags for the first day of school, McNair said.

Elia was supposedly hired because she is a "listener" and "consensus-builder."

From what I see so far, we've got John King Part Deaux, another a tone deaf corporate education reform water carrier for an NYSED Commissioner who reflexively attacks parents and teachers when they don't agree with her.

Let's see how that show plays over the next school year.

How Are Teachers Handling The Opt Out Issue?

NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said any educator who supports or encourages the Opt Out movement is "unethical".

A commenter on a previous Perdido Street School post said she/he never encourages parents to opt children out of tests:

I am a teacher and I totally support the opt out movement. However, I do not believe it is ethical for teachers to ENCOURAGE parents to opt out. On the flip side I have no problem whatsoever for teachers to give information to parents who ASK for opt out information. It is the same with cops. They might not support a certain law like drinking in public but they can't encourage people to just brown bag it in dark corners.

In a reply to that comment, another commenter wrote:

At my school the principal asked us NOT to discuss opt out with parents, even if they ask. If a parent brings it up we have to tell them to speak to the principal. Talking to parents about opt out is a good way to get rated ineffective.

There is some conjecture that going forward, NYSED will go after educators with high opt rates, from superintendents leading districts to principals leading schools to teachers in individual classrooms.

Both Regents Chancellor Tisch and NYSED Commissioner Elia have made some not-so-subtle comments to back up that conjecture that they will look to punish educators over opt out rates.

So, there's an important question to ask here:

How do teachers out there handle the opt out issue?

The Convoluted Disciplinary Process For Two New York Teachers Accused Of Cheating On State Tests

Somebody explain to me what's going in this story:

WHITEHALL | Two tenured Whitehall teachers have been suspended with pay, as the district seeks to fire them for their role in causing a security problem with Common Core state tests.

Interim Superintendent William Scott announced Wednesday that the teachers were placed on paid leave effective Tuesday.

The state Education Department has invalidated Whitehall students’ scores for the grades seven and eight English language arts exams because of an unspecified issue with security of the exams.
...

Scott said Thursday he was not able to specify the allegations against the teachers because he was not involved in the investigation. He does not believe any disciplinary actions will be brought against other employees, he said, unless other allegations are brought up during this process.

Whitehall will continue to pay the salary and benefits of the teachers, whose names were not released, as it pursues a formal process known as 3020-a to fire tenured teachers.

Scott said new legislation took effect on July 1 to expedite the hearings to fire tenured teachers.

“It’s speeded up the process much more than it used to be. Before, it could take two or three years,” he said.

Now, hearings are conducted before a single hearing officer. Also, the teacher must disclose witnesses that will be called in his or her defense, according to the New York State Education Department website.

The district is also paying the salary of former Whitehall Junior-Senior High School Principal Kelly McHugh, who agreed to resign for her role in this incident. As part of a settlement, McHugh will be paid until her resignation takes effect on March 1 and will continue to receive benefits. McHugh’s annual salary is $92,596, so that means she will be paid about $62,000 for nine months of not working.

Scott said, contrary to what school officials believed before, the state Education Department is not going to provide the district with a completed report about the investigation at this point.

“We keep waiting for the report and that’s not something they do,” he said.

Instead, the state is pursuing a parallel disciplinary process called a Part 83.

“Part 83 addresses morality, so it could be any range of interpretation of morality — lying and cheating,” he said. “They’re two separate laws and separately addressed.”

The law (Part 83) states a person’s teaching certificate can be suspended or revoked if there is information indicating the person "has been convicted of a crime, or has committed an act which raises a reasonable question as to the individual’s moral character.”

The matter can then be referred to the State Education Department’s Office of Teaching Initiatives for a professional conduct officer to review. A hearing may also be held on the issue if requested by the teacher or the school district.

The law states that teachers are presumed to lack good moral character if they are convicted on a drug charge, any crime involving the sexual abuse of a minor or student, or a crime conducted on school property while teaching. The teacher is free to rebut that during a hearing.

The teacher has 30 days to appeal any decision of the hearing officer or board.

Scott said he believes a report will be provided when everything is concluded. He said the state has told the district that Whitehall needs to pursue its own charges against these employees. State officials will use then use the local findings in its own report.

OK, so here's what I gather from this story:

Two teachers were accused of cheating on the state tests.

They've been removed from the classroom but are still on the payroll.

There was an investigation by NYSED, which then invalidated the test scores, but NYSED is not going to provide the report of that investigation to the local district.

For some reason, the district "keeps waiting for the report" but that isn't something NYSED will give them.

Gee, that makes sense.

Instead there are "parallel"disciplinary processes, with the local district pursuing expedited 3020a removal for the teachers while the state pursues a Part 83 disciplinary process, which addresses the "moral character" of these teachers.

Despite the state pursuing the Part 83 disciplinary process, the state says the local district must still pursue its own charges against these teachers - thus the parallel 3020a proceedings.

Once the 3020a proceedings are completed, the state will then use that "report" as part of the Part 83 process.

After everything is said and done the interim superintendent says "he believes a report will be provided when everything is concluded."

Gee, I'm so glad that's all clear now.

Franz Kafka, party of one, we have your cell.

The Blueprint for The AFT/UFT/NYSUT Sell-Out In New York Is Revealed

From the Capital NY Morning Education email:

The fight between Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York’s teachers is a national one, Randi Weingarten said today during an education funding rally on the Capitol’s “million dollar staircase… The entire nation is looking, and A.F.T. is part of this every step of the way,” Weingarten said, explaining why she joined several hundred education advocates, teachers and students for the demonstration which focused on funding inequities between rich and poor school districts. Weingarten said Cuomo has targeted teachers with proposals for stricter performance evaluations and changes to tenure protections not to improve schools, but rather to punish teachers for not supporting him and reward pro-charter school hedge funders who are his political donors. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who expected to attend, did not make it to the rally. Advocates said he was detained because of the weather. Later, talking to reporters at the Capitol, Silver said his Democratic conference would make education funding “a top priority.” Capital’s Josefa Velasquez and Jessica Bakeman [PRO]: http://bit.ly/1y5XAlL

The union leadership puts together a rally with a message focused on the inequities between rich and poor districts.

Speaker Silver says education funding will be a "top priority" in this legislative session.

But there's little-to-no pushback on the damages of test-based evaluations or redoing the evaluation system to make tests 40% of the entire rating (and really 100%, since if you come up "ineffective" on 40%, you're ineffective overall.)

You can see how this will play out in negotiations, can't you?

If you've been a teacher and have watched these kinds of fights for a while, I bet you can.

The unions and Assembly Dems will trade Cuomo's evaluation, tenure, and 3020a "reforms" for more "education funding."

And of course Cuomo will get his increase of the cap and funding for charter schools - that goes without saying.

In fact, the unions already tipped us off that's where they're going when Unity blogger Peter Goodman wrote the following on his blog:

Next Wednesday the Governor will deliver his State of the State message, I expect he will continue to attack, and the unions will respond, the questions are whether the Governor and the unions can find some common ground, and, whether the Governor seeks changes in education governance at the state level.

In 1968 the UFT and the John Lindsay, the New York City mayor were engaged in a bitter struggle – the 40-day teacher strike, racial invective, the “white. liberal intelligentsia” traditionally pro-union viciously attacking the UFT, the growing and militant black power movement painting the union as akin to the worst of the racists of the South. A year later John Lindsay and the union negotiated a dramatic change in the teacher pension system, called Tier 1. (Read Dana Goldstein, The Teacher Wars). John Lindsay was considering running for president in 1972 and wanted to heal wounds and a spectacular increase in pension benefits was the salve.

Cuomo wants to “punish” teacher unions, to make it clear that attacking the Governor will have repercussions. A lesson for teacher unions and a lesson for other unions, the teacher unions have to fight back as well as seek avenues for reconciliation.

As a history teacher I’m reminded of “Going to Canossa (“Canossa” refers to an act of penance or submission), Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, dressed in “sackcloth and ashes,” humbled himself in the snow outside of the castle of Pope Gregory seeking absolution from the threat of excommunication. Henry retained his throne.

Charter school quotas and the teacher the evaluation system are negotiable, and, the core issues are the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the property tax cap, the union has to seek absolution from Pope Andrew and move on to resolve the core issues.

Weingarten and the rest of the union leadership holding a rally yesterday and Weingarten declaring the fight between Cuomo and teachers "national" means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

It's a lot of noise meant to fool the rank and file into thinking the union leaders plan on trying to protect them in upcoming negotiations.

Make no mistake - they don't.

They plan on selling you out, giving Cuomo and the charter school entrepreneurs most (if not all) of what they want on the charter cap and charter funding, giving Cuomo and Tisch most (if not all) of what they want on the evaluation system "reforms" and 3020a changes in return for a few extra dollars in "education funding."

They will then declare victory, Peter Goodman will declare the deal a nice "avenue of reconciliation" on his blog and you and I will be dealing with an even more insane amount of compliance and fear next year in the school system while the union leaders bask in the glow of "absolution."

Cuomo Goes Public With Details Of His Plan To "Break" The Public School Monopoly

From Capital Confidential:

The Cuomo administration has sent a letter to Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and outgoing-Education Commissioner John King outlining the governor’s intention to make teacher reforms a top priority.

The letter from State Operations Director Jim Malatras also seems to bolster Cuomo’s controversial campaign season comments that he’d like to break up one of the last remaining public monopolies: public education.

“Several weeks ago Governor Cuomo said that improving education is thwarted by the monopoly of the education bureaucracy,” Malatras writes. “The education bureaucracy’s mission is to sustain the bureaucracy and the status quo and therefore it is often the enemy of change. The result is the current system perpetuates the bureaucracy, but fails our students in many ways.”

The monopoly busting plan is addressing the questions outlined in the letter, which include those about how the state’s current teacher evaluation is credible, how the administration would address the problem of removing poor-performing teachers and what Cuomo’s vision for charter schools is.

Here are some of the areas Cuomo suggests could see so-called reform or push in the next legislative season:

1. The evaluation system
2. The 3020a disciplinary process
3. The ATR pool in NYC
4. Teacher certification
5. Probationary period for teachers
6. Making it easy to close schools
7. Increase in charter schools, especially in NYC
8. Adding more technology to the system, including online classes
9. Consolidating districts
10. Reforming the Regents appontment process
11. Making the hiring of NYSED Commissioner King's replacement transparent

I'll have more later on this.

But suffice to say, there's a lot here that Cuomo says he wants to tackle.

Does he have the political juice to pull this kind of agenda off?

This is the kind of agenda you see from a governor with an 80% approval rating (like he had in the first term), not a governor who won re-election with the lowest totals of anyone since FDR.

So he can be beaten on a lot of this if the union leaders at the AFT, UFT and NYSUT actually decide to fight him.

But will they?