7/27/2019 NYSAPE Calls for Resignation of John King

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For Immediate Release10/14/13

New York State Allies for Public Education Calls for theResignation of NYS Commissioner of Education John King

Billed as an opportunity to “gather information, ask questions andshare concerns with NYS Commissioner of Education John King”, theNYS PTA sponsored Town Hall Meeting on the Common Core andprivacy issues was anything but. After speaking uninterrupted for 1hour and 40 minutes, Commissioner King allowed parents 20 minutesto speak. During this time, parents expressed concerns and attemptedto share stories regarding the impact that the CC has already had ontheir children. Commissioner King repeatedly interrupted parents andrefused to answer parent questions or address their concerns.

Commissioner King subsequently cancelled all future scheduled townhall meetings, called concerned parents “special interests groups” andstated that the forum was “co-opted by special interests whose statedgoal is to ‘dominate’ the questions and manipulate the forum,” Kingwent on to state that “Essentially, dialogue has been denied.”

When a public official such as Commissioner King refuses to participatein the democratic process and refuses to hear the concerns of parentswhile simultaneously carrying out educational policies that affectthousands of children, he is no longer fit to carry out the duties of theNYS Commissioner of Education. Commissioner King, we would argue

that it is because of you that “dialogue has been denied.”

According to award-winning Principal Carol Burris of South Side HighSchool in New York, last week’s Town Hall meeting in Poughkeepsie,NY highlighted the fact that “The New York State EducationDepartment has lost its moral authority.” Burris states. “One mightimagine that if John King had first been a principal of a New York Citypublic school, or the superintendent of a district, he would havebecome skilled in dealing with emotional and boisterous groups…..Leaders must listen deeply, learn and respond. They must be willing toconsider alternative courses, and even in loud crowds, hear truth.”

Anthony Cody, nationally recognized educator, public speaker andwriter for Education Week says, “Speaking truth to power, as theseparents did, is an intoxicating thing. It delivers to both speaker andwitnesses a shiver, an awakening to the fact that we do not need tosuffer in silence, or allow our children to suffer without objection. Thosein power may cancel future hearings, but these parents' voices areringing out, like a bell that cannot be un-rung.”

7/27/2019 NYSAPE Calls for Resignation of John King

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We would say to Commissioner King that in this age of apathy, youshould be proud to represent a state where parents have taken thetime to inform themselves about the current education reforms andhave taken the time from their busy schedules to engage with public

officials such as yourself. Aren’t these parents the kind of criticallythinking, involved citizens that our public schools hope to create? Wewould argue that a competent leader does not run away fromconcerned parents, or call them a “special interest group.”Commissioner King, you are a disgrace to the field of education. It isnot surprising that in NYS, your lack of teaching experience would notallow you to be granted tenure in a public school.

 The NYS Commissioner of Education sends his own children to aprivate school, a school that is not legally bound to carry out the sametesting and data sharing mandates that he is subjecting thousands of 

public school children to. He has stated, “I believe that every parentshould have the right to choose the school that is right for their child.”Commissioner King subjects public school students to harmfulpractices while maintaining that parents do not have the right to refusethese mandates. This certainly does not afford all parents “the right tochoose the school that is right for their child.” Commissioner King isguilty of promoting inequitable education policies that essentiallycreate a different set of educational opportunities and experiencesavailable to those with the means to afford private school and thosewho attend public school. This is an attack on the freedoms and rightsthat are afforded to every American citizen and on public education

itself.

New York State Allies for Public Education calls for the immediateresignation of Commissioner of Education John King as he is unfit tocarry out the duties of his position competently and he is no longerable to conduct himself in a manner that is consistent with theprinciples and ideals of the American democracy. NYSAPE urgesparents, educators and concerned citizens to:

• Spend 10 minutes adding the attached emails and phone

numbers to your contacts

• Call, email, and fax Governor Cuomo DAILY• CC all emails to Senator John Flanagan, Speaker of the House

Sheldon Silver, Senator Dean Skelos, Assemblywoman Nolan andSenator Jeffrey Klein and the entire Board of Regents

• Call your local Regent

• Let them know that:

7/27/2019 NYSAPE Calls for Resignation of John King

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*New Yorkers deserve a COMPETENT leader wholistens to and engages his or her constituents

*New Yorkers deserve a COMPETENT leader who canhandle the concerns and dissenting opinions of educated and involved New York parents.

*John King has let abusive testing and data sharingpractices dominate the implementation of theCommon Core Learning Standards

*John King runs away from the public.*John King calls concerned parents “special interest

groups.”*John King is not competent to be the NYS

Commissioner of Education