Yesterday Diane Ravitch called for the resignation of New York State’s Education Commissioner John King.  Assemblyman Steve Englebright agreed.  Ravitch encouraged us to contact the New York State Board of Regents and encourage them to call for King’s resignation.  On Long Island our representative is Regent Tilles.  The chancellor of the board is Merryl Tisch.  Yesterday I emailed Tisch and Cc’d Tisch.  Below is my letter, followed by Tilles’ response.

Dear Regent Tilles,

I write to you today as a deeply concerned citizen, parent, and educator.  Under the guidance of Commissioner John King the quality of education in New York State has taken a dramatic turn for the worse.  As currently constituted, public education does a great disservice to the development of our children and has the ability to deeply scar an entire generation of students, putting the future of our state in grave danger.  This obviously is not something that should be taken lightly and is a matter that requires immediate attention.

As a veteran educator who proctored two of New York State’s Common Core assessments this year, I was mortified by what I saw.  Not only the inappropriate and misleading context of the exams, but the emotional impact on my students.  What’s worse is that my experience was typical of the myriad of colleagues who I discussed this with.

As the father of a daughter who is not yet of school age, I am truly petrified of what I will be sending her to when she is ready for kindergarten.  As a public educator it breaks my heart to say that.  Our children are truly the most important parts of our lives.  I am sure you can understand my sentiment.

Although I have Cc’d Regent Tisch on this email, I know that she is a lost cause.  She has proved time and again that she is there solely to cater to corporations and individuals who seek to destroy public education.  Unfortunately career educators such as myself do not have the financial wherewithal to bend her ear.  So I am appealing to you, as you are my representative.  Please, before it is too late, do everything in your power to fire Commissioner John King and do all that you can to help save public education.

Tilles’ response…

Thank you for your input. I have read several like letters.while most know where I stand on the issues involved I don’t believe the Regents are ready to take the action requested. Working with our LI legislators we need to come up to a satisfactory solution to the concerns raised.

Roger Tilles

Unfortunately we have seen that two of our state legislators don’t seem to be taking the matter very seriously.  My suggestion would be that we continue to bombard the board of regents, and our state legislators and let them know that this is a matter that we are taking very seriously.

Click here to find your New York State Senator.