PJSTA endorsed John McManmon lost in his race in the 2nd Assembly District. Given his stance on public education, here is hoping that Mr. McManmon runs for state legislature again. Like maybe next year when his opponent, Anthony Palumbo will be up for re-election in the Assembly. Also when noted enemy of public education, Ken LaValle, is up for re-election in the State Senate. Next year is a very important year for us and the PJSTA will be working dilligently to get the right people elected.
Running as a progressive, Bill de Blasio won the mayoral race in New York City. He will take over for the plutocrat Michael Bloomberg who wielded his power and money to do great harm to NYC’s public schools over the course of his twelve year reign. Still, over at Peridio Street School, Reality-Based Educator warns, “Don’t get too excited.”
Chris Christie won re-election last night. This after last week’s incident featuring Christie yelling at a teacher, saying, “I am tired of you people.” When asked by the teacher why he continues to spread the myth than New Jersey’s schools and teachers are failing (sounds like Andy Cuomo, right?).
This afternoon, approximately 50 members of the PJSTA stood with nearly 1,000 people total at a rally outside of Senator John Flanagan’s office. Joining their teachers today were many Comsewogue parents and students, along with Superintendent Joe Rella and other district administrators.
Senator Flanagan is not just a representative of a portion of the Comsewogue School District, but also the chairman of the New York State Senate’s Education Committee. We have detailed Senator Flanagan’s failings many times before on this site. To recap, he has known ties to ALEC and accepted large amounts of out of state money last year from Michelle Rhee’s group, Students Last First. Along with others such as Andrew Cuomo and Merryl Tisch, he has been at the forefront of the movement to privatize public education in New York, using his position in the Senate to push legislation through the Senate that has inflicted great damage upon New York students.
The Patch has PJSTA President Beth Dimino calling Flanagan’s reforms child abuse. Flanagan attempts to deflect criticism in the article, citing his role as a parent of students who are through school already. But Flanagan’s actions tell the whole story. While 1,000 voters stood angrily in front of his office demanding to be heard, Flanagan cowardly hid in his office, refusing to come to the phone or come outside to address concerned constituents. But perhaps that’s because he and fellow coward John King are giving districts four minutes each (and not a second more!) to share their experience with the Common Core and high stakes testing at a forum at Ward Melville High School on November 12th.
Following the rally approximately 20 members of the PJSTA, along a member of the Port Jefferson Teachers Association decided that if Senator Flanagan wasn’t going to come out to hear them they would go in to visit him. Dimino very calmly shared with one of Mr. Flanagan’s aides a few of the concerns that we have after being told that Flanagan was “in a meeting.” It’s pretty laughable that as 1,000 constituents were rallying outside Flanagan’s office he had a meeting that was more pressing. Towards the end of the conversation the aide seemed to pretend that he knows nothing about the money that Flanagan received from Rhee. But let’s be clear, Rhee’s Sacramento based Students First group contributed $10,300 to Flanagan last November, topping the list of Flanagan’s “Top Contributors”.
Below is the video of the exchange (Thank you Michele Smith of the PJTA!)…
Beth Dimino, president of the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association (PJSTA) said she thinks Superintendent Joseph Rella made the right call to ask for the boards support in sending the funds back.
“The PJSTA stands in solidarity with Dr. Rella and the Comsewogue BOE’s decision to return the RTTT funds,” said Dimino. “The strings attached to those monies serve only those groups that are working to destroy public education.”
**Update** The date of the meeting has been changed to November 12th.
On November 12th, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, Senator Flanagan will be hosting a forum for his friend John King to address the Common Core. This is one of the forums that is being held in place of the PTA Town Hall meetings that King cowardly canceled earlier this month.
In the least surprising news of the morning, the meeting will not be open to the public. I repeat it will NOT be open to the public. Senator Flanagan, no friend of ours, has called each school district in his senatorial district and told them that they can invite two people to speak for two minutes each at this forum. Each district will be allowed to have 50 people total attend. No word on what will happen if somebody tries to speak for longer than two minutes. Or if thousands show up and attempt to get inside.
Once again John Flanagan is standing up for his friend John King. Placing the protection of King’s ego above giving his constituents a voice in their democracy. This is Flanagan and King’s way of placating parents and educators. Of throwing them a bone. They don’t really wanna hear from anyone, so they’ll only give a handful of people two minutes each to speak… then they’ll hope those people stop sending letters and making phone calls calling for King’s resignation and New York State’s withdrawal from Race to the Top.
John Flanagan is a politician of the worst kind. This is just one more reason to vote him out next November. Typically the Democrats run only a warm body against Flanagan. Hopefully next year they will choose more carefully and select a candidate who supports not just public education, but somebody who is interested in giving their constituents an opportunity to have their voice heard.
As a reminder, we will be picketing at Senator Flanagan’s office in Smithtown tomorrow afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00. Rain or shine. Please come. Tell everybody you know to come. We promise to give you more than two minutes to express your feelings!
Recent Comments