FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 6, 2016
More information contact:
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
Jessica McNair (315)-368-7550; themcnairfamily@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) www.nysape.org
Press Release Link

Chancellor Tisch & Vice Chancellor Bottar are both stepping down from the Board of Regents, after serving on the Board for twenty years. It was during Tisch’s term as Chancellor and Bottar’s term as Vice Chancellor that the students of New York State suffered the damaging effects of the failed Regents’ Reform Agenda, which included the implementation of the flawed Common Core standards and modules, and an increased focus on high-stakes testing, including a disastrous new teacher evaluation system based on student test scores.

Both also supported the dangerous NY Education Department plan to share a wealth of personal student data with inBloom Inc. without parent notification or consent, which was eventually blocked by an act of the Legislature.

Now, the statewide coalition New York State Allies for Public Education and Opt Out Central NY are calling on candidates to apply for these seats, including one at large candidate to replace Tisch and one from Judicial District V, Bottar’s current seat, which covers Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga & Oswego Counties. Applications are due by mid-January; click herefor more information.

“Under the leadership of Chancellor Tisch and Vice Chancellor Bottar, we have seen a myopic focus on high stakes tests, massive collection of personal and sensitive information about children and families, and the theft of local control from elected school boards,” said Lisa Rudley, NYSAPE founding member and Westchester County public school parent.

In response to the Regents’ failed test-centric agenda, Central New York school districts within Judicial District V had some of the highest opt out rates from the state exams, signaling the public’s discontent with the Regents’ test and punish agenda. For example, the 2015 state math tests were refused by 77% of students in New York Mills, 73% in Sauquoit, and 70% in Whitesboro.

“Parents are rightfully concerned with the negative effects of the test and punish agenda ushered in under the watch of Chancellor Merryl Tisch and Vice Chancellor Bottar and they are refusing to participate in a system that they feel is unfit for their children,” said Jessica McNair, Opt Out CNY co-founder, Oneida County public school parent and educator. “Until and unless we obtain a Board of Regents representative who is responsive to the experience and input of parents and other stakeholders, and the Board as a whole changes course, parents will continue to opt out of high stakes assessments at both the state and local levels to protect their children and their public schools.”

“Parents want state leaders to support their children’s schools, not set them up for failure and threaten them with a state takeover. Both Regents Tisch and Bottar failed to act in the best interest of students, and ignored the concerns repeatedly brought forth to them by the constituents they are supposed to serve,” said Tonya Wilson, Onondaga County public school parent.

There are no specific qualifications to serve as Regent, but New Yorkers should be represented by Regents who understand that the path the majority on the Board is currently pursuing is punitive. New Regent Board members should offer positive, research-based child-centric solutions instead. Click here to apply to become a Regent and/or be endorsed by NYSAPE and Opt Out CNY.
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NYSAPE, a grassroots organization with over 50 parent and educator groups across the state are calling on parents to continue to opt out by refusing high-stakes testing starting on the first days of school. Go to http://www.nysape.org/resources.html for more details on the how to be part of #OptOutNY2016.

By Matthew Hamilton | October 26, 2015 
Albany
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Amid ongoing furor over the implementation of the Common Core standards, strict teacher evaluations and standardized testing, state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch announced Monday that she would leave the job when her term expires in March.  Via ​Times Union

New system needs overhaul before it can be implemented, board says
By Matthew Hamilton  Published 7:45 pm, Monday, October 26, 2015
Albany

The state Board of Regents will form a panel to consider improvements to the state's new and controversial teacher evaluation system, the board announced during its Monday meeting.

The work group — whose members have not yet been named — will be similar to others empaneled by the Regents. It is separate from the task force recently convened by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to address issues surrounding the Common Core.

Critics of the new teacher evaluation have expressed concern about the weight it affords to the results of standardized student tests. At their September meeting, the Regents approved the evaluation system, but said the current version is in need of amendment before it can be implemented.  click here for full article: Via Times Union: 

Fred LeBrun | September 19, 2015

There was a simple if potent resolution on the agenda of the state Board of Regents meeting last week calling for final passage of the onerous new teacher evaluation system Gov. Cuomo rammed through the Legislature earlier in the year.

A vote was taken of the 16 Regents, and it was widely reported in the media that they had done their duty and given, if reluctantly and after much debate, final approval as the law required them to do by a vote of 10 to 6.

It fact, that wasn't the case at all. They did their duty alright, but it wasn't to give final approval.  click here for full article: Via Times Union

BY JON CAMPBELL ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2015. TIME POSTED: 6:21 PM

The state Board of Regents passed a revamped set of rules Wednesday for New York’s new system of evaluating teachers, but promised to pen a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers outlining their many concerns.

The Regents, the state’s education policymakers, voted 10-6 in favor of the new regulations, which included a new system for some teachers to appeal their ratings and the loosening of an observation requirement for small school districts.

The vote came after significant debate and some nose-holding among the Regents.
Several voted no in protest of the new system, which was required by a state law approved by Cuomo and the Legislature in March and has been derided by teachers unions. Other Regents warned of a possible loss of state money for local schools if the rules were voted down, noting the board was required by the law to approve a set of rules governing the process.  click here for full article: Via Politics on the Hudson

This article was posted originally on September 9. Somehow it disappeared from my WordPress files and from the Internet. I sent out a call to readers and several sent it back to me. Thank you!

The Regents meet this week on September 16-17 to decide whether to approve Governor Cuomo’s teacher evaluation plan. They should vote NO. follow the link for full article: Via Diane Ravitch's Blog

BY HELEN ZELON
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014 | 

Of all the students in New York City public high schools, about 60 percent end up with diplomas. And of those graduates, about 60 percent — roughly one in every three that start high school — eventually graduate from a four-year college.

Those numbers are an improvement from the turn of the millennium, when only half of city high school students graduated, despite less stringent requirements. But one group of city schools routinely outstrips these less-than-lofty numbers. The 28 schools in the New York Performance Standards Consortium network boast graduation, college-going, and college retention rates that routinely top city, state, and national averages, with a student body that is as diverse in income and ethnicity as the city as a whole. And they do it almost entirely without standardized exams, substituting student portfolios and oral presentations for most of the required state Regents exams. for full article: Via The Village Voice