New forums address Common Core issues

Jon Campbell rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

Albany Bureau

ALBANY — A week after abruptly canceling a se­ries of forums on the Com­mon Core, New York Edu­cation Commissioner John King announced Fri­day that he would tour the state to hear concerns about the newly imple­mented, more-stringent student standards. King’s tour will take him to 16 stops across New York, including 12 appearances at public fo­rums moderated by state lawmakers and another four that will be broadcast by PBS stations. Venues and dates for the forums are still being finalized, but are set to be held in Rochester, West­chester County, Bingham­ton and Amherst, among other locations, according to the state Education De­partment. A televised fo­rum will be hosted by WXXI in Rochester on Dec. 3, while a separate date will be scheduled in Binghamton. “I want to have a re­spectful, direct and con­structive dialogue with parents,” King said in a statement. “More and smaller discussions will make sure there’s a real opportunity for parents to be heard.”

The announcement concluded a week in which King faced strong criticism from the state teacher’s union and par­ent groups after he chose to cancel four forums sponsored by the New York State Parent Teach­er Association.

King pulled out of those meetings after he faced a barrage of shout­ed criticism from parents and attendees at the PTA’s first forum in Poughkeep­sie last week. They ex­pressed anger with the length of the public-com­ment period and the speed at which the state has im­plemented the Common Core standards.

The criticism peaked late in the week when two state lawmakers — As­semblyman Tom Abi­nanti, D-Mt. Pleasant, Westches­ter County, and Nassau County Sen. Jack Mar­tins, a Re­publican — called on King to resign, with Abinanti accusing King of having “closed off all meaningful conversation with par­ents, educators, adminis­trators and elected offi­cials.”

King had defended his decision to step away from the PTA events, which he says were “co­opted by special inter­ests” by opponents of the state’s education reforms.

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