Obama names NY education disaster to replace Duncan

NYS Allies for Public Education - The announcement of John King to replace Arne Duncan as US Education Secretary is bad news for the nation, according to NYS Allies for Public Education, a coalition of more than 50 parent and educator groups throughout the state.

"Throughout his term in New York, John King was notorious for his complete disconnect from parents, teachers, and school officials. His blatant disregard for concerned parents and educators fueled opt outs to historic numbers. Our only hope is that this bizarre move by the White House will have the same effect across the country, spreading the Opt Out movement to every corner of the nation," said Jeanette Deutermann, Long Island public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt Out.

"Former NYS Commissioner of Education John King helped create an educational disaster for New York and our children are still feeling the devastating effects," said Eric Mihelbergel, Erie County public school parent and co-founder of NYSAPE.

"John King was relentless in pushing the inappropriate Common Core standards, flawed curriculum, defective exams, and an invalid teacher evaluation system on our schools, all of which caused more than 200,000 parents to opt out of the state exams last spring," said Lisa Rudley, Westchester County public school parent.

"King was a catastrophe as New York's Education Commissioner. Throughout his administration, his policies were on a constant collision course with parents, teachers and good sense," said Bianca Tanis, Ulster County public school parent and teacher.

Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, and co-chair of the Parent Coalition to Protect Student Privacy explained, "John King stubbornly refused to listen to concerns of parents, superintendents, and legislators on the need to protect student privacy, and under his leadership,

"The fact that Obama would choose to double-down on the test-driven agenda that King espoused, when polls show voters rejecting these policies in increasing numbers, indicates just how unwilling this administration has been to acknowledge the depth of parents' opposition to Common Core and high-stakes testing," said Nancy Cauthen, NYC parent from Change the Stakes.