John King vs. "Special-interest" parents

Last Thursday, New York State Education Commissioner angered parents and community members from NYC to Buffalo when he announced that the scheduled meetings "between members and the Commissioner of the State Education Department regarding the Common Core Initiative and its implementation in New York" would be cancelled for the near future. Citing an issue with the implementation on the part of the audience members, the commission decided to disallow any more meetings for fear of more "special interest groups" creating larger upheaval. 

It is unfortunate when a state, public entity decides to unilaterally remove a public forum meant to allow democracy to take place. At this forum there was time allotted for questions after the marathon 90-minute presentation on the Common Core; this was taken up by shouts and questions from the audience as to the validity of the Common Core in general. These protests are echoed in the news from Buffalo to NYC. In fact, people are now pushing for an end to the reign of John King:

What I find interesting is the comparison of this meeting to those I've attended of the School Reform Commission in Philadelphia: there have been numerous meetings filled with shouting and protesting that still took place and the commissioners pushed through. It seems that King does not have the kind of time to at least pretend to hear what parents and community members want to say.

I hope these outspoken community members continue their work and that someone listens to their pleas about how the Common Core has been misused and misrepresented in New York.