I based this letter on one my wife wrote. She hit all the high points but I took a different, complementary tactic. The bottom line for both of us is the fact that Governor Cuomo, the supposedly "Democratic" governor of New York, is making a horrible, vindictive attack on public school teachers, and if he succeeds, my son, as a child with a disability, will be severely hurt by his actions. The very actions by teachers at my son's school that have helped him the most would probably be punished by Cuomo's vindictive actions.
Understand that Cuomo's actions are consistent with his thuggish personality...he is deliberately attacking teachers because the teacher unions didn't endorse him.
And my son is collateral damage for Cuomo.
My son has ASD. He is brilliant, but over the years his social and academic difficulties became clear. My wife and I have done everything we can to help him, but we often desperately needed the insights from his teachers and guidance counselor to understand his difficulties. And honestly, without these teachers, my son would have been declared a "problem" and shunted towards the worst schools possible had it not been for the efforts of his amazing teachers.
Cuomo's actions directly threaten my son. And they threaten the very teachers who have made the most difference for my son. Below are the letters from myself personally as well as the letter from my son's teachers. Please help pressure Cuomo to abandon his nasty attack on New York teachers. My connections tell me that NY State Democrats strongly "REPUDIATE" Cuomo's attack on teachers. But we need to put more pressure on Cuomo. Please help. It really could be a critical point in my son's life!
My letter:
Governor Cuomo wants to screw over our teachers. This may seem like nothing new, but actually it really directly and clearly impacts the very strategies that help my son navigate the school system despite his diagnosed disabilities.
Cuomo's nasty attack on our teachers would very. very clearly hurt the ability of teachers to help my son. This not only is vindictive and illogical on his part, but it could well wind up leading to the system being unable to meet the legal accommodations for children with special needs.
Here is my letter:
Dear Governor Cuomo,
I am horrified at the changes you have been pushing to punish the amazing teachers in our school system. I am a parent of a special needs child currently in 5th grade in Brooklyn. He is brilliant (having memorized, on his own initiative, the Periodic Table and all it signified by 5 years old!) but has been diagnosed with ASD and ADHD. This is a very difficult combination of disabilities not just for him, but also for his teachers.
Let me be very clear. Without the amazing effort of his teachers, my son and his mathematical and scientific brilliance would have collapsed under behavioral problems that are medically beyond his control.During the past six years, the teachers, guidance staff and administration have worked closely with us. From our son's first days in kindergarten, they have shown deep interest in, and caring for, his well being. In particular, the extremely sensitive and perceptive observations by his teachers have directly contributed to the correct diagnosis of high functioning autism spectrum disorder, and to designing successful interventions for him.
Again, let me be clear. Your changes would hurt my son and the teachers who have made such a profound difference in his life. If your changes went through, I have no doubt that they would actually punish teachers who actually spent time helping my son. Your recommendations are brutal and illogical. As a scientist and educator myself, I cannot imagine why you think these changes would help anyone.
Please reconsider the harm you will be doing to our schools, to our city, to my son.
Sincerely,
David Michaelson, Ph.D.
Democratic County Committee Member
Brooklyn, NY
My wife's letter:
Dear Governor Cuomo,
I am writing to ask you to reconsider your proposed changes to the NYS teacher evaluation methodology.
I am a parent of a special needs child currently in 5th grade in Brooklyn. My husband and I couldn't be happier with his school. During the past six years, the teachers, guidance staff and administration have worked closely with us. From our son's first days in kindergarten, they have shown deep interest in, and caring for, his well being. In particular, the extremely sensitive and perceptive observations by his teachers have directly contributed to the correct diagnosis of high functioning autism spectrum disorder, and to designing successful interventions for him.
We are deeply troubled by the proposed teacher evaluation changes. We believe that they are antithetical to the kind of teaching and guidance that has so benefited our son. Firstly, placing such large emphasis on test performance will necessarily result in a greater focus on teaching to the test, leaving less time and energy for the kind of close observation that helped our son. His learning disabilities are subtler, and might have gone unnoticed without caring, involved teachers who have the time and attention to notice learning problems in a child who still scores 3s and 4s. Secondly, and more importantly for the school as a whole, the new method, with its heavy emphasis on improvement on state test scores, along with reduced input from principals, is likely to cause excellent, effective teachers to be fired. The school community will be utterly disrupted, with little continuity from year to year. The constantly-changing cast of teachers won't have the opportunity to get to know the community, as they will have no choice but to teach only a narrow, test-focused curriculum. Our school will no longer be the kind of environment that our son grew and thrived in.
Once again, I ask you to please reconsider these changes.
Thank you,
Joy Romanski
Brooklyn, NY
My son's teachers' letter:
It is with heavy hearts that we, the teachers at 321, reach out to you to ask for your help.
Governor Cuomo has proposed major changes to teacher evaluations in New York State. We want to let you know, from a teacher’s perspective, the changes this law could bring to PS 321 – and to our profession – if it passes.
50% of a teacher’s rating would be based on state test scores. (Currently it is 20%).
35% of a teacher’s rating would be based on the findings of an outside “independent observer” who will conduct a one time visit to the classroom. (This has never been done before. Currently our principal and assistant principals’ observations count for 60%).
15% of a teacher’s rating would be based on observations by the principal or assistant principals. The very people who know our work best would have the least input into our evaluation.
50% + 35% = 85% of our evaluations would be removed from the hands of our community and placed in the hands of the state.
And then, using these numbers, any teacher who is rated ineffective two years in a row can be fired. Liz might have no say in this.
So what might that do to PS 321? Realistically, many of us could be fired. Every year. And many more of us would be pushed away from the profession we love.
Here’s something parents need to understand. Even though, when our students take the standardized tests, most of them do just fine… many PS 321 teachers do not. Teachers’ ratings are not based on their students’ raw scores for the year, but whether their students improved from one year to the next. If a student with a ‘3’ gets one fewer question correct in 4th grade than she did in 3rd, that student might not have demonstrated the “added value” their teacher is expected to have instilled. Even though the student has mastered that grade’s content. Even though it’s just one question. And that teacher might, therefore, be rated in the bottom percentile of teachers.
That may sound patently absurd. However, that has already happened here.
If Governor Cuomo’s evaluation proposals come to pass, it might start to happen more and more. And if we are rated ineffective as a result two years in a row, we might be fired.
That is why so many schools in NYC spend so much time prepping for the tests. One or two wrong answers can make or break a teacher’s rating.
Faced with these changes, we’ve already been hearing from so many of our colleagues from across the city and state who will be forced to do more test prep. Even when they know that the tests do not give an accurate picture of student learning, or of the effectiveness of teachers. Even though they know teaching to the test is bad teaching. Faced with the reality of the loss of a paycheck – the loss of the career they are building, have built, or want to build – these proposals will push them to teach in ways they know to be counterproductive.
That breaks our hearts. But the truth is, faced with the same reality, there are those of us here who would be feeling the very same pressure. Not because we’d want to. We would try to resist. But it is inevitable that if the governor’s proposals go through, all schools will narrow their curriculum to some extent.
And that’s scary. And it breaks our hearts even more. Because we know what we have here. We love what we have— in you, in our students, in all that the PS 321 community represents. The joy that is present— every day, in our school. The value that is placed on intellectual curiosity, on creativity, on the arts. The love of learning that is visible when you enter our building, when you go into classrooms, and when you talk to students and teachers.
The values present in Governor Cuomo’s proposals are antithetical to our own. And they place them at risk. The numbers are clear: 50% of our value will be six days of tests. 35% of our value will be one day with an independent observer. And 15% of our value will be in evaluation by Liz and the assistant principals, those who know us best as educators.
Those are their values.
Our joy, our love of learning, our desire to help students become deep thinkers and problem solvers, our community, our commitment to constantly improving our practice… those are ours.
PS 321 Families: don’t let them take our values away.
We need your help. And we need it now. The education law is folded into the state budget. It goes up for a vote before April 1st.
We need you to let your legislators know that you disagree with this plan:
Email Governor Cuomo right now at gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us.
Visit http://www.nyteacherletter.org/ and sign the letter to let your legislator know you disapprove of the law.
Contact your assemblymember. Go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/... to find their contact information. Don’t stop there. Go to their offices and demand attention.
Post this issue on Facebook and tell your friends. Use social media to spread the word. Go to Albany. Make whatever noise you can.
We need you to come to the PTA meeting on Wednesday, 2/25, at 8am to learn more – and hear more from us.
And sign up today at ps321.org to receive information and updates from the Testing Task Force about what you can do to help support us.
What we have together is rare, especially today, when so many schools have succumbed to the pressures of testing. We must not take our school’s joyful community for granted. All that we have– all that we do together–is far too important and far too valuable to be taken away. Thank you, as always, for your energy, your support, and your inspiring, creative children.
Your Devoted Teachers
There are a number of actions that parents can take in the short-term on this issue:
Read the PS321 teachers' letter if you have not already and consider sharing it on social media (http://ps321.org/...)
Send an email to Governor Cuomo (gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us). You may forward the teachers' letter and add a note. (My wife and I both had very personal things to say so wrote our own letters)
PS 321 is holding a Hands-Around-The-School rally before school on March 12th in which parents and teachers will join hands and encircle the school. Please join us! http://www.uft.org/...
Visit http://www.nyteacherletter.org/ and sign the letter to let your legislator know you disapprove of the law.
Contact your assembly member. Go to http://assembly.state.ny.us/... to find their contact information.
Please help us. The school system really does threaten my son's ability to cope. His teachers so far have been the only thing that has saved him. Kossacks who know him know about this. Please help by pressuring Cuomo and the NY STate government.