Cooperstown Faculty Association
Asks Regents’ Chair Tisch To Quit
COOPERSTOWN – The Cooperstown Faculty Association has passed a resolution calling for the resignation of Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the state Board of Regents, who has been an ally of Governor Cuomo in tightening teacher and school evaluations.
“During her tenure,” reads a resolution that was passed on Monday, “the perception of the quality of education in New York State has been disparaged by the public comments and choices the Chancellor has made.”
If Tisch does not resign, the resolution states, the state Senate and Assembly should “immediately initiate (her) termination.”
Tisch and Cuomo are allied on three issues that led to two packed forums locally in the past week – one, at the CCS board meeting Wednesday, March 4; the second, an Opt Out CNY presentation Sunday the 8th at Village Hall.
One issue would shift teacher evaluations so that 50 percent or over of the score would be taken out of local hands; two, that teachers whose students falter in Common Core testing two years in a row lose their jobs; and, three, that schools that fail to meet Common Core standards may be taken over by the state.
THE FULL TEXT OF THE CFA RESOLUTION FOLLOWS
RESOLUTION CALLING FOR CHANCELLOR MERYLL TISCH’S RESIGNATION FROM THE NEW YORK STATE BOARD OF REGENTS.
March 9, 2015
WHEREAS, Meryll Tisch has served as Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents since 2009. During her tenure, the perception of the quality of education in New York State has been disparaged by the public comments and choices the Chancellor has made, and;
WHEREAS, The New York State’s Regents Reform Agenda, which Chancellor Tisch has helped to create and unwaveringly supports, is fundamentally flawed and rooted in developmentally inappropriate standards and poorly constructed, high stakes standardized tests, and;
WHEREAS, Chancellor Tisch has proposed increasing the focus on those high stakes tests by requiring that they be used to determine 40% of a teacher’s evaluation, and;
WHEREAS, Chancellor Tisch has further advocated that teachers rated ineffective on this 40% be deemed ineffective regardless of any other metric of component of that teacher’s evaluation, and;
WHEREAS, The Value Added Model used by the New York State Education Department to determine a student’s growth score as well as a teacher’s growth score, is not available for public review, and;
WHEREAS, The American Statistical Association has recommended that Value Added Models have significant limitation and should not be used for high stakes purposes for students, teachers or schools, and;
WHEREAS, Chancellor Tisch supports and continues to advocate for the privatization of public schools through the implementation of more charter schools, and;
WHEREAS, Chancellor Tisch has refused and continues to refuse to truly engage in meaningful dialogue and course correction steps with the stakeholders that are adversely affected by the implementation of her policies;
WHEREAS, The teachers and students of New York State can no longer accept the complete abdication of educational leadership and responsibility by Chancellor Tisch;
BE IT RESOLVED, We the members of the Cooperstown Faculty Association hold no confidence in Chancellor Tisch’s abilities and call for her immediate resignation, and;
BE IT RESOLVED, That if Chancellor Tisch does not voluntarily resign, we call upon our elected representatives in the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly to immediately initiate Chancellor Tisch’s termination.