Common Core and standardized testing are two buzz words that have had parents and teachers alike up in arms around the state of New York. With these mandates being such hot button topics, it would only stand to reason that John B. King, Jr., the current commissioner of education for the state, would due his best to assuage concerns and outright indignation over this seismic shift in public education. And so the thinking was that King would do just that in a series of public town halls where he would speak and take questions. Instead, after the first stop in upstate Poughkeepsie that found King being verbally assailed, he wound up suspending the only forum that was to be held on Long Island at Garden City High School. Any animus towards the commissioner and this curriculum has been stoked to even higher levels, especially given the fact that as of press time, there was no mention of plans to reschedule this forum. So while parents seethe, students stress and teachers get riled, there are already calls from the New York State Allies for Public Education, a coalition group opposed to excessive standardized testing, for the state education commissioner to resign. Before this is all over, King may quite very well be the recipient of a coup.
— Dave Gil de Rubio
