Kathleen Cashin’s record as an educator, administrator and on the Board of Regents
This is the second in a series we are doing, examining the record of individuals whose names have been mentioned as potential Chancellors. Our first column summarized the record of Andres Alonso. The following was compiled by Peter Dalmasy, Class Size Matters researcher. Full disclosure: Regent Cashin, along with Regent Rosa, received a “Skinny” award from Class Size Matters in 2012.Kathleen Cas
Parents Demand More Accountability in the Appointment of Members of the Board of Regents
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 25, 2013More information contact:
Eric Mihelbergel (716) 553-1123; nys.allies@gmail.com
Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education - www.nysape.org
Parents Demand More Accountability in the Appointment of Members of the Board of Regents
Parents across New York State are demanding that members of the Board of Regents up for re-appointment this March, Regents Christine Cea, James Jackson, James Cotrell, and Wade Norwood, publicly clarify their positions on the current education reforms.
“Those members of the Board of Regents who do not support an agenda that includes an immediate moratorium on high stakes Common Core testing and the sharing of student data must be replaced with new members who will recognize their responsibility to protect our children and our schools,” said Eric Mihelbergel, a public school parent in Buffalo and a founding member of the NYS Allies for Public Education. Mihelbergel went on to say, “the people of New York have lost confidence in Commissioner John King, Chancellor Merryl Tisch and the current Board of Regents to call a halt to these destructive education policies.”
Lisa Rudley, a public school parent in Ossining and a founding member of NYS Allies for Public Education, said “As evidenced in theAlbany Times Union, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, the Regents’ policy on allowing privately funded fellows with little to no public education experience to drive curriculum calls into question the integrity of the system. We need an educational plan in New York not a marketing plan.”
The process of electing Board of Regents members has long been an elusive process that has not been widely understood by the public. Persons wishing to apply for a position submit a resume to Assemblywomen Catherine Nolan, Chair of the Education Committee, and Deborah Glick, Chair of the Higher Education Committee, by January 31, 2014. In-person interviews are then conducted in Albany in February by Nolan and Glick.
Although all legislators vote in early March, the process is controlled by the Democratic Majority of the Assembly. Many Republican members abstain from the voting process altogether, because it is so strongly controlled by the Democratic Majority and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Legislators are typically given less than 24-hour’s notice of the vote, and up to now, a current Regent is almost automatically re-appointed until they resign or retire.
"As a parent of four school-aged children, I am shocked at how the majority of Regents members have not listened to the protests of their constituents -- parents, educators and members of the communities whose interests they are supposed to serve, and have been silent while the Commissioner imposes one damaging policy after another. It is time for REAL change at the Board of Regents and