On June 8th, the New York State United Teachers held their One Voice Rally in Albany, NY to express their concerns with high-stakes standardized tests.
Members of our own local NYSUT chapter, New Rochelle FUSE, participated including FUSE President Martin Daly.
Daly fired off a few provocative tweets over the weekend:
#june8rally @nysut Isn’t it time to stop working with SED and start encouraging members to undermine its authority?
— Martin Daly (@marty10707) June 9, 2013
#june8rally @nysut If we believe all that we said at rally, how can we not encourage members to say NO and defy SEDregs on tests?
— Martin Daly (@marty10707) June 9, 2013
Talk of the Sound caught up with him to ask what prompted his tweet-burst.
Q. I was surprised by to see you tweet your frustration with NYSUT. What is that was said at the rally that prompted this tweet?
A. I was expressing frustration with the myriad regulations that have come from SED regarding the state assessments. The rules they have put into place regarding the administering and scoring the tests are rooted in distrust and disrespect for teachers. Moreover, I am astounded by the sheer amount of time the administration and scoring of the 3-8 assessments consume — time that would be better spent on actual instruction. Speaker after speaker at the rally condemned the heavy handed approach of the SED towards teachers and assessment — I guess I was giving voice to my own resentments about how the tests have encroached upon our work as teachers.
Q. I realize you are asking rhetorical questions but do you believe NYSUT members should engage in some sort of work action to undermine NYSED?
A. I am not advocating any kind of “job action” which would be both illegal and counterproductive — I am, however, going to encourage our NYSUT leaders to stop working with the SED and start challenging their decisions and undermining their authority by increasing public awareness of how the state’s testing mania is negatively affecting our schools.
Q. Any thing else you care to add?
A. Check out the link on another of my tweets (I wish I knew how to embed it here, but I am not that savvy!) which links to an article on “atthechalkface.com” about the rally.
Talk of the Sound is always happy to teach a teacher. Here is how to embed a tweet. And here is the tweet, embedded for your reading pleasure:
Worth a read: Reflections on the One Voice Rally in Albany: wp.me/pJX8i-7MD via @thechalkface
— Martin Daly (@marty10707) June 9, 2013
