The New York State Allies for Public Education (NYSAPE) meet on Tuesday with NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.  Elia was recently appointed Commissioner of Education after being dismissed from the same job in Florida.

NYSAPE Meeting with Commissioner MaryEllen Elia Recap

On Tuesday, August 4, 2015, NYSAPE steering committee members Carol Burris, Nancy Cauthen, Jeanette Deutermann, Leonie Haimson, Jessica McNair, Lisa Rudley, Anna Shah, Bianca Tanis, and Katie Zahedi along with Diane Ravitch sat down with the new Commissioner of Education, MaryEllen Elia. Also in attendance was SED Chief of External Affairs, Dennis Tompkins.

The purpose of this meeting was to introduce ourselves to the new Commissioner and inform her of our position and our views of troubling NYSED policies. Commissioner Elia was cordial and spent a great deal of time listening to our concerns.

Our meeting confirmed what many have already surmised, Commissioner Elia is deeply committed to the Common Core standards and the test based accountability system that has led to the widespread opt out movement.

Of note, NYSAPE learned that NYSED will still be using the fired testing company Pearson’s ELA & Math tests this spring with Questar assessments beginning in the 2016-2017 school year.

We informed Commissioner Elia of parent concerns and assured her that the opt out movement will continue to grow until changes to laws and policies are made. This document was presented to Commissioner Elia.

NYSAPE may meet with the Commissioner and members of her leadership team in the future as she expressed an interest in keeping the lines of communication open. We will be sure to update you about further developments.

Click here to see the letter presented to Commissioner Elia.