It was really nice to have been off for the past four days. I hope you were able to get some time off (sorry you had to work, Andy) and enjoy the holiday. I got about a quarter of the things done that I’d hoped to do, which means it was unusually productive time off. I’d really like to see this country go to a rotating 4/3 work week. Four on, three off, three on, four off, etc. That seems fair to me. Things were pretty warm here on Monday, but it was ungodly hot and humid yesterday, so our pet deer spent most of the day relaxing in the shade by the driveway.

Since the air conditioning here at work seems to be functioning, I’m almost glad to be back today. Almost. If I had a window (even one with a view of the parking lot), I’d be reasonably content. But I don’t, so I’, not. Thank goodness it’s a short week.

In other news, our Governor has scored a bit of a coup, if the rumors are true. It seems that he’s about to have the NY State Board of Regents rubber stamp MaryEllen Elia as the next state commissioner of education. This is a woman that was too incompetent for Florida, if you can imagine that.

Elia was fired by the Hillsborough Board of Education last February in a 4-3 vote…. [C]ritics complained about micromanagement, a top-down style, lack of transparency, and complaints from parents of students with special needs. One board member who voted to dismiss her “accused Elia of creating a workplace culture of fear and bullying, and failing to pay enough attention to minorities, including Hispanics.” Others, including parents, said that her disciplinary policies had a disparate impact on African American students.

Fear and bullying? Lack of transparency? Gee, I wonder what Cuomo sees in her?

Hillsborough County received about $100 million from the Gates Foundation to design and implement a value-added measurement system for evaluating its teachers. Its plan apparently included a promise to fire the 5% lowest performing teachers every year. Florida has a harsh style of accountability, launched by Jeb Bush and carried forward by Governor Rick Scott and the Republican-dominated Legislature and state board of education.
[…]
She is a strong supporter of the Common Core.
[…]
So, New York, once a bastion of liberalism, is getting a state commissioner who supports value-added testing and school choice, like John King. This aligns with Governor Cuomo’s agenda of “breaking up the public school monopoly” and using test scores to evaluate teachers.

The biggest news in the state in the past year was the historic success of the Opt Out movement. Last year, 60,000 students refused the state tests. This year, nearly 200,000 did. If MaryEllen Elia is state commissioner, will she raise the stakes on testing? If so, don’t be surprised if 400,000 students refuse the tests next year.

So, Sue, sounds like a good time to come out of retirement, no?