On Tuesday January 5, 2016 a large group of parents, teachers, administrators and school board members attended a forum entitled “Educational Crossroad…Where Do We Go From Here?” at the Saxton Middle School in Patchogue. PMCT President, Beth Warnken started the night off with an inspiring introduction to the forum. Speakers included Dr. Steven Cohen, Superintendent of Shoreham-Wading River Schools, Mrs. Lori Koerner, Educator, Administrator and Professor of Special Education, Dr. David Ferrin, Psychologist, CPSE Chair, Director, All About Kids and Dr. Michael Hynes, Superintendent, Patchogue-Medford Schools. They spoke at length about the damage Common Core and High Stakes Testing has done to public education and to the children attending out schools. The stress of testing is hurting out kids because of the emphasis on good scores being more important than understanding. Producing good scores has become more important than cultivating the mind of our students. Common Core is one size fits all and children cannot be standardized. Of special concern are our youngest students who are doing grill and drill work instead of having time to play. Play is the language of a children’s cognitive development. PLAY IS LEARNING. There is also a great concern that we will not have enough highly qualified teachers in the future as the teacher training programs have seen a tremendous decrease in enrollment this year. The speakers stressed that all of us must become vocal, informed and involved. We must keep the love of learning flowing from elementary to high school.
Video Stream can be seen here – http://www.mevee.com/s/sHEHRel4th
PMCT Exec Board Members all “Red For Ed” – Kerri Simeone, Syndee Zegel, Beth Warnken, Kevin Toolan and Lynda Nowicki
Speakers – Dr. David Ferrin, Mrs. Lori Koerner, Mrs. Beth Warnken, Dr. Steven Cohen and Dr. Michael Hynes
Brian O’Neil and Chris Angelora
