Jim Malatras

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras is resigning effective January 14th.

Malatras sent his resignation letter to SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Merryl Tisch Thursday.

WNYT reports this comes after several members of the New York State Assembly, including the Higher Education Committee Chair, called for his resignation after reports of disturbing text messages and emails sent by Malatras were made public last week.

The messages were a part of the New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into sexual harassment allegations against former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

On Thursday, the SUNY Board of Trustees held a special meeting virtually. They showed appreciation for Malatras’s efforts, while the SUNY Student Assembly believes this was the best way to move forward.

A six-member work group – which was appointed in January by Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch – released its report on Monday. Tasked with finding to ways to improve the way that New York is implementing the Common Core standards – the work group stated that the new standards should be phased in by the end of 2022 – not by 2017, which is the current goal established by the state education department.

The K-12 educational benchmarks have been adopted by 46 states as a way to improve student readiness for college and careers. But the standards have been met with great criticism in New York by both parents and students.

While current state law requires that districts use student performance for teacher assessments,  Monday’s report said that educators whose jobs are at risk because of their students’ test results should be able to point to the district’s failure to provide adequate professional development and curriculum support

Monday’s report comes on the heels of the state legislature calling for a moratorium on the common core. In addition, the state’s largest teacher’s union in January announced a vote of “no confidence” in state education commissioner John King, Jr. – who’s fully supported the common core standards despite public outcry.

New York State Education Commissioner John King, Jr. speaks with reporters prior to a public forum on public education at Jamestown High School on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013.

ALBANY – The largest teachers’ union in New York State has publicly come out against the state’s top education commissioner, calling for his removal.

According to the NY Daily News, the board of the New York State United Teachers declared they had “no confidence” in the policies of John King, Jr.

In a prepared statement, NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi said, “The commissioner has pursued policies that repeatedly ignore the voices of parents and educators who have identified problems and called on him to move more thoughtfully. Instead of listening to and trusting parents and teachers to know and do what’s right for students, the commissioner has offered meaningless rhetoric and token change.”

Iannuzzi criticized King for not backing a three-year moratorium on high-stakes consequences for standardized testing. The NYSUT board also withdrew its support for the Common Core standards.

In a joint statement, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and state education commissioner King defended the education policies, saying now is not the time to weaken standards. They also stated that they will make necessary adjustments and modifications to the implementation of the Common Core with the help of the governor’s office and state legislature.

King was in Jamestown in December 2013 to host a forum on the common core and public education in New York State and was meant with criticism from parents, teachers and students. Audio from the forum is available at our Soundcloud Page.