Speakers to testify at NYC's Senate hearing on school issues

I was going to go to the Portelos hearing today but I'm in a car heading to Philly - don't worry, I'm not driving. My alternate was to go to the Flanagan hearings today where many of our allies from Change the Stakes and Class Size Matters are testifying today.

The unholy trio - Tisch, Mulgrew and Walcott, all pushing the same drug in different doses lead off. There's even an E4E slug listed. (Did he get a day off from school?) This is a Gotham schools report.

Speakers to testify release for NYC&#8217;s Senate hearing on school issues <http://gothamschools.tumblr.com/post/65372447202/speakers-to-testify-release-for-nycs-senate-hearing-on>
Senator John Flanagan's office released a final roster of speakers <http://gothamschools.tumblr.com/post/65372447202/speakers-to-testify-release-for-nycs-senate-hearing-on> who will testify tomorrow today at a New York State Senate hearing in New York City.

New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch will be on the hot seat to start off the hearing, the fourth — and final — event that Flanagan convened this fall to probe the merits of sweeping policies ushered by Tisch and the State Education Department in recent years. Tisch will be joined by SED Legislative Director Nicolas Storelli-Castro.
The next two spots go to United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew and city schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
In all, 27 speakers are scheduled to testify. They include parents, advocates, researchers and teachers. The hearing is expected to cover a variety of issues facing schools, from state testing policies, to teacher evaluations, to privacy issues around student data.
Tomorrow's hearing will take place tomorrow in the Senate Hearing Room at 250 Broadway in downtown Manhattan. It's expected
Two rival advocacy groups are planning simultaneous rallies before the hearing gets started at 10:00 a.m. The first is being organized by New York City-based parent groups Class Size Matters and Change the Stakes, which have been critical of the state's reforms. Starting at around the same time — and not too far away — will be advocates and parents from StudentsFirstNY, which lobbied for tougher state teacher evaluations, and Families for Excellent Schools, which organized a pro-charter school march across the Brooklyn Bridge earlier this month.
Here is the list of those expected to testify tomorrow, according to Sen. Flanagan's office:
New York State Education Department/New York State Board of Regents
        Chancellor Merryl Tisch, New York State Board of Regents
        Nicholas – Storelli-Castro, Governmental Affairs, NYSED
United Federation of Teachers
        Michael Mulgrew, President
NYC Board of Education
      Chancellor Dennis Walcott
Parents
        Lisa Shaw
        Nancy Cauthen
        Karen Sprowal
        Jan Johnson
Specialists
      Deborah Rayow, Vice-President, Core Curriculum and Credit Recovery <http://gothamschools.tumblr.com/post/65372447202/speakers-to-testify-release-for-nycs-senate-hearing-on> ,
      Edgenuity
        Ms. Nathalie Elivert, StudentsFirstNY
        Ms. Tenicka Boyd, StudentsFirstNY
Advocacy
        Leonie Haimson, Executive Director, Class Size Matters
        Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director, Alliance for Quality Education
Testing
        Dr. Monty Neill, Ed.D., Executive Director, FairTest
        Marco Battistella, Member of the Steering Committee of Time Out FromTesting
NYC Charter Schools James Merriman, CEO of the NYC Charter School Center
Student Privacy
        Sheila Kaplan
Council of School Administrators
        Ernest Logan, President
        Mark Cannizzaro, Executive Vice-President
NY Alliance for Public Education/Save Our Schools
        Tracy Pyper, Co-Chair, NY Alliance for Public Education
        Rosalie Friend, NYS Information Coordinator, Save Our Schools
Teachers/Principals
        John Owens, Teacher and Author
        Fred Smith, Retired Member of NYC Department of Education, Testing
Department
        Nicholas Lawrence, 8th Grade Teacher and Educators 4 ExcellenceMember
Special Education
        Stephen Boese, Executive Director, Learning Disabilities Associationmof NYS
        Ellen McHugh, Citywide Council on Special Education Higher Education
      Dr. Ruth Powers Silverberg, Ed.D Associate Professor, Coordinator,
      Post Master's Advanced Certificate Program <http://gothamschools.tumblr.com/post/65372447202/speakers-to-testify-release-for-nycs-senate-hearing-on> for Leadership in Education, College of Staten Island, CUNY