Take Two: Senator Joseph Addabbo, Jr.

Addabbo's Statement on Disclosure of Teacher and Principal Evaluation Information

Queens, NY – New York State Senator Joseph Addabbo, Jr. (D-Queens), today released the following statement with regard to the Senate and Assembly approval of legislation (S.7792/A.10786) governing the disclosure of teacher and school principal evaluation information to the public and parents:

           

The legislation that we passed strikes the correct balance between protecting the confidentiality rights of school teachers and principals while ensuring that parents will be able to gain access to information about the performance of their own children’s educators. As a member of the Senate Education Committee, I am pleased that a reasonable compromise was reached on this difficult issue.

Earlier calls to fully disclose teacher evaluations to the public, with the names of all teachers attached, simply went too far.  While I support the concept of teacher evaluation, I also recognize that performance judgments may be subjective in some ways and not reflect the day-to-day challenges that teachers face in trying to engage children of diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.  Every child is different, with varying strengths and weaknesses, and every child’s path to academic success will differ as well.

Under this legislation, information about teacher and principal performance, without individual names, will be made widely available to the public to provide a statewide picture of the effectiveness of individual school districts in helping their students to succeed.  Parents will be able to request and receive information about the principals and teachers who are directly involved with their own children and will also be provided assistance in understanding the meaning of the evaluations. 

Now that this measure has received final Senate and Assembly approval, and will soon be signed into law by the Governor, New York will have met all of the requirements under the federal “Race to the Top” program. We can now go forward to use this needed federal funding to help ensure a quality education and brighter future for every child in our state.

Statement on OTB Retirees and Catskill OTB Bill

Senator Addabbo, a member of the Senate's Racing, Gaming & Wagering Committee, has released the following statement on last Thursday's vote -- the last day of the 2012 legislative session in Albany:

Justice was accomplished when the OTB retiree benefits bill (A.7301/S.5054) passed both the Senate and Assembly. While we can enjoy the moment, the real work must continue -- to impress upon the Governor to sign the bill into law. In my opinion, the OTB retirees were the innocent victims when all the OTB sites were closed. I intend to work with all my colleagues in government to advocate for this righteous bill to become law. The same goes for the bill that would allow the Catskill OTB operator to expand into the five boroughs of New York City and open OTB sites. The opportunity would exist to create jobs and offer former OTB employees positions at the new OTB locations.