Ceretto: Education summit rescheduled for Feb. 13

Assemblyman John Ceretto has announced the education summit originally set for Jan. 6 has been rescheduled to Thursday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m. inside Niagara Falls High School. The summit had to be postponed due to blizzard conditions in Western New York.

The purpose of the forum is to discuss Common Core's impact on New York schools. The summit will give parents, students and teachers the opportunity to provide their input on the implementation of Common Core and what can be done to improve education in New York.

"I am glad that we have rescheduled our education summit. It is critical as we move through this year's legislative session that we continue to get the input of parents, teachers and students on how we can best serve them," Ceretto said. "Now we have a chance to get Common Core's mandates out of our classrooms and enact common-sense reforms with wide support. We'll be discussing these and other ways we can improve the quality of our student's education."

Featured speakers will include Dr. Walter Polka, Niagara University professor and retired superintendent of the Lewiston-Porter Central School District; Dr. John McKenna, principal of Fletcher Elementary school in Tonawanda; and New York state's 2014 Teacher of the Year, Ashli Skura-Dreher, a special education teacher in the Lewiston-Porter Central School District.

"The commissioner of education has conducted more than 20 forums around the state to listen to concerns, but he has offered only very limited solutions," Polka said. "The 'Solutions for Smarter Schools' will emphasize important opportunities to keep the elements of the current reform that are workable, as well as suggestions to perhaps pause the implementation of some elements of the reform agenda that are having the most negative effects on learning in our schools."

"This summit is a great opportunity for parents, educators, administrators and other stakeholders in the community to voice their opposition to the state testing fiasco," said Kevin Rustowicz, president of Niagara County United Teachers, and a teacher at Niagara-Wheatfield High School. "It will also give our legislators an opportunity to hear the people of their district speak for the needs of their public schools. We are grateful for Assemblyman Ceretto and Sen. Maziarz to host this summit to bring the voices of their constituents to Albany. Let's get this done right."

Niagara Falls High School is located at 4455 Porter Road.