Leader in State-Wide Movement for Education Reform, Sean C. Feeney, to Speak at Adelphi University

Adelphi University is proud to announce that Dr. Sean C. Feeney will deliver The Robert and Augusta Finkelstein Memorial Lecture on “Accountability in the Age of Pearson: Advocating for What Works in Schools.” The event will take place on Tuesday, October 30, 2012, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Thomas Dixon Lovely Ballroom in the Ruth S. Harley University Center, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY. The event is free and open to the public.

Sean C. Feeney is a nationally known advocate for effective school reform. His work organizing school leaders, teachers and parents has inspired many across New York State and the country to become more involved in policy decisions regarding our schools and our young people. Too often these decisions which directly impact our students and the educators who teach and mentor them, are being made unilaterally by politicians with scant working knowledge of public schools, in conjunction with corporate interests that are not accountable to the public. He has worked to reform the way schools are run and empower others to stand up for what the educational system needs.

Dr. Feeney and Dr. Carol Burris (South Side HS, Rockville Centre Schools) co-authored “Open Letter of Concern Regarding New York State’s APPR Legislation for the Evaluation of Teachers and Principals,” an open letter expressing deep concerns of the consequences for the recently enacted New York State Teacher and Principal Evaluation System (APPR). In the letter he emphasizes the importance of a healthy student-teacher dynamic rather than a system in which it is the “teacher versus the student’s performance on a test.” Reviewed and supported by elementary, middle and high school principals throughout Long Island, the letter was available for signatures in October 2011. Within two weeks, over half of the principals throughout Long Island had penned their name in support of the letter. Within a month, more than 3,000 principals, teachers, administrators and parents had signed the letter, and the movement changed its name from the Long Island Principals to the New York State Principals. The letter has received in-depth media coverage, including in the New York Times, Newsday, Wall Street Journal, and CNN. As of May 2012, over 1,500 (more than one-third) of the building principals in New York State have expressed support for this letter. The document has served as a catalyst for both local and national activism in the education profession and in communities served by public schools.

The Robert and Augusta Finkelstein Memorial Lecture was established in 1981 by Augusta Finkelstein in honor of her husband, the late Robert Finkelstein, a noted industrialist and staunch supporter of public education. Following Mrs. Finkelstein’s death, the lecture was renamed for her as well, and continues to be generously supported by the Finkelstein family. Mrs. Finkelstein’s goal was “to provide a series of lectures by well-known persons recognized for their commitment to the elementary and secondary public school system.”

For more information about this and other events on campus, please visit adelphi.edu, or call the Cultural Events Hotline at 516.877.4555.