It was almost three years ago when protesters occupied Wall Street, spending weeks raging against a money machine they say has spawned economic inequality.
On Monday night, a group of teachers "occupied" the steps in front of the stateEducation Departmentbuilding and railed against what they say is an educational money machine in the form of a private contractor that writes mandatory tests.
Granted, this group was older, they had more gray hair and were better dressed than theirOccupy Wall Street counterparts.
But the crowd of New York State United Teachers union members embraced some of Occupy's style, complete with chants led by NYSUT President Karen E. Magee, and a bit of street theater.
"Public education, not private profits," Magee said, urging the crowd to repeat the slogan several times.
Then came the actors, dressed as top-hatted, stogie-smoking billionaires who emerged from a black limo and took the podium.
"So this is what the 99 percent looks like," said one who was wearing a red "Pearson'' sash.
The object of all this ire and satire was Pearson PLC, the company based in Great Britain that has a nearly $33 million contract with New York state to write and administer tests given to K-12 public school students and to help run teacher training tests.
They've become a flash point in the ongoing controversy over adoption of the Common Core learning standards for students.
The mandatory tests are supposed to align with the new standards, but teachers for several years have complained that the curriculum guides and tests have been poorly implemented by the state.
That's led to concessions.
During the last legislative session, lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed for two years to not hold teachers accountable for test results turned in by their students.
Initially, student test scores were supposed to count toward job evaluations for teachers, including those who hadn't yet been tenured.
There's also been a delay in applying the new standards toward student graduation requirements.
But that hasn't allayed the anger, at least exhibited by the teachers on Monday, many of whom had traveled to Albany to participate in their union's endorsement conference for the upcoming elections.
Magee, who last spring unseated former NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi in part due to anger over the test issue, said teachers rather than testing companies have the best read on what their students need.
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