New York’s Regents chancellor has said she wants to extend the deadline for approving new evaluation plans for school teachers and principals, and state Sen. Joe Griffo (R-Rome) says the decision confirms his belief that more time is needed.

And three Assemblymembers who represent parts of St. Lawrence County -- Ken Blankenbush (R-Black River, representing southwestern St. Lawrence County), Marc Butler (R-Newport, representing east- and south-central parts of the county), and Addie Russell (D-Theresa, representing St. Lawrence River shore townships plus Potsdam and Canton) -- have expressed their approval of the chancellor’s statement. And the Republicans say they approve of what they see as the Democratic Assembly leadership’s moving closer to their positions on the reform issue.

Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch says she wants to extend the November 15 deadline for approving new teacher and principal review procedures. She told the New York Daily News she would like to give school districts until Sept. 1, 2016 to revise their plans.

“The Board of Regents will adopt teacher evaluation regulations by June 30 of this year, but the new directive calls on the state Education Department to come up with a plan that gives schools more time to implement the changes,” Russell said. “The Board of Regents is acknowledging the flexibility the state budget language gave them to create a new teacher evaluation system that is fair to teachers and their students. By empowering the Board of Regents to make these decisions, we’ve put our trust in those who are able to make calculated decisions that benefit everyone,” she said.

Griffo, whose 47th District includes Massena and Potsdam in a swath up the middle of St. Lawrence County south to Fine, said the chancellor’s remarks “make clear that the timeframe to develop a new teacher evaluation system is unrealistic” and was due for a revision.

“This affirms my belief that the Regents should ask the Legislature and Governor to give them more time to formulate this important policy, with a minimum of at least 24 months to make sure that it’s done appropriately,” Griffo said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

And Griffo says he wants to see New Yorkers explaining to state education officials their ideas for education policy reform.

After expressing their dismay at the defeat in the Assembly of a reform plan, “The APPLE Plan,” that they and other Republicans had worked on, Butler and Blankenbush seemed somewhat placated by the Democrats’ retreat from some of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education reform goals.

Butler Thursday said he applauded Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Education Committee Chair Cathy Nolan, both Democrats, for shifting a bit on education reform after Chancellor Tisch announced that teacher evaluation changes will not be in place by the November 2015 deadline. Butler credits the work of his Assembly Republican Conference, the participation of teachers, “and the courageous parents who opted their children out of Common Core testing.

“This changing tide of opinion is important, but we have more work to do what is needed to improved public education in New York. Parents and teachers have a partner in me in this fight,” Butler said.

Blankenbush, who said he debated against the measures and voted no on that portion of the education budget bill, said Thursday he is encouraged by Tisch’s realization that more time is needed.

“Collectively, parents, teachers, school administrators and I have been speaking up about the detrimental effects of Common Core on our children and their education – and finally politicians in Albany are starting to listen,” said Blankenbush. “This is an encouraging shift in opinion, and we cannot relent until education is once again based on local input rather than the policies of faceless bureaucrats and out-of-touch politicians.”

Griffo said he has some specific ideas about how implementation of a new policy should proceed.

Griffo is urging constituents to email their suggestions about state education policy, especially teacher performance reviews, to state Education Department officials in Albany.

Griffo said the department’s public review period on the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) is now under way, and that the more voices heard on the issue the better.

“The coming weeks will be crucial in determining whether our teachers are fairly evaluated in a way that appreciates all of the unique circumstances that students face in our schools,” Griffo wrote in an email statement.

Comments about the issue including teacher evaluations and student testing can be emailed to Eval2015@nysed.gov.

“The surge of students ‘opting out’ of their state tests this month validates what I’ve said all along, that over-testing is wrong for our students and wrong for our schools,” Griffo said. “Parents expect their children to be tested, but they want it done in a way that will serve their education well, not undermine it.”

On the teacher and principal evaluations, Griffo said, “We believe the State Education Department should first select a permanent commissioner to provide leadership during this decision-making process, since they currently have only a temporary commissioner in place. A two-year extension should give the State Education Department enough time to select that commissioner and undertake this responsibility,” he said.

“An extension would also provide sufficient time for thorough deliberation to allow all stakeholders in the education system to be heard, instead of simply being restricted to a hard-and-fast deadline that could end up hindering their ability to roll out an effective and fair system.”

He also said state government “should consider allocating additional financial resources to the State Education Department and Board of Regents to ensure they have the support they need to properly accomplish this goal.

“In the meantime, evaluation policy should remain as it is currently and we must ensure that any necessary delay in developing new evaluations does not jeopardize or postpone any of the vital funding that all school districts are anxiously awaiting.”