As with any changes to education policy (or just about any public policy, for that matter), one segment of the population will always be upset with those changes. As the famous saying goes:

“You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
– Attributed to the poet John Lydgate

The president of the Borough of Manhattan in New York City voted against the changes. He outlined his reasons for voting against the policy changes in a letter to his constituents. He cites lack of preparednes, testing requirements, and general lack of public input into these changes. While I think all of these things are important, it’s better to have some progress with a few issues, than to have no progress and maintain the status quo. The current system is broken, and needs to be fixed. Some progress is better than nothing, and New York City won’t know what issues may arise from these changes, without actually implementing those changes.

I don’t live in New York, so I don’t have any input, but I’d encourage all parties involved to be patient and understand that progress takes time.