“Opt-Out”

I have had a lot of inquires the past two weeks about opting out of State exams.  While there have been many questions and opinions they seem to fall into three categories:

1-     Parents of children taking the exams.  This category comprises the  largest group of children. They want to know what is being done to make sure their children are not disturbed.  I have already had complaints about children who are not taking the exams taunting and teasing those students who are taking the exams.  Parents want assurances that the District is properly mitigating disturbances during the testing periods

2-     Parents opting to refuse the exam.  Several parents liken the refusal to civil disobedience (I have read many quotes from Gandhi and Dr. MLK Jr.).  These parents want students to be given the opportunity to vocally refuse the exam

3-     Parents who support the opt out movement but do not want their children to verbally refuse the exam.

In an effort to accommodate all three groups we have put the following in place-

All students whose parents have sent in a letter for refusal will report directly to the library.  The test will be presented to them and they can refuse.  There is no intent to intimidate or make children feel uncomfortable.  Our staff knows our children and they will be treated with care and respect. Once the exams are collected students will work independently, until the testing period is over. This procedure accommodates groups 1 and 2.

For those parents in group 3 you may bring your children to school after the exam, they will be marked late and a refusal will be noted on the exam.  We will not attempt to administer a make up.

Please remember that the security and procedures surrounding State testing is an enormous task.  Administering test accommodations alone uses a majority of our staff, but we feel we can handle these procedures.

There has been a lot of pressure from various groups and social media and tension has been running high- Let’s remember that this movement is NOT waged against the District.  It is a ‘fight’ between the Governor/ State legislature and NYSUT.  We do not agree with the over emphasis on yearly summative exams.  The Board and I have been very vocal about this.  Mineola has NOT abdicated local control; in fact we have worked diligently to provide parents with alternate assessment of their children, including the creation of electronic portfolios of student work.  We have NOT test-prepped children; we believe good teaching will yield good results.  We have ADDED science, music and language immersion programs. No teacher in Mineola has been harmed by the current APPR plan and we will work to insure that no teacher will – what ever the new regulations bring.

We will continue to respect the choices parent make and seek to please everyone’s position, albeit that may not be possible.