Letters

Letters to the Editor: East Rockaway, Lynbrook

Sept. 10-16, 2015

Posted

Parents, educators are not the enemy

To the Editor:

In the last few weeks, I have read with great disappointment the comments made by newly instated State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch regarding Common Core opt-outs.
Elia warned that districts with the highest opt-out test rates could be penalized, potentially losing federal Title I money, and Tisch said there won’t be federal sanctions — but didn’t rule out withholding money in the future if the state finds that district officials were encouraging opt outs.
These comments serve to prove that the Board of Regents and the State Education Department, especially Elia, still don’t fully understand or respect the concerns of parents and teachers about Common Core testing.
Parents and educators have been looking to Albany for solutions that will restore local control to their school boards and ensure curriculum and testing are age and developmentally appropriate. Instead of looking at the supporters of the opt-out movement as adversaries, the Board of Regents should consider them concerned parents, teachers and others who are trying to make their public schools better for the children.
To assume that New York’s parents are refusing these tests because they don’t understand them is not just a misunderstanding of this movement, but a complete underestimation of the problem demonstrated by the more than 200,000 test refusals this spring alone.
Regardless of whether a parent chooses to have their child opt out of the tests, the decision should rest solely with the parents, who have the best interests of their child at heart. They should be able to make this decision without threats — such as their child’s school district losing funding — if they should opt their child out of testing.
As an elected official who represents areas such as Rockville Centre (where 60 percent of eligible students refused), Lynbrook (57 percent refused), Baldwin (38 percent refused), Valley Stream (34 percent refused at School No. 13 and 24 percent at No. 24) and Oceanside (35 percent refused) — higher numbers of opt-out students from last year — I find it disgraceful that the Education Department and the Board of Regents are attempting to pressure parents into making decisions they feel are not best for their children.
Instead of treating these parents and educators as the enemy, we should consider heeding their cries for help via civil discourse and re-evaluate our state’s approach to delivering the appropriate education to our children. Let’s stop the threats and start doing everything necessary to ensure that all our public school students are getting the education they deserve.

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