I sent the following email to the entire Red Clay Consolidated School District Board of Education and Dr. Merv Daugherty, the Superintendent of the district. I am posting the email because I have heard similar complaints from parents several times since the Smarter Balanced Assessment came out in 2015. What is the point of having a policy if the schools ignore it?
The Appoquinimink School District in Delaware is continuing their intimidation of parents when they opt their child out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. It looks like they added some wording to the 2015-2016 edition about the testing windows. Once again, with gusto, the ESEA doesn’t even address parents opting their children out of the state assessment. The laws in ESEA deal with schools not testing students, not parents. Once upon a time, schools would discourage students from taking the test to improve their scores. That was why that law was written. Why is Appo continuing this false impression after I posted their 2014-2015 letter 8 months ago? Say, didn’t the Delaware PTA ask Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn for a legal opinion of this letter? Whatever happened to that? Paging Yvonne Johnson…
I love how this letter states it was sent via regular mail AND certified. From what I’m hearing, a child under the age of eighteen signed for it. So does that make the certified mail drop-off even legal? Delaware parents, you may get letters like this from other school districts or charters. I would be creative with it. Teach a younger child how to make paper airplanes. Teach them how to do origami. Or that thing where it becomes eight sides with all the questions on it. Don’t sign it, and don’t send it back. They want you to acknowledge a law that doesn’t even apply to you. Continue opting your child out, and when the district comes back and asks why you didn’t respond, let them know you already gave them your letter, conversation over. The override of Governor Markell’s parent disrespecting House Bill 50 veto by the 148th General Assembly can’t come soon enough.
Hey Appo Board: How about getting off your weak knees and actually pass an opt-out policy like Red Clay and Christina did this fall. Or even a resolution like Capital did. Stop kissing DOE’s you-know-what and show some spine!
Well this is interesting. Christina School District Board of Education has an opt-out policy in the works, similar to House Bill 50, and a district administrator goes and gets a legal opinion on it from their own attorney. Mother mercy, board member Elizabeth Paige, who worked very hard on this policy, will not be happy about this…
Okay Delaware parents who support opt-out. We’re going to play a game and see what you’ve learned. It’s called “Spot the Fallacies”. First one to get them all gets a no-prize!
The Season Of Myths 