Parents Thought They Were Meeting With the School Principal to Complain About State Testing — Instead, They Were Greeted by a Cop

Two Georgia parents who are refusing to allow their children to participate in the state’s standardized tests were confronted by a police officer and told they were trespassing on school grounds when they attempted to meet with administrators and express their opposition to the exams last week.

Mary and Tracy Finney oppose their children taking the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and had initially sent an email to administrators asking if they could opt out.

“To my knowledge, there is not an opt-out option for the CRCT since these tests are mandated by state law,” West Side Elementary School principal Karen Smits wrote back in an email, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. “I have forwarded your email to our Superintendent, Dr. Lembeck, and Associate Superintendent Dayton Hibbs for further guidance. Someone will be in touch soon.”

Tracy and Macy Finney. 

That email did not quell the Finneys’ concerns.

“With all due respect, we never requested to opt out,” Tracy Finney wrote in response. “We are REFUSING the CRCTs.”

Jack, Ian and Macy Finney. 

The parents then scheduled a meeting with the school principal Wednesday morning. The meeting was confirmed at 6:40 p.m. the night before, but later canceled via email by Smits at 9:04 p.m.

The Finneys claim they didn’t receive notice of the cancellation and showed up at the school in the morning. They were greeted by a police officer.

According to the Journal, the Finneys said the officer was kind, but told them being on school property while actively opposed to the test was “kind of a trespassing thing.” Further, the Finneys claim, they were told their kids weren’t permitted on school grounds if they were not participating in the state exams.

The police officer’s report confirmed the parents were told they and their children would be trespassing if they remained at the school, the Journal reported.

Tracy Finney told TheBlaze he was “shocked” when the officer greeted him and his wife.

“[W]e were not there to fight,” he said. “We were there to ensure our children were not forced to sit in the class during the test and told to stay quiet.”

It was not clear why the officer was at the scene and a spokesperson for the school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheBlaze. Tracy Finney, however, told TheBlaze he thinks the officer’s presence was “pre-planned” because he was there “prior to the meeting.”

Mary and Macy Finney. (Image courtesy of the Finney family)

After the incident, school officials contacted Tracy Finney and ultimately resolved the matter.

“We received an email from our assistant superintendent telling us that if our children return to school, they would be welcomed,” he told TheBlaze. “The teachers were notified that our children were not to be presented the CRCT Standardized Test, and that our documented refusal of the test would serve as evidence that we had refused the test and that our wishes would be upheld.”

“They stated that we have been made aware of the consequences of our decision. The consequences are that we would meet with the [principal] and teachers to go over our children’s academic portfolio to determine their placement for the next school year. This, in our opinion, is a MUCH better solution to placing our children than a snapshot type test,” Tracy Finney added.

He said his family is “very satisfied with this response.”

Superintendent Menlove’s Letter on Opting Out

Superintendent Menlove issued the following letter to schools just over a week ago.

http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Meetings/Summary/materials/Opting-outofstatetesting.aspx

Utah State Office of Education

April 7, 2014

OPTING-OUT OF STATE TESTING

There continues to be some confusion about students and/or parents opting-out of end-of level (SAGE and DWA) or other state-wide testing. Please be aware of the following as you have conversations with parents about opting-out of testing and in the development of opt-out forms.
1. Parents have the right to opt their children out of any testing required by or facilitated through the Utah State Board of Education. This includes all SAGE tests, Direct Writing Assessments, ACT (complete battery), ASAVB, NAEP, ACCESS testing for English Language Learners and UAA testing for Students with Disabilities.
2. When a student over 18 years old, or a parent or guardian opts-out of a state-level test, there is no requirement for an optional or alternative test to be given. For example, opting-out of a test taken on a computer does not necessitate that a “paper-pencil” test be offered as a replacement.
3. When a student over 18 years old, or parent or guardian opts-out of a state-level test, no academic penalty shall result for the student. If teachers/schools use any of these tests for grading/promotion decisions, some alternative assessment will need to be provided.
4. Opting-out of end-of-level testing, and participating in end-of-level testing, both result in de-identified and aggregated individual student data being reported to the federal government. The difference in the data shared on all public school students as required by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is that the proficiency level for a student who opts out will not be reported while a tested student’s proficiency level will be reported as the proficiency level (1 – 4) determined by the testing.
5. Any student who is in school and not participating in testing should be engaged in a meaningful educational activity. Students not participating in any testing should not be singled out in any negative way nor should the student or the class be administratively punished in any way because a student opts out of testing. Items #6 and #7 address potential consequences for teachers and schools as a result of opting-out.
6. As per action taken by the Utah State Board of Education on April 4, 2014, a student who opts-out of testing will not receive a proficiency score, and for State purposes will not be counted against participation rates. However, these students will be reported as non-participants on federal reports and accountability and this may impact an LEA’s qualification for and the receiving of certain federal dollars.
7. As per current Utah State Office of Education Policy, a student who has not opted-out and is absent from school, and therefore does not participate in testing, is counted as a non-participant (both State and federal reporting) and may impact the school’s participation score which is included in the calculation for the school’s letter grade. An absent student is not included in calculating proficiency for a class, grade, or school.

Loni Schneider says:

April 18, 2014 at 7:43 am

So, let me get this straight. The state, the school districts, the schools, the administrations and the teachers are not allowed to punish the children in any way for not taking these tests. However, the Feds, who are not legally allowed to be involved in education, can punish the schools. Interesting.

The Common Core Problem

April 15th, 2014 at 09:57 AM

I don’t think Common Core supporters understand what they’ve done. The supporters of common core seem to think that people should be thanking them for the great benefit that is being bestowed upon their children.

At its heart, it makes sense that in a highly mobile society, students should be essentially on the same path of study so there is no disadvantage in a parent taking a new job across the country. As a person who grew up in Dubai and returned to the United States after ninth grade, I can see the benefits of keeping kids on in schools on roughly the same page of lessons.

But that’s not just what common core is doing.

I think the people who support common core out of good intentions do not realize the bad side of common core. Beyond the emotional arguments, the philosophical arguments, and the crazy arguments — there are a lot of crazy arguments against common core — there is a very practical argument the common core supporters have no answer for.

Moms cannot help their children with math homework. Reporters who are single and common core supporters without kids may not be able to relate here or identify with this, but that’s why this is such a sleeper issue. Moms cannot help their kids with math homework and that’s creating most of the rage against common core.

It is as true in my household as it is in others. The math does not make sense to the children and the math does not make sense to the parent. Kids are taught multiple ways to add totals together, must still add the totals correctly, but then must explain their answers — often having to write essays for math problems.

The best answer common core supporters have is to literally produce studies claiming that kids whose parents do not help them with homework will, over the long term, out perform kids whose parents do help them.

I am not kidding. That is their defense.

Meanwhile, elementary school kids are overwhelmed by their math problems. In some cases, their teachers are now giving them a pass if they can explain how they arrived at their answer, even if they get the answer wrong.

Common Core has become just a new education trend. Every decade, bored educators in the United States latch on to a new trend on how to teach things. By God it is a horrific idea that we might teach math the way math has always been taught. There are always new ways and common core is just the latest.

And maybe they are right. But practically, no parent in America is going to listen to the rightness of the smug opinion of the education elite and Chamber of Commerce when it isn’t Jeb Bush, Thomas Donohue, or another Common Core supporter sitting at the kitchen table trying to help an eight year old with a math problem.

Common Core may have started off with very good intentions. But in an age when politicians fixate on what the soccer mom, the Walmart mom, or mom in general think — they’ve pissed off mama because she can’t help her kid at night with math anymore. And if mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.

Forget immigration. Forget Obamacare. Common core is going to be the under the radar, sleeper issue of campaign 2014. It transcends party and there are few issues as kitchen table as the one most often done in frustration right at the kitchen table.

I don’t think Common Core supporters understand what they’ve done. The supporters of common core seem to think that people should be thanking them for the great benefit that is being bestowed upon their children.

At its heart, it makes sense that in a highly mobile society, students should be essentially on the same path of study so there is no disadvantage in a parent taking a new job across the country. As a person who grew up in Dubai and returned to the United States after ninth grade, I can see the benefits of keeping kids on in schools on roughly the same page of lessons.

But that’s not just what common core is doing.

I think the people who support common core out of good intentions do not realize the bad side of common core. Beyond the emotional arguments, the philosophical arguments, and the crazy arguments — there are a lot of crazy arguments against common core — there is a very practical argument the common core supporters have no answer for.

Moms cannot help their children with math homework. Reporters who are single and common core supporters without kids may not be able to relate here or identify with this, but that’s why this is such a sleeper issue. Moms cannot help their kids with math homework and that’s creating most of the rage against common core.

It is as true in my household as it is in others. The math does not make sense to the children and the math does not make sense to the parent. Kids are taught multiple ways to add totals together, must still add the totals correctly, but then must explain their answers — often having to write essays for math problems.

The best answer common core supporters have is to literally produce studies claiming that kids whose parents do not help them with homework will, over the long term, out perform kids whose parents do help them.

I am not kidding. That is their defense.

Meanwhile, elementary school kids are overwhelmed by their math problems. In some cases, their teachers are now giving them a pass if they can explain how they arrived at their answer, even if they get the answer wrong.
Common Core has become just a new education trend. Every decade, bored educators in the United States latch on to a new trend on how to teach things. By God it is a horrific idea that we might teach math the way math has always been taught. There are always new ways and common core is just the latest.

And maybe they are right. But practically, no parent in America is going to listen to the rightness of the smug opinion of the education elite and Chamber of Commerce when it isn’t Jeb Bush, Thomas Donohue, or another Common Core supporter sitting at the kitchen table trying to help an eight year old with a math problem.

Common Core may have started off with very good intentions. But in an age when politicians fixate on what the soccer mom, the Walmart mom, or mom in general think — they’ve pissed off mama because she can’t help her kid at night with math anymore. And if mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.

Forget immigration. Forget Obamacare. Common core is going to be the under the radar, sleeper issue of campaign 2014. It transcends party and there are few issues as kitchen table as the one most often done in frustration right at the kitchen table.

61% OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS KNOW 'LITTLE' OR 'NOTHING' ABOUT COMMON CORE EDUCATION STANDARDS

A new Gallup poll concerning public school parents’ views of the Common Core standards finds that even in states that have implemented the centralized standards, 27% of parents surveyed said they know “only a little” about the standards, while 29% know “nothing” about them at all, leaving 56% of public school parents with little to no knowledge of how and what their children are being taught right now.

Among public school parents in general, 30% said they know “only a little” about the Common Core, while 31% said they know “nothing” about the standards.

The poll, which was conducted via telephone interviews with a random sample of 639 K-12 public school parents living throughout the United States, has a margin of error of + 5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Gallup states that some survey results were based on 466 K-12 public school parents familiar with the Common Core standards, with a margin of error of +6 percentage points. Yet other results were based on 382 public school K-12 parents in the 33 states that have already implemented the standards. In this case, the margin of sampling error is +7 percentage points.

The survey results suggest that parents in states that have already implemented the centralized standards are only slightly more familiar with them than those in other states. Views about the standards tend to remain the same, whether parents live in states that are implementing the Common Core or not.

Regarding a survey question about positive versus negative impressions of the centralized standards, 35% of the parents surveyed said they had a positive impression of the Common Core standards, while 28% had a negative impression. However, 37% of parents said they either have never heard of Common Core or didn’t know enough about it to make a decision.

The survey suggests that relatively few parents feel strongly about the Common Core, and even among public school parents who say they are familiar with the standards, only 13% view them very positively and just 19% view them very negatively.

Ironically, the poll’s results show that, even if public school parents are mostly unfamiliar with the standards, they give the concepts associated with Common Core positive ratings.

A full 73% of the public school parents surveyed said having uniform standards is “very positive” or “positive” for education, and 65% said they believe standardized, computer-based testing to measure students’ performance will have a “very positive” or “positive” effect. In addition, 67% of the participants said linking teacher evaluations to their students’ performance on the Common Core-aligned tests would be a “very positive” or “positive” initiative.

When political party is a factor, the poll found that, among public school parents, only 26% of those who identify as Republican have a positive impression of Common Core, while 42% view the standards negatively. Among parents who identify as Democrats, 45% view the Common Core positively while 23% view the initiative negatively.

Regarding Common Core, Gallup states, “On one level, the program has been successful, achieving buy-in from 44 states. But there is still a long way to go…”

“Already, critics of the program are proving their muscle by slowing down or reversing implementation in some states,” Gallup continues, “and if this were to reach critical mass, it could derail the whole enterprise. But whether the critics speak for parents, generally, seems in doubt.”