It seems that some schools are not handling parents seeking to opt their students out of assessments, in particular Common Core-aligned assessments, very well.
I reported on Friday at Caffeinated Thoughts that a California mom, Katherine Duran, was literally “suspended” from her school for 14 days after a brief conversation with her son’s principal. She tried to reclaim assessment packets her 12-year-old son gave out that were deemed “inappropriate” by the principal and confiscated. The principal, Rosario Guillen, claimed Duran was physically aggressive. Duran denies that ever occurred.
After the “suspension” Duran claims her son continued to be harassed when he brought more packets to school.
“In the school’s repeated attempts to block the information from being disseminated to the kids on campus, my son has been abused, his right to distribute leaflets on campus violated, his opt out forms confiscated. When he returned each day with more, the kids who had previously had their forms and letters confiscated received replacements, only to have them confiscated, yet again. My son was removed from class, double-teamed and harassed by the principal and another teacher, his lunch pail searched, his friends made to fear taking the forms and another kid forced to open his backpack in search of this ‘offensive, inappropriate material,’” Duran shared.
Duran alleges that her son was denied classroom instruction several times throughout the ordeal this week and last, once when he was pulled out for 90 minutes (on Tuesday 3/26/14), while he was interrogated and intimidated, the principal double-teaming him with another teacher trying to get him to hand over his stack of forms.
Joy Pullmann writes at School Reform News that an Ohio mom claims her kids were targeted by their School Superintendent over her opting her children out from Common Core-aligned assessments.
Last week, Sarah Lewis sent Celina City Schools Superintendent Jesse Steiner a letter asking to opt her children out of Common Core tests.
Wednesday morning, Steiner emailed Lewis a letter refusing to excuse her children from anything at school, then visited her kids’ school, demanding to have them weighed and measured because their principal had allowed them to opt out from an earlier body-mass index screening.
“[O]n the recommendation of legal counsel, I am rejecting your request for your child to ‘Opt Out’ of any and all testing,” he wrote. “Your child will be expected to follow the same educational procedures as the rest of the student body.”
This meant pulling the Lewis kids out in front of the class Wednesday and taking their weight and height, days after all the other kids had done so and after Principal Dan Pohlman had told Lewis they could be excused. No one notified Lewis of the reversal until the kids came home Wednesday, upset.
“They were singled out and weighed and measured,” Lewis said. “They were humiliated.”
If you have a story of a similar incident email info@truthinamericaneducation.com or share in the comments below.