Parents Address State Testing Refusal at BOE Meeting

East Meadow parents addressed the Board of Education on Thursday on the treatment of students who refused to take the recent standardized testing.

Parents have spoken out against the district requiring students who refused to take the tests to sit in a classroom during testing with no distractions. Students could put their heads down, but they could not read or be moved to another classroom.

Colette Paul has a son in the fourth grade who refused to take the tests. Paul said that she was outraged at what happened to her son while he sat during testing on Thursday.

"My son got sick and went to the nurse," she said. "When I picked him up, I was told that he would have to make up the time that he missed sitting during the test on Monday. They are going to pull him out of his classroom and make him sit in another room and do nothing. They are taking away from his education."

She said that she feels that children are being punished for not taking the tests and that other school districts have allowed students who refused to take the tests, to read or sit in another room."

'I feel violated of my civil rights," she said to applause. "This cannot be viewed as anything but punitive."

Ilene Ballato agreed. Her two sons in the district--one in the fourth grade and the other a special education student in the seventh grade--both refused to take the tests.

"I am very disappointed in how the East Meadow School District are treating parents and students," she said.

Superintendent Louis DeAngelo said that nine students out of more than 3,000 in the district refused to take the tests.  

"I appreciate your comments," he said. "There is no provision for opting out and we will continue to operate our testing the way we have."

"They kept saying there is no option for opting out, but my children are not opting out, they are refusing to take these tests," Ballato said.

Kim Nacionales' son, who also refused to take the standardized testing, was ordered an in-school suspension last week, which she said was unfair.

"We are not fighting the school district so we are asking you not to fight the parents," she said to the board. "We are fighting the common core and the state. I feel like my child is not learning. All they teach are the tests."  

Paul said that the children are being set up for failure.

"These children are not superhuman," she said.