Reply to How to opt out of PARCC at Deal?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]See concurrent thread.  Know that opting out presents real challenges in DC.  Go in with your eyes wide open because the hassle-filled process may not be for your family.  Summing up the advice dispensed:

*Know how many unexcused absences your child has tallied at the school before you begin the process.  If the kid can't miss several PARCC testing days, and perhaps another several school days when make-up tests are given, without nudging 9 or 10 unexcused absences (9 is the limit before an intervention), opting out almost certainly means that DCPS truancy officials will try to crack down.  Document PARCC related absences in correspondence with the school, in writing, keeping copies.  You can claim that the child is out sick for as many as 5 school days in row.  Keep good records of testing days missed in case you wind up fending off the school's registrar, a city social worker, or even a DC Superior Court judge.

*Keep your student home on testing days.  Your cannot expect your child to be supervised outside a testing room during PARCC testing in DC.  Deal will almost certainly not accommodate students opting out on campus.

* A day or two before your student returns to school, send admins and your child's homeroom teacher a brief note asking that your student not be subjected to make-up testing.  No need to explain your reasons, but you can.  Don't expect your note to be honored.  The school is likely to play hardball with you by plonking the kid in front of a computer to take make-up tests.

*Train your student to refuse make-up tests to the best of their ability.  With a MS kid, you might want to consider slipping them a cell phone they hide on their person, which they agree only to use to call you if they're placed in front of a computer to take a make-up test against your wishes.  Know that if a child is unable to duck out of make-up tests, he or she cannot be required to answer any questions.

*Don't engage with OSSE, administrators, or other parents on opting-out. While you should expect no support or clear information from any quarter, the language of the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) is still on your side, as are your 14th Amendment rights.  Truancy hassles are really the only cudgel DCPS has to try to prevent an in-boundary family from opting out, and it's a blunt instrument.

Good luck. 
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*PP, I see a better alternative to the kid missing the entire school day each day when the test or make-ups are given.  See if you can find out when the testing is scheduled for the child's cohort.  On those days, have an adult authorized to pick up the child from the school remove him or her from class.  The adult and student can either stay in the school building during testing (e.g. in the cafeteria or library) or leave campus.  A school clearly has no right to incarcerate a kid in the school building during testing blocks (unless the entire school is on lock-down due to a threat).

*Admins at or DCPS ES told us when testing will take place take place for our child's cohort - one week in May.  We've arranged with them to come in each day during that week to take the child out of testing. The job will be shared between a parent and a babysitter.  We've explained to the child what the plan is, and told her not to discuss the matter with peers and their parents to avoid jeopardizing the arrangement and inviting nasty gossip.  She's on board.

*The blunt instrument of truancy enforcement becomes even blunter when the kid turns up for school and, presumably, is marked present first thing in the morning on each testing day. We will send daily emails to the school's registrar stating that we will remove the child from her classroom for testing that day, stay on campus during testing, and return her to class the minute testing has ended.  We've documented meetings with admins about PARCC testing, and written them a letter stating our decision to opt out (which we've CC'd to DCPS attendance people and OSSE).   The letter states that we plan to opt out silently, but will challenge noisily if DCPS and OSSE come at us hard (e.g. via blogging about how and why to opt out).  We are engaging with the system but minimally, not asking permission, but stating intent.

*If we land in Superior Court for having opted out, so be it.  We will produce our emails and letter, stand our ground, call witnesses/friends who opted out at other DCPS schools without being hassled, and hope for the best.  One of us is a lawyer.  Our child is going into the process without any unexcused absences (and only 1 excused absence), because we've been planning ahead since the school year started.  We don't mind the hassles, as long as the kid learns the lesson that it is not incumbent on our family to further enrich shareholders and executives of an $800 million multi-national corporation we can't stand.  We tell the child that we much better things to do during 10 hours of testing.   We've asked her to pick a topic she wants to focus on learning about during testing time - she's weighing options.  
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