Bring It On: New York Parents and Teachers Rally to Opt Out of Common Core Testing
March 30, 2014
By Sara Noble
NYS rally
The second round of Common Core testing is to begin this Tuesday, it’s appropriately scheduled for April Fool’s Day. Not everyone is finding humor in it but most see it as a joke.
Hundreds of people from Downstate, Upstate and New York City and from all political persuasions gathered on Long Island at Comsewogue High School to rally parents and teachers on the Saturday before the Tuesday testing.
They came to attend the iREFUSE rally organized by the Comsewogue Superintendent, Joe Rella, and his colleague, educator Mark Ferreris.
Last year, the standardized testing in New York resulted in extremely high numbers of failures from special eduction students to honor students. In defiance of all logic, that failure rate was planned according to the Regents.
The students suffered and according to Mary Calamia, a social worker and one of the speakers, her caseload has increased quite a bit with children who are experiencing stress from the testing program and the intensity of the instruction.
New York State was one of the first states to jump into Common Core and the standardized testing which is the reason the country is now watching New York as parents and teachers gear up for a fierce fight to stop it. They are parents, teachers, and administrators who are up against wealthy corporatists and the politicians who support them.
Indiana is the first state to drop Common Core. Can New York do the same? Governor Andrew Cuomo is opposed to dropping Common Core despite the overwhelming opposition from parents and teachers because he has bought into it and is in league with its corporate sponsors 100%, according to several of the speakers at the rally.
The iREFUSE movement is about encouraging parents to opt-out of the tests beginning Tuesday. It’s the only way to stop Common Core and the testing program.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, candidate for Governor of New York gave a personal account of his view as well as some cold hard facts about the unaffordability of Common Core:
http://www.independentsentinel.com/bring-it-on-new-york-parents-and-teachers-rally-to-opt-out-of-common-core-testing/
