Just Saying No

Did you know that schools can't require your students to drink the Kool-Aid? In fact, if parents, teachers, and students across the country did what hundreds of thousands of brave Latino students did this week in temporarily escaping their chain gang schools for a breath of free air, NCLB's bubble would pop, too.

No, they can't force your children to take these stupidifying tests, but they believe they can make you keep your children out of school for two weeks, as Oak Park parent, Jim Gill found out last week. Here is a clip from from the Oak Leaves:

Upset at having to keep his children home for two weeks to avoid state testing, parent Jim Gill has accused District 97 of denying his children access to their education.

Gill told the district School Board last Wednesday he philosophically opposes standardized testing of students, and would keep his children home for two weeks to avoid the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.

In the past, he said, the district had allowed him to keep his kids out of school during testing periods. After that, they could return to class.

But now, he said, the district had informed him it would administer a make-up test to his kids if they returned anytime during the ISAT testing window, which lasted from March 13 through 24.

"The previous administration did not agree with this decision because it recognized keeping my children out of school was simply punitive," Gill told trustees.

Let Illinois State Board of Education Spokeswoman, Meta Minton (at 217-782-4321), know what you think about making parents keep their children out of school 2 weeks to avoid the abuses of testing mminton@isbe.net