Here's a copy of a letter the Superintendent of Tri-Valley schools is sending to parents

We have started to receive some calls regarding the school district’s position on whether or not parents should consider opting out their children from PARCC testing. I know that many schools around the state have been dealing with this issue for a while, and it appears to have now reached Tri-Valley.

While I am not (and never have been) an advocate of the PARCC Testing, Ohio got into this testing debacle with little to no input from local school officials. Therefore, I feel no responsibility to stick my neck out for the Department of Education by defending their decisions. What’s happening now... in my opinion, is that parents have figured out what is being forced upon their children, and the proverbial rubber... is beginning to meet the road. However, it is not our goal to discourage nor undermine the laws of our governing body.

Therefore, our position as a school district is that we do not discourage nor encourage a parent’s decision to opt out their child. We must respect parental rights at all costs. This is the very reason I advocate for local control. Our own Tri-Valley Board of Education is in a much better position to make sound decisions for the families of our school district, than are the bureaucrats in Columbus and Washington. I say that with no disrespect toward our own legislators, whom have worked diligently behind the scenes to address the over-testing issue. The unfortunate reality is that the parents who have contacted the school district up to this point, are the parents of high achieving students who undoubtedly would do well on these assessments. We will effectively be rating school districts and individual teachers based on test scores that do not include many of their highest achieving students.

I heard a speaker make the following statement recently, and I think it is a perfect way to illustrate the issues with PARCC testing and over-testing in general:

“When you have a low birth weight baby, you don’t solve the problem by weighing the baby more often” I am quite confident that reason will ultimately prevail. In the meantime, we will respect the rights of our parents to make the best decisions for their children while simultaneously following the laws and policies of the Ohio Department of Education.

Sincerely,
Mark K. Neal
Superintendent
Tri-Valley Local School District

Things are getting heated in the real world.