Schools

LIVE UPDATES: Common Core Discussion Held At Comsewogue High School

Unable to attend the forum tonight? Check back for updates in real time.

Superintendent Joseph Rella, Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association president Beth Dimino, Assemblymen Steve Englebright, and others came together to discuss the consequences of how common core has been implemented.

Topics including: opting out or refusing to take the exam, the negative affects increased testing has had on students, and why parents should take a stand against the state assessments. 

Below is a recap of the forum held at Comsewogue Tuesday night. 

9:32 p.m. -- The forum has ended -- but all of the speakers have agreed to stay longer to speak to anyone who still has questions. Stay tuned for a full story.

9:06 p.m. -- A parent asked "What is the most effective thing I could do to fight common core? -- Gordon said there are several things to do. She said although it's a family decision she will be opting out of the exams. Beyond that, Gordon said you need to be contacting your state representatives. Write, Tweet, Call. You need to be contacting them constantly. Until there is a change legislatively, we won't see it here. 

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9:05 p.m. -- "There is a lot of good information on our studentsnotscores.org website. I don't dare tell anyone how to raise their children," said Gordon. "Other than you need to educate yourself on the issues."

9:02 p.m. -- Trustee Alexandra Gordon head to the podium to speak about her experiences with common core. "Our kids only have one childhood and if we don't act for them or if we don't advocate for them who knows whats going to come down the pike next," said Gordon. "I know that there are some people here tonight that are really involved and already know a lot…but there are a lot of people here that don't know. I want to speak to those people specifically, please don't hesitate to ask a question."

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9:01 p.m. -- "Look at what we are talking about here tonight. We are talking about educating our students," said Rella. "We should adopt standards that are rigorous but that doesn't mean you crush people. That doesn't nothing but convince students they are losers or failures," said Rella. 

8:56 p.m. -- Deutermann said talk to your kids and tell them what all of this means. Explain what these tests are actually being used for.

8:51 p.m. -- "The schools are not a thing. We are the schools. This man is not the assembly. We are the assembly. What we have done is we have given over out power to people that we thought was going to be mindful, respectful and trustworthy with our children and they are not," said Dimino. "We are just not going to let it happen any more."

8:46 p.m. -- "It's a half a trillion dollar industry. The test prep company, the software companies, the consultants etc make money," said Rella. "This is all about money. Thats it."

8:44 p.m. -- Rella stood up again to address the audience. "More then 90% of the teachers were rated as highly effective or effective. Yet only 30% of the students passed the test….you are not a test score…the problem is she doesn't believe me because kids believe everything we tell them…children were devastated with ones and twos," said Rella. "This is going to be rolled out nation wide and no where has this improved…it's not believable it's not rational. None of this has gone under scrutiny."

8:39 p.m. -- Deutermann suggested that parents tell their students to refuse to take the exam and then speak with the children and their teacher. It helps take the pressure off the student and make them feel more comfortable not taking an exam.

8:32 p.m. -- Englebright said he is hearing new things tonight and said thank you to the residents that has attended tonight.

8:31 p.m. -- People continue to discuss opt-out and refusal theories. 

8:14 p.m. -- Deutermann cleared up some rumors. Saying kids are allowed to refuse the test. She said it's better to say refusing then opt-out for any exam related to APPR. Again that is a personal decision. 

Deutermann said you should be able to request from your district which tests are tied to the APPR. She also said she is not sure if your student has already taken it, if the data can be wiped. That is something you need to discuss with your district. 

Deutermann said right now we are under a school wavier saying there are no new districts that can be assessed as a district in need. Before the wavier, after two-years of not making 95% of the exams it makes your school become one that is in need of improvement. All that means is if you didn't make AYP they could lose a percentage of title one money. However, this was all before a wavier. So, today it has no relevance meaning nothing will happen if financially if students refuse the exam.

8:11 p.m. – “Why are we so upset about this? – What they are not getting is we are seeing symptoms. We are upset about what we are seeing in our children,” said  “Any medication that is given to cure heart disease and its discovered that it’s giving someone liver disease it would be stripped from the stores…but we have something here that has side effects," said Deutermann. "They are hearing it parent after parent. Yet they are saying those side effects don’t matter in the biggest picture of what they are trying to do here, but yet they do matter.”

8:00 p.m. -- "This whole change with the teachers evaluation has changed the system. Now teachers have to make the students score low in the beginning so that they can show significant growth at the end of the year," said Deutermann. "Now the problem is some students are being put in services based off test…so what does this do to the kid? So now these kids show up, they sit down and they are being bombarded with test in every subject they have."

7:59 p.m. -- "We consider high-stakes testing related to APPR," said Jeanette Deutermann. "The way they measure that is growth scores to see if they improve from one test to the next. That has made these inaccurate." 

7:55 p.m. -- Parents in the audience asked about opt-ing out and how that will affect their children. Rella interrupted and said that they will be answering questions about those later. 

7:54 p.m. -- Dimino said that you need to decide if you want to opt-out of the test, let legislators know where you stand, and make sure to make your vote count. "Write letters every day. That is how you make change."

7:53 p.m. -- Someone in the audience asked how do we prevent this? How do we change this?

7:51 p.m. -- "I sat in that man's office, Joe Rella, and he knew right away. However no one would have believed me until they actually saw it…now you see how insane the testing is. So now what can you do? I can't tell you what to do? I can't but what I can tell you is this…if my children were in school I wouldn't have them take the test. I would not allow my child to be abused. Hand it in tomorrow. Hand it in to the principal or the teacher."

7:51 p.m. -- Someone from the audience asked, "Why didn't someone say this is awful as soon as we knew about it?

7:50 p.m. -- "We can't see what will be on it before. We can't grade the test…I am sitting in a classroom of kids who trust me….I can't answer any questions for students," said Dimino.

7:46 p.m. -- "The problem is she is probably embarrassed by this score," said Dimino. "We don't want to abuse children. We are here to help children. We are not doing to dig every subject…I think [King and Cumo] want the best for their pocketbooks first. Mr. Flanagan and Mr. Cumo are moving…. Do you know why they are moving and Englebright isn't moving? He isn't worried about getting elected because he cares about the kids."

7:44 p.m. -- A women with a 7th grader from the Connetquot Central School District interrupted Dimino saying that her child had a report card with over 97.5 average and is a principal honor role student. However, she is below proficient on the state test. 

7:42 p.m. -- "There were no teachers that created this," said Dimino. "If a majority of your kids didn't pass the [regents] then your principal would say what happened. Now we are going to see how teachers are really teaching. We are not going to tell them what is on the exam, how we should teach the exam, etc.. But it will determine whether or not teachers get to keep their jobs…none of this will work."

7:39 p.m. -- "Go to studentsnotscores.org and find out what each of you could do to find out about your children," said Dimino. "The common core is fine. Any standards are fine. If Long Island was a state we would be number one in the country," said Dimino. "I am not 100% sure that the standards had to be changed but that is above my pay grade…lets say it had to be changed, cool I am with it. But you are going to throw all of the children into the deep end and try to make it work…none of that is ever going to work." 

7:36 p.m. -- President of the PJS Teachers Association took to the stage, Beth Dimino. The first thing I want to say to you is that I want to show people…what I want to tell you that is even though we think that Joe Rella is amazing and we hold him up as a hero…the truth is that Joe Rella and I have known each other for many, many years….we are just average moms and dads… we are teachers. We have lots and lots of kids. But we feel like all of the kids in NY are our kids. Teachers don't have a problem with standards," said Dimino. "Mr. King thinks that because he graduated from a public school that he can teach. Everybody thinks that he could teach. I invite you all to come into my classroom and try to do what I do for 43 minutes."

7:31 p.m. -- "The public schools of America are arguably the greatest extension of the American experience. Here at Comsewogue we have one of the greatest…. so it is within that context that I watched over a number of years that Charter Schools for profit were pushed and the tests that were being pushed are coming out of for profit publishing companies. This movement came from Commissioner King that never taught in public schools and he came in with an agenda with charter schools…. what we see wealthy publishing companies…to unravel the public school system leading the effort. So it comes with a heavy hand and it comes with a different motive," said Englebright. "I am here to hear your thoughts but I am fed up." 

7:28 p.m. – Assemblyman Steve Englebright took to the stage. “This is being implemented in a very awkward way. I am not familiar with that with my own personal experience. I am familiar with a grassroots up experience. The teachers and then the students are brought up in the curriculum by experience. This is not what we have from the common core, it’s from the top down and it comes with a heavy hand,” said Englebright.

7:26 p.m. -- "I do believe this will stop and it will not be that long…the other fatal flaw is that the people in charge of it are trying to control the message. You can't control the message any long….I am going to set the grown rules for them, if anything pops in your head while we have our speakers speaking, we want to hear from you," said Rella.

7:22 p.m. -- "If I get fired I need to get fired for something real and not for this. It's happening. The governor indicated that the implementation is problematic in some areas… you think? But that is not his job…in a representative democracy our representatives are the ones we talk to and the ones we go to. The last thing I am going to say this… be careful that we don't start chewing on each other. I don't think that is going to be helpful to anyone…. our north star is this has to be the children."

7:20 p.m. -- "We partner with parents in what we do in schools. So once of the things I am going to suggest is if you have concerns about what is going on with your children contact your teacher first. They are with your students all day. Then contact your principals, your superintendent, and your board members…. Commissioner King is not our boss we are his bosses. It's supposed to work that way and it's not working that way," said Rella. 

7:18 p.m. -- "If you are not on social media, like Facebook, that is how things are happening state-wide…we started with a simple premise. Stop it, fix it, and if it can't be fixed scrap it. Well none of that has happened," said Rella. "While we are waiting for it to happen children are going through this every day…what should parents do in the meantime. Are highest point of leverage is our state legislator."

7:17 p.m. -- "What is happening now is we are seeing more then what we have ever seen. Any of the big mediums any of the negative issues they will cover. Last year they were reaching they covered something from three years prior. There is nothing in the traditional meeting to inform or educate. There is a tremendous amount in the social media. The purpose of tonight is really a time to ask questions that you are really wondering about," said Rella.

7:10 p.m. -- Rella took the podium.


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