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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Taking a Stand on “Sit and Stare” in NY Schools

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Thursday, February 6, 2014   

PORT JEFFERSON STATION, N.Y. – When standardized state tests are given to schoolchildren around New York this spring, some parents are expected to opt out – that is, ask that their child not take the test.

In response, some school districts are prepared to tell teachers to make those students sit and stare at their desks.

But in the Comsewogue School District on Long Island's North Shore, Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Reph says teachers won’t have students sit and stare.

"I don't think that it's realistic to expect that a third-grader, for example, is going to be able to sit for several hours without making any sounds or distractions," Reph explains.

Instead, students who opt out of tests will be placed in other rooms and given something to do.

Reph agrees with the state teachers union, NYSUT, that the increased testing, tied to the Common Core curriculum, is too much too soon.

NYSUT wants the Department of Education and the N.Y. Regents to issue clear guidelines about sit and stare.

Dick Iannuzzi, NYSUT's president, says it's unfair to those children opted out by their parents – and disruptive to the test-takers around them.

"Sit and stare is a symptom of a very aggressive disease, which is over-testing and testing of material that students simply have not been appropriately prepared for," he says.

Reph says last spring a number of mostly middle school students in her district opted out. And she’s seeing signs of many more parents planning the same in April and May.

"This year I think it's going to be a major issue and I think that it says that parents are unhappy and concerned for their child's well-being and that the testing has become very extensive," she explains.

Tuesday, the heads of both parties in Albany called for a delay in using the new test scores in evaluating teacher performance.

And Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will create a panel to look into the rollout of the Common Core, which he has labeled as flawed.








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