Hello Julie!
I wanted to give you an update on things that have recently happened in
Oak Park regarding our school district and the rights of families to opt
out of ISAT testing.
We're the family that kept our girls out of school for two weeks last
spring because our district (District 97) wouldn't let our daughters
(who weren't taking the ISATS) into the school buildings during
non-testing hours of testing week and during the entire make-up week.
Well, since last year, a small victory!! Our school board recently
passed a new attendance policy which grants students who opt out of ISAT
testing the right to attend school during non-testing hours. This was
done with the help of the ISBE which intervened because they did not
want children to miss school.
Here is the portion of the letter we received from District 97 which
relates to this issue:
/Based on conversations with representatives of the Illinois State Board
of Education and the Oak Park District 97 School Board, my department
was asked to put together procedures for dealing with requested testing
waivers pertaining to the ISAT. Since the state requires that all
students be tested, we were originally advised by our legal counsel to
tell parents that students must stay home if they wanted to avoid being
tested. A response from ISBE last fall indicated that the state, while
desiring all students to be tested, also does not want students to be
excluded from school. Their suggestion was that we "offer" the tests to
all students in attendance, then make children announce their intention
to skip the testing. Their reasoning was that we tried to test everyone.
We felt this was making too much of a show out of the request to not be
tested and this was unfair to the children. The School Board agreed that
we should try to test our students, but they would like a compromise to
be made during non-testing and make-up testing times. Therefore, it was
decided that families who do not wish their children to take part in the
ISAT should keep their children home during the formal testing times,
but these children may be in school during make-up testing (all other
hours of the school day during the 2-week testing window). In practical
terms, children would stay home during the morning testing during the
first week and return at noon for classes. During the 2nd week, which is
primarily all make-up testing, these children may attend school as they
would normally would (full days). The only changes to this would be if a
school designates times for formal testing which extend into the 2nd
week or into the afternoon on certain days. This is more likely to occur
in the middle schools. The reason for asking children to avoid
attendance during the formal testing time is that most schools use all
certified staff to monitor the testing. Finding someone to watch the
non-tested students would be difficult in some buildings./
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We thought you'd like to know.
Thanks for all of your support.
Sue and Jim Gill