Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » Third Grade Retention Policy on Trial

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Charles Baudelaire
    "Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation."
  • Wilson Mizner
    "The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away."
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    "Silence is the mother of truth."
  • H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
    "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."

Third Grade Retention Policy on Trial

August 22nd, 2016 by Mike Vasilinda

Parents from six counties (Orange, Hernando, Sarasota,Broward, Osceola, and Pasco)were in court today challenging a star law that requires the retention of third graders who don’t perform well on state assessment tests. As Mike Vasilinda tells us,  the parents told the court their kids were not given alternative ways to be promoted as star law requires.

The day long hearing began with lawyers jockeying to have the challenge to the third grade retention law heard in each of the six counties. When the judge didn’t rule, they refused to participate. Richard Bush is the Attorney for the Hernando County School Board.

“Hernando is not participating in this because we don’t think the court has jurisdiction” Bush told the judge.

Hernando County mom Brandy Kinkade told her kids to be in class, open the test, but not answer questions. She says she doubts the validity of the tests.

“The FSA is not a vetted test, and my child is not a guinea pig, and she will not be used for profit” Kinked testified.

“Did your child receive passing grades in the third grade” asked her lawyer.

“Honor roll all year.”

State law allows third graders to move to the fourth grade if they can show they are competent, even if they don’t do well on standardized tests. But parents challenging the law say their kids weren’t given that option.

A Broward County mom testified her attempts to have her children judged by alternative assessment methods were rebuffed Brandy Paternoster said that even her kids principal hated the decision, but.

“She understood that my children deserved to go to fourth grade, but that her hands were tied. She said it was coming down from the district” says Paternoster.

Beth Overholt is not part of the suit, but she is  a firm believer in the opt out movement.

“We believe that teachers need to be treated as professionals.  and that we should listen to them for promotion decisions” says the mother of two high schoolers.

While parents in six counties are challenging the retention requirement, a victory for them could impact kids in every county in the state.

The same lawyers who didn’t participate today also tried unsuccessfully to have the case moved to Federal Court last week. A federal judge refused.

 

Posted in State News | No Comments »

Comments are closed.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com