The Port TIMES RECORD Port Jefferson • Belle terre • Port Jefferson station • terrYVille
Volume 28, No. 18
April 2, 2015
$1.00
Roller skating comes to Port Jeff Also: ‘Go Ape’ winners, ‘A Chorus Line’ in Northport, Disney Week at SCPA
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Lips zipped about mass opt-out
Officials nix idea to demand state aid, teacher evaluation reforms in exchange for tests BY BarBara Donlon
Powering up State budget requires power plant study
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Comsewogue officials have sealed their lips on a proposal not to give state exams to students this year. Both Facebook and the Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association website were buzzing last week, as school board members and residents discussed a proposed resolution saying the board would “seriously consider not administering the New York State standardized [English language arts] and math exams in grades 3-8, and the science exam in grades 4 and 8.” The board of education had encouraged parents to attend its workshop on March 26 and speak about the state’s testing system. But just hours before the meeting, the district went silent, and Superintendent Joe Rella and board members said legal counsel had advised them not to discuss the issue. The matter did
not come up at the board’s business meeting a few days later, on March 30, either. According to the previously proposed resolution, the board takes issue with the state’s current education aid levels and teacher evaluation policies, and with the education reforms Gov. Andrew Cuomo brought forward this year, one of which would increase the influence of student test scores on a teacher’s evaluation. The resolution says that the Comsewogue school board would consider not administering the state tests unless Cuomo (D) and state legislators “establish a fair and equitable state aid funding formula … so [schools] can provide for the educational needs of every child” and stop weighing student test scores so heavily in teacher and administrator evaluations. At the March 26 workshop, OPT-OUT continued on page A16
Photo above by Barbara Donlon; file photo top by Elana Glowatz
above, superintendent Joe rella says the district has been advised not to discuss an idea to refuse to administer state tests this year. Comsewogue teachers and administrators have been at the forefront of the local fight against state education policies.