The Mineola School District will hold an open forum for school parents and residents which would address concerns of district procedure, mainly curriculum, New York State assessments, opt-out conundrums, etc. in Mineola Middle School on June 16 at 7 p.m. Dubbed “Mineola, We’re So Much More Than Common Core,” officials had planned to hold talks with parents who questioned English and math assessments related to the Common Core.
“I had approached [District Superintendent] Dr. [Michael] Nagler [after Election Day] about holding [discussions] with parents in the community who are part of the refusal movement, as it has been come to be known as,” Mineola School Board Vice President Christine Napolitano said. “Coincidentally, a parent did reach out to me about some of their concerns.”
From that meeting, officials felt a bigger outreach was needed.
“It was a great opportunity to invite two parents to come in and Dr. Nagler and I both sat down this past week and spoke with them at great length because there was some concerns that they had regarding procedures that took place this year,” Napolitano said. “It was very positive. We listened to what they had to say.”
Parents in April questioned Mineola’s stance on opt-out, mainly test day procedures with student refusals. Mineola saw 229 (18.3 percent) out of 1,254 students in grades 3-8 opt out of the New York State English assessment in April. The district tallied just 12 opt out students in 2014.
“The board and I acknowledge that refusing to take an exam is not an attack on the district,” Nagler said. “It’s easy for me to say because I believe that.”
Local school boards and administrators are prohibited in steering students toward or away from assessments, school officials say. Board members could be removed from their position if found doing so.
“It’s not our role, it’s not our position,” Nagler said. “We’re not going to make a statement about whether people should or shouldn’t do it. We respect the parents choice in that.”
Mineola is not new to town hall talks. The district held common core forums in November and December 2013. The first saw Senator Jack Martins moderate a panel of State Education Commissioner John King and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and discussion with parents at Mineola High School while the second was moderate by Nagler at the middle school.
“We do so much work in assessment as a district, I welcome the opportunity to present what we do,” Nagler said. “I think it’s going to be a great dialogue.”
What format the talk will utilize is still in discussion. Napolitano said huddling with parents should “hopefully make parents feel a little bit more at ease about what goes on in Mineola.”
“We’ll still brainstorm about,” Napolitano stated. “We want this to be a series of conversations. We want to sit down and share information.”
