NATIONAL REFUSAL LETTER.
Dear Board of Education, Superintendent, Principals, and Teachers of ________________ school district:
I am writing to inform you that I am using my Federal Parental Rights, as per the “Federal Parental Rights Doctrine”, ruled by the Supreme Court, to enforce the following…
We are writing today to formally inform the __________ school district of our decision to refuse to allow our child _____________ to participate in any local assessments, tied toCollege and Career Ready Performance Index , Teacher Keys Effectiveness System or Leader Keys Effectiveness System, for the 2016-2017 school year. My child will be scored as a “refusal” on all state and local testing.
Our refusal should in no way reflect on the teachers, administration, or school board. This was not an easy decision for us, but we feel that we have no other choice. We simply see these tests as harmful, expensive, unfair, and a waste of time and valuable resources.
This year we will show effort to eliminate unnecessary and harmful assessments in our public schools. Our child will not participate in any assessments other than those solely for the use of the individual classroom teacher.
We refuse to allow any data to be used for purposes other than the individual teacher’s own formative or cumulative assessment. Any assessment whose data is used to determine school ranking, teacher effectiveness, state or federal longitudinal studies or any other purpose other than for the individual classroom teacher’s own use to improve his or her instruction will not be presented to our child.
To be clear, our children will not participate in the following:
• Any so-called “benchmark” exams whether they are teacher-designed or not, since these exams are imposed by entities other than the individual teacher.
• Pre and post assessments connected to “Student Learning Objectives” or any other assessments mandated by the Governor’s office.
• Any milestone testing.
• Any progress-monitoring or RTI assessments.
• Any OAS or adaptive testing done in computer/tablet labs.
• Any exam used to formulate an evaluation or score for our children’s teachers or their school.
• Any survey, electronic or paper, not designed by my child’s teacher to be used in classroom instruction.
• Any fitness or nutrition information that includes my child’s height, weight and/or BMI.
• Any online programs or applications that require any personal information or that maintain student data in any form.
• Any “confidentiality” agreements or coerced silence about testing or test content.
**Furthermore, our child, _____________is not receive any curriculum teaching religion. Islam or any other. My child is to receive alternate assignments.
***In addition, my child is to be taken “off the grid”, so to speak, at school, which includes school computers and my child is to be given assignments, in paper form.
****Lastly, my child, _______________is not to participate in any “National Sexuality Standards” http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/18/17sexed.h31.html lessons, which I deem improper. Please note, I am refusing any lesson, which has to do with the “The Reproductive System”.
We believe in and trust our highly qualified and dedicated teachers and administrators. We believe in the high quality of teaching and learning that occurs at _____________ School. We hope our efforts will be understood in the context in which they are intended: to support the quality of instruction promoted by the school, and to advocate for what is best for all children. Our school will not suffer when these tests are finally gone, they will flourish as they have in the years previous. ________ school should have a unified policy in place to address children who are refusing these assessments.
Additionally, we are requesting that the school make accommodations for meaningful alternative activities or assignments that will continue to promote [his or her] academic and intellectual growth. Our child will not be in attendance if academically viable alternatives are not available on days when testing occurs. Furthermore, we must be guaranteed in writing that whatever option is taken, either alternative assignments or absence, our child will not face any negative consequences to, for example, course grades, social or behavioral evaluations, workload, promotion, or future classroom assignments.
We do apologize in advance for the inconvenience this decision may cause the administration, the school, and staff.
Sincerely,
