Opt-Out Update; (BoE Candidate) Larson Letter

At the end of last month, I described HamiltonCentralOptions: The Opt-Out Option; Parental Protests Against Over-Testing. As Radio Free Hamilton said after the tests, Large Number of HCS Students Opt Out of Test

Almost one quarter of the HCS students in grades 3-8 who were supposed to take Tuesday's state mandated English Language Arts standardized test did not....
Opting out of the exams has become a sizeable movement in New York State, often linked to dissatisfaction with how the state has introduced the Common Core curriculum.

A comment on the RFH post deserves some attention, in part because the author, Dr. Ellen Larson, is one of the candidates in our BoE race; this copy restores the formatting lost in the RFH comment box:

 It appears to me from what I can find through google this may very well represent one of the highest ratios of opting out reported.

To be clear- I am not saying that I support these tests or this testing chapter and verse.
I have not found or seen evidence that these tests have been validated.

I do see value in the common core standards.
I do NOT see value in the common core modular curriculum.
I do see some role for validated standardized tests.
I value our school and our teachers and our administration at HCS for having the foresight to see what we can do with the common core standards by avoiding the modular curriculum.
I also believe that every school's approach to this is a work in progress and everyone - administrators, teachers, kids and parents have a lot to learn through the process and as it evolves.
I do believe in "civil disobedience"- but I did not see that opting out of the test was going to be an effective message - my concern being that kids opting out of testing was really punishing the teacher and the school district not the governor or his educational commissioner.


So I have to ask the questions:
Of the 1/4 of families that opted out of state testing in the Hamilton school district:
How many of those families have ever attended a school board meeting?
How many of those families have attended a school board meeting regularly?
How many of those families have any idea what an APPR is?
How many of those families have any idea what the consequences of opting out of testing may be for the  school or the teacher?
How many of those families have any idea what the common core standards are?
How many of those families have any idea what the difference is between the common core curriculum and the common core standards?
How many of those families have any idea what the Hamilton School District has or has not done to achieve the common core standards?
How many of those families understand what a modular curriculum Is?
How many of those families know what Hamilton's curriculum is ?
How many of those families have ever written a letter, sent an email, or called their Governor, congressman, assemblyman, or State Education Commissioner about this or any other issue?
How many of these families have attended a school budget meeting or discussion?
How many of those children understand why they didn't take the test?

My hope for the outcome of this is that if this many families within the Hamilton School District feel this strongly about their children's education that they will start to participate in these things and start putting voices and signatures and votes out where they make a difference.