Today a group of
legislators, BESE members, school board members, educators, and citizens filed
a formal public records request for the purpose of securing the release of
vital data from the Common Core tests that were given to Louisiana students
almost six months ago.
These
public officials and citizens believe that the results of the Spring 2015 PARCC
testing are in the possession of the Louisiana Department of Education and
therefore constitute public records under Louisiana law.
The
law provides that any Louisiana citizen over the age of 18 may request any
public record and that the custodian of public records must provide such public
records immediately, but at least within a period of five business days.
These
citizens believe that this formal public records request is necessary because
numerous similar informal requests by various citizens have either been denied
or ignored by the State Superintendent.
Representative
Brett Geymann, the lead author of Common Core related legislation this last
session expressed frustration that the data from the tests has not been
provided to the educator and parent committee that was formed to revamp the
standards. He said, “This last legislative session we attempted to remove the
Common Core Standards from our curriculum because it was not appropriate for
our school children. However in the course of the legislative process we worked
out a compromise agreement that required a thorough review of the present Common
Core Standards for the purpose of developing new standards that would benefit
our students. Unfortunately, now we find that the Standards Review Committee is
being denied access to the test results that could help to inform their work in
revising the standards. This is in violation of the spirit of the agreement.
The taxpayers paid millions of dollars for these tests and we should have the
results in a form that can help the revisions committee.”
Representative
Schroder echoed those sentiments, “We kept our end of the bargain. Time is
running out for the committee. They need the information now. We are not asking
that the test itself be released. We just want the standard each question tests
and what percentage of students got it right.”
BESE member, Jane
Smith, a former superintendent and state legislator, pointed out that she had
helped negotiate the compromise, “I have said from the beginning that I want to
see a successful review of the standards. I believe we can achieve that if the
review panel is given all the tools necessary to have a pure and transparent
process. The chairman of the review panel asked for an item-by-item analysis
and I believe that should be honored.
According
to attorney, J. Arthur Smith III representing the group of public officials and
citizens: “The purpose of the public records law is to provide Louisiana
citizens and parents of Louisiana Public school students full and free access
to information gathered on their behalf and with their tax dollars. We
cannot let a government bureaucrat control the information and decide what he
will dole out to us and what he will hide from us.”
“These test results are public
information as long as the data is produced without violating the privacy of
the students and their parents. Our public records request complies perfectly
with the provisions of the law. We expect the State Superintendent to produce
the information immediately, but no later than in 5 business days.”
“These
citizens and public officials intend to release this information to the public
as soon as it is provided to them,” he said.
The
parents and public officials announced that they intend to also recommend to
BESE that as soon as feasible, the State Superintendent be directed to provide
individual student results to the parents or guardians of all students who took
the 2015 PARCC test, with the opportunity for parents to view both the raw
scores and scale scores for each of their children participating in the testing
and their relationship to the Common Core standards. At all times the privacy rights of these
parents and their children should be protected. Also at the option of the
parents, such information may be shared with the child’s current teacher so
that this information may assist the teacher in better instructing the student
during the current school year.
The following are
the participants in this public records request:
1. Representative
Brett Geymann, Calcasieu
2. Representative
John Schroder, St Tammany
3. Representative
Rogers Pope, Livingston
4. Representative
Lance Harris, Rapides
5. Representative
Bob Hensgens, Vermilion
6. Representative
Kenny Havard, East and West Feliciana and Zachary
7. BESE member, District 3, Dr. Lottie Beebe
8. BESE
member, District 4, Mary Harris
9. BESE
member, District 8, Carolyn Hill
10. BESE
member at large, Jane Smith, Bossier
11. School
Board member, St Tammany Parish, Jack Loup
12. School
Board member, East Baton Rouge, Vereta Lee
13. Educator and Stan. Review Committee member,
Suzette Riddle, Vermilion
14. Educator,
Lee Barrios, Abita Springs
15. Retired
educator, Michael Deshotels, Zachary
16. Educator, Dr. Barbara Ferguson, Research on Reforms, New Orleans
17. Citizen,
Tom Aswell, Denham Springs
18. Educators
and parents, Dr. Jessica and Dr. Mitch Stubbs, Pearl River
19. Parent,
Jason France, Baton Rouge
20. Educator,
Michael Kreamer, Lafayette
21. Citizen,
Johnny Fatheree, Downsville
22. Parent,
Tania Nyman, Baton Rouge
23. Parent,
Karran Harper Royal, New Orleans
24. Educator, Dr Raynard Sanders, New Orleans
25. Educator,
Dr. James Finney, Baton Rouge
26. Educator,
Noel Hammatt, Baton Rouge
27. Educator,
Bonnie Stokes, Covington
28. Parent,
Mirza Marin, Slidell
29. Parent and
educator, Stacy Lovitt, Slidell
30. Educator,
Charles J. Hatfield, Research on Reforms, Gonzales
31. Citizen,
Ashley Reeb, Chalmette
32. Citizen,
Jessica Janneck, Chalmette
33. Educator, Dr John St. Julian, Lafayette
33. Educator, Dr John St. Julian, Lafayette
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