SCHOOLS

Teachers, parents protest state standards

In Merrick Road rally, calls for testing, teacher evaluation changes

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Teachers and community members wasted little time in calling for public education reforms in the new school year when dozens of protesters gathered on Merrick Road for a Sept. 17 rally.

Bellmore-Merrick educators and parents first took part in “Paint Merrick Road Red for Public Ed” –– part of a series of protests on major thoroughfares organized by two teachers via Facebook –– last March, gathering near Levy-Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick. Activists across Long Island organized similar protests recently to continue to voice concerns about the state of public education in New York and raise awareness about recent changes to the system.

The rally was held one day before the New York State Board of Regents agreed to amend the Annual Professional Performance Review, the state’s teacher evaluation system. The Regents, who are the state’s education policymakers, voted for new regulations to replace a temporary set passed in June, adding an appeals process for teachers whose students showed poor growth on last year’s state exams but performed well the previous year. To appeal, a teacher must have received an “effective” or “highly effective” rating in their observations.

Leaders of New York State United Teachers, a statewide union, said the steps were needed to fix a broken rating system that weights students’ performance on standardized tests too heavily. But, local activists said, they did not go far enough.

David Reilly, the Bellmore Faculty Organization president, said the Regents and other state officials are focused on assessing teachers, not providing children with the best possible education.

“The teachers that I work with don’t mind being evaluated. We’ve been evaluated since we were hired,” he said. “But to do it in a way that’s not scientifically proven to be accurate doesn’t make any sense. That’s a big concern.”

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