Rockville Centre Letters to the Editor

Opt-outs could hurt district

To the Editor:

The opt-out movement is obviously a significant — and controversial — one in this community. As such, we wish your coverage was more balanced.

Last week’s story, “RVC students ‘opt out’ in record numbers,” extensively quoted Superintendent Dr. William Johnson, a vocal opponent of state testing, without any statement from the state Education Department or anyone else on the other side of the issue.

In addition, we believe a misstatement has been made. Your story reads, “The district won’t lose any funding, Johnson said, and there won’t be any repercussions that he knows of.” This is not a direct quote of his, and it is at odds with previous statements in which he has artfully equivocated on the issue. Has he changed his stance or is this merely imprecise reporting? 

Although it is conspicuously omitted in your article, federal regulations call for a school with less than 95 percent of its students participating in the assessment to lose funding. The Education Department has threatened this through its official spokesperson. Does the Herald believe that Dr. Johnson is unaware of this?

In the past, Dr. Johnson has been very careful when discussing the funding issue, stating that he doesn’t believe any funding will be withheld. He has never, to our knowledge, stated with any of the certainty conveyed in your indirect quote that the district would not lose funding. When asked directly about the funding implications of opting out during a recent webcast event, he responded that he could not confirm that there would not be any loss of funds. 

Even in the unlikely event that his opinion on the matter has changed and become more certain, it is still at odds with statements in the past by Dr. Johnson himself, the governor, the state and federal departments of education and members of the Board of Regents. Yet your article simply reports the position as indisputable fact.

Until the regulation is changed, loss of funding is a possibility, however unlikely in the minds of the opt-out proponents.

Ken and Erin Stevenson

Rockville Centre

Hats off to SSHS

To the Editor: