School Committee Members Discuss Opt-Out Letter Vote

During their last meeting the New Bedford School Committee voted to not send information to parents regarding the ability to opt-out of PARCC and MCAS testing.

School Committee Member Bruce Oliveira was one of the members who voted in favor of that decision.

Oliveira told WBSM's Brian Thomas he voted the way he did because he didn't want it to be interpreted that the city was endorsing a particular position.

"My concern was that by supporting that it would give the impression...to those that may not have been as well informed as some of the parents that the school committee was encouraging non-participation," said Oliveira.

Oliveira also said he was concerned about potential penalties from the state if a large amount of students opt-out.

"I just felt, with the direction the district's been going in, it's been getting better, we do need to have some direction," said Oliveira "we are required to do testing and it can be tied to our ability to receive much needed funding, unfortunately."

School Committee member Josh Amaral also touched on these concerns, saying that while the state didn't spell out any penalties for parents choosing to opt-out he said there can be repurcussions for the school department.

"Districts were not held harmless last year because of participation issues," said Amaral "I am operating under the assumption that if there are five, ten percent whatever growing number of people opting out of the test that would have an adverse effect on the school level."

The school committee will have their next meeting May 9.