Parents Thought They Were Meeting With the School Principal - Instead, They Were Greeted by a Cop

Lessons to be learned in today's society...

Challenge the status quo - Face the consequences!

Two Georgia parents who are refusing to allow their children to participate in the state’s standardized tests were confronted by a police officer and told they were trespassing on school grounds when they attempted to meet with administrators and express their opposition to the exams last week.

Today's dystopian society dictates that you WILL NOT question authority. You will not seek to promote an open dialogue. You ARE NOT free, no matter what the piece of paper that this country was founded on says.

Mary and Tracy Finney oppose their children taking the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests and had initially sent an email to administrators asking if they could opt out.

“To my knowledge, there is not an opt-out option for the CRCT since these tests are mandated by state law,” West Side Elementary School principal Karen Smits wrote back in an email, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. “I have forwarded your email to our Superintendent, Dr. Lembeck, and Associate Superintendent Dayton Hibbs for further guidance. Someone will be in touch soon.”

“With all due respect, we never requested to opt out,” Tracy Finney wrote in response. “We are REFUSING the CRCTs.”

So the family was refusing the CRCTs and requested a meeting to discuss the options.

The parents then scheduled a meeting with the school principal Wednesday morning. The meeting was confirmed at 6:40 p.m. the night before, but later canceled via email by Smits at 9:04 p.m.

The Finneys claim they didn’t receive notice of the cancellation and showed up at the school in the morning. They were greeted by a police officer.

The police officer’s report confirmed the parents were told they and their children would be trespassing if they remained at the school, the Journal reported.

“[W]e were not there to fight,” he said. “We were there to ensure our children were not forced to sit in the class during the test and told to stay quiet.”

Read More at the Article Source

I like people standing up and questioning things but I do not get what is bad with having a standardized test on skills that the kids should learn to have common knowledge of things including religion and science. Is there something in the test that is dumbing down people to not question authority that people are upset about?

My problem with school is that in social studies you are not taught to question the propaganda and lies that comes thru the television from government and corporations so that you can see how you are being manipulated.

The whole officer asking them to leave is something that is insane and I can agree with.

Good!!!! I hope this becomes common. I cant wait until all of the garbage being thrown at us becomes an everyday thing for everyday citizens. I am so sick of people that refuse to remove themselves from blissful ignorance. When the truth of this country is biting hard into the ass of every citizen we may finally get some resolve to do something about it.

originally posted by: LittleByLittle
I like people standing up and questioning things but I do not get what is bad with having a standardized test on skills that the kids should learn to have common knowledge of things including religion and science. Is there something in the test that is dumbing down people to not question authority that people are upset about?

My problem with school is that in social studies you are not taught to question the propaganda and lies that comes thru the television from government and corporations so that you can see how you are being manipulated.

The whole officer asking them to leave is something that is insane and I can agree with.

It shouldn't matter what the topic is that they are questioning. Being met by law enforcement for requesting a meeting with school officials about test you don't want your children to participate in is absolutely ludicrous.

a reply to: freakjive

My home state showing their stupid again..Disgusting.

As parents today, we are only viewed as incubators for the lock step future of what used to be America.

I've been seeing a lot more parents question WTF is happening in the schools they send their children to.

I hope it's not too late to turn this, heading for a crash, train around.

Des

This is where we are...trespassing on public, 100% taxpayer funded "property", now, question is..what is next???

a reply to: freakjive

The bigger issues are this:
1. School admins/officials back off "dealing with parents" and jump right to using the police as:
A. scare tactics
B. buffer so they don't have to deal with parents

2. Only initial response from admin/officials were "it's the law" and "we don't have an opt out option."

The end of the Blaze article at least said they have come to an agreement. However, the small hoops they had to jump through are still worrisome.

a reply to: freakjive

According to Harry Reid and the Democrats, these parents are "domestic terrorists" and need to have their homes SWAT teamed.

a reply to: freakjive

The parents should put them in private schools then or home school them or move somewhere else.

what is it about those tests that they dont like?

a reply to: snypwsd

In our case, it's the time spent out of class for these stupid tests. My 8th grade daughter is 3/4 of the way through the PSSAs (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment). She still has the science portion this week. So, 4 weeks of testing, 3-4 days per week. Enough to drive anyone mad. But, daughter has an additional problem - she's advanced in math & language arts.

She takes band, science, social studies and art at the middle school. Then she goes to the high school (small district, so same building) and takes Business Math (11 & 12 grade) and 9th grade English. The testing made it impossible for her to get to her classes, so she's had to make up 9 missing days so far. For what? We already know she'll score advanced on the tests. Waste of time. If I had realized how many days the tests ran for, I would have opted out to.

a reply to: freakjive

If I were one of these parents my next step would be to camp out at every single school board meeting on the slate for the next several months bringing with me every friend, relative and like minded parent in the area I could round up as well as inviting every local media outlet I could make contact with. Although it has been a while since my children were in school the one lesson that I learned very well is that it is the loudest of the squeaking wheels that gets greased. If they are dedicated and persistent they can incite change within their school district which will hopefully "catch on".

originally posted by: teslahowitzer
This is where we are...trespassing on public, 100% taxpayer funded "property", now, question is..what is next???

That is pretty messed up. I assumed that I would discover it was a private school, which I believe would make that "trespassing" claim valid. But no! From the source of the article:

According to Tracey Finney, the officer was extremely nice and professional, but told them being on school property while actively opposed to the test was “kind of a trespassing thing” and that their kids weren’t allowed on the property either if they weren’t going to take the test. The officer’s report confirms the parents were told they and their students would be trespassing if they stayed on the property.

Complete anti-Constitutional nonsense.

sounds like something is missing from this story.
If they send a cancellation-notice the night before, were the cops just "conveniently" there the next morning? Do cops normally show up somewhere "just in case" ? Why where they there to meet the parents if a cancellation notice had been sent

Umm, people, why was a cop waiting to "greet" them if the meeting was cancelled?

The cop was probably just there (guarding or patrolling) and they had no reason to be.

Also, please note the meeting was in the evening.

Poor mole hills...getting...so...tired.

a reply to: Son of Will

So....

If they don't send their kids to school, they may be visited by a truancy officer, because those kids MUST be in school by law.

But the lawman just told them they are trespassing by being at school?

What planet is this again? 'Cause it ain't the one I grew up on...

ETA: My son is special needs and I have butted heads with the Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent, numerous principals, special ed teachers, you name it....I have withdrawn him from school and changed schools. I am wholly and completely responsible for this child and I take that duty very seriously. I will fight tooth and nail for what I believe is right when it comes to his education, and that attitude has not made me a whole lot of friends within the school district. However, I have NEVER had to deal with a police officer over any of it. Maybe the parents would have done better to talk to these administrators and glorified paper-pushers with honey dripping from their lips. That's how I always go about it. I don't go over anyone's head unless they leave me no option, and I try to be very friendly and overly courteous to them. Sometimes you just get more flies with honey than with vinegar. Just my experience.

a reply to: TXRabbit

I live in a small town, but there is cop posted at every school in town - at each grade school, one at the junior high, one at the alternative school and probably several at the high school. Sadly, this has become the norm. I graduated in 1996, and I don't remember seeing cops at school except trying to catch people speeding in the school zones - lol. But never actually IN the school.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Maybe I mis-read the info above, but it looked like the meeting was confirmed by the principle at around six in the evening via email, then was cancelled about 3 hours later by same principal, also via email. I could be wrong about that, but if I had gotten the confirmation at six that evening, I probably would not have expected it to be cancelled three hours later and I probably would not have checked my email again that night. But that's just me - I try to stay off the computer at home since I work at one all day. Not trying to be rude - and maybe I read that part wrong - just trying to get the story straight - for myself and others.

a reply to: DustbowlDebutante

No, I misread it. It was for a morning meeting.

Thanks for the help and being nice about it.

Main point stands. All the schools here have cops either full or part time. And if the parents didn't have an appointment, they would have been turned away. Still doesn't seem to me like the cop was there just for them and just for this reason.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

I agree (if I'm reading what you are saying correctly - lol - I've been up all night with a sick kiddo and my brain is slow today).

Are you saying you think the principal anticipated a problem from this family and so had the cop stationed outside to keep them away?

Or are you saying it was just coincidence?

The article really doesn't give much background on the relationship between the school and the family. Who knows? This family may be very well-known throughout the district for making waves, demanding special treatment and causing trouble. They may be the family that every school employee dreads to see coming their way. Then again, someone in a position of authority within the school or district may have something against one of the parents and may be taking it out on the kids.

I definitely think the cop was overkill. All that had to happen was for the family to walk into the front office, the secretary could have told them that the meeting was cancelled and the cancellation email was sent out, and then the secretary could have offered to reschedule said meeting. Is this not how things work in the grown-up business world?

It's how I handle business in my office. Sometimes emails don't go thru or a message doesn't get passed along and things have to be rescheduled.

If the parents refuse to allow the school/state to test their children, they should pull them out and home-school them. Problem solved for all parties involved. Good gravy, why does everything have to be so complicated?

originally posted by: DustbowlDebutante
a reply to: TXRabbit

I live in a small town, but there is cop posted at every school in town - at each grade school, one at the junior high, one at the alternative school and probably several at the high school. Sadly, this has become the norm. I graduated in 1996, and I don't remember seeing cops at school except trying to catch people speeding in the school zones - lol. But never actually IN the school.

I went to high school in the early 80s in a suburb of Detroit, when I was a freshman, there was very lax security. All the school doors were open, inside and out, and no hall monitors except the teachers that happened to be in the hall. You could go to the front parking lot, in plain view of the main office and smoke cigarettes or some nature you could buy there for a dollar, and walk in the front doors without questions.

Then by my junior year they hired a hall monitor, tightened up security, and basically expelled you if you got caught smoking. Plus you could leave the building, but only the front doors would let you back in so if you wanted to take lunch off grounds, you needed an alternate entrance.

A few short years after I graduated, metal detectors and security guards became standard operating procedure.

I always found the testing times very strange when in grade school. With the fancy trail mix given to us like we were bribed with cheap snacks in order to perform better. Why only care about student nutrition and cognitive function during test times? The shorter school days also won the students over and nobody would question the true meaning of the testing.

What it boils down to is testing student knowledge in order to see how well your school is stacking up against other schools state and nation wide.

As more and more schools lose funding for artistic and extra-curricular activities, we are just going to churn out non-creative wage slaves with no real skills to survive in the real world. Purposely dumbing down society widens the gap between the rich and the poor, and keeps the wealthy in power.