Nevada District Bullies Mother Over Opt-Out Notification

formychildren
Feb 3, 2015
2 min read

Clark County, Nevada, mother of six*, Claudia Kintigh, notified her children’s school that she would not be giving permission to, “subject my children to any statewide assessment, tests or computer-generated questionnaires.”

The response was nothing short of subtle bullying wrapped in a swath of legislative statutes that say nothing with regard to her right to exempt her own children from needless testing and the data bases that house and share their student data.

Following is a portion of the response Mrs. Kintigh received from Clark County Assistant Superintendent, Leslie Arnold:

The Nevada Revised Statutes do not provide “opt out” provisions for either testing or data systems. The Department of Education has carefully examined the relevant statues in an effort to accommodate parent and guardians. After careful review, it was determined that federal and state laws do not provide the latitude to accommodate the choice of “opting out.” U.S. C Title 20, which sets the requirements for serving children through public education, establishes that academic assessments “measure the achievement of all children…” [20 USC 6311(b)(3)(C)] and provides for the “participation in such assessments of all students…[20 USC 6311(b)(3)(C)(ix)]. This law is referenced in NRS 389.550 in providing for the administration of state examinations. Further, NRS 386.650 provides for an automated system of accountability information for Nevada which is a unique identification system for each pupil that can track individual students over time.

In effect, Ms. Arnold, has told Mrs. Kintigh, through a circular vernacular, that Nevada has laws supported by the federal government’s laws that require the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the local school boards to administer state tests and assessments along with collecting data on her children. No where in the referenced statutes does it state that the parents are required to subject their children to such testing and data collection.

This is a shameful attempt to force Mrs. Kintigh and her husband into submission because the state and federal government want children tested. The effort exerted to bully moms and dads into parental-impotency is appalling. Their energy would be better spent engaging parents into the classroom and decision making with regard to educating their own children.

Mrs. Kintigh does not intend to let this stand as she says she is, “ready to fight the good fight,” for her children and her parental rights.

*This article posted first at Truth in American Education . Thank you TAE.

It reflected Claudia is mother of five. Corrected here.