Pueblo County School Board considering waiver from state testing

The Pueblo County School Board (District 70) is considering seeking a waiver that could prevent it from having to take part in a new standardized test.

The test is called PARCC. It stands for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

The president of the board, Ted Ortiviz, told KRDO NewsChannel 13, “District 70 believes in accountability. However, I believe that we’re testing our kids so much that it’s getting in the way of learning.”

The state has received waiver requests from 26 school districts. Anita Stapleton hopes every school district in the state submits a waiver.

“They need to apply for their waiver. Submit their resolutions against PARCC testing so that the state board has the evidence in hand that there are more districts than not that want the autonomy back in their local area,” she said.

Stapleton’s son is a junior at Pueblo County High School. She refuses to let him take the test.

“They don’t measure academic growth. They actually psychosocial profile the students. It’s after the data. They want the student data, the family data,” Stapleton said.

Her son is one of 40 in the Pueblo County School District whose parent has opted them out of the new state testing.

In Pueblo City Schools (District 60), fewer than 30 students have been opted out, but more parents are thinking about it, including Kiera Hatton, whose daughter attends Corwin International Magnet School.

“It just feels like they’re testing for three weeks straight. I’m not sure that that’s really a good use of the time that they have in the classroom. I’d much rather her be learning math than testing math,” Hatton said.

District 70 is expected to vote on the waiver in two weeks, according to Ortiviz.

As for District 60, a spokesperson said the district is not interested in a waiver.