HSA tops list of school board, parent concerns

Friday, Nov. 16, 2007

As per prior years, the board of education prepares a list of issues both funded and non-funded with the board’s positions on them. The board then submits these positions to legislators for consideration at the General Assembly.

One issue the board has taken a clear stand on in the past is the High School Assessments, four end-of-year exams that all high school students must pass to graduate. This requirement will begin with the class of 2009, this year’s juniors.

Calvert County’s board of education has in the past taken the stance that the HSAs are important exams and should remain; however, these tests should not be linked to graduation requirements. The state board held several pubic hearings regarding the HSAs, two of which board member Bill Phalen attended, and of the more than 60 people he heard speak, he said only two were in favor of the graduation requirement.

‘‘[MSDE] had [the hearings] which they promptly ignored,” Phalen said at the board’s meeting Nov. 15.

Phalen said he got the impression that the majority of the public was opposed to the graduation requirement and not the HSAs themselves.

Following the hearings, the Maryland State Department of Education passed a bridge program that will allow those having trouble passing the HSAs to complete a senior project to make the graduation requirement.

Board member Frank Parish said this bridge program, which he referred to as a ‘‘chicken dance,” could end up costing both the state and the MSDE a lot of money.

Calvert board members discussed how to word their position to reflect their opposition to the graduation requirement without coming across as being opposed to the exams themselves.

The board of education will present this stance along with positions on other issues such as state funding for the National No Child Left Behind Act, charter schools, line item budget control and kindergarten funding.

The school board will adopt its legislative position document at its Dec. 6 meeting and then submit it local legislators.

E-mail Gretchen Phillips at gphillips@somdnews.com.