When School Officials Bully Students.

My son has also been bullied. This is the e-mail I sent this morning to the superintendent & his principal this morning.

It is a a very sad day when the almighty test is more important than the well-being of kids.

This is the e-mail I sent to the Fairfield-Suisun Superintendent and his principal this morning as well. This emphasis on testing started in 3rd grade & because of his teacher then, he experienced extreme anxiety. I can’t believe we are facing almost the same experience now that he is in 11th grade.

Hello Ms. Cottingim-Dias,

Approximately three weeks ago, I notified Mr. Principal that our son would be opting out of the CST’s. This decision was not made lightly and came about after many lengthy discussions between our son, my husband and myself. We believe that the CSTs are not valid indicators of what our son has learned. We also believe and trust our son’s teachers to be able to best assess him and tell us where he is at academically as it is part of their job to do ongoing assessments throughout the school year. We further believe that the emphasis on testing and the pressure that is placed on teachers is taking away valuable learning time, something that has brought frustration to our son who has told me that he sees firsthand the pressure and stress his teachers experience during testing time.

Last week, it was brought to my attention that one of his teachers chose to target him in class. I am still trying to contact this teacher so that I can hear her version of the events. Unfortunately, she has still failed to contact me. Today, in yet another example of targeting our son, my husband received a phone call from Cindy in the Attendance Office at the high school. She told my husband that our son could not be on school grounds during the testing time. When I tried to talk to Cindy, she referred me to Ms. VP who would not address my concern, but instead referred me to the testing coordinator, Ms. TC. This person was not available to talk to me, so I have yet to speak to anyone about why our son could not be there today. He was there yesterday and nothing was said. So, I’m not sure what changed from yesterday, when apparently it was okay for him to be on school grounds for testing to today when all of a sudden it is not okay.

When our son was in 3rd grade, he went to our neighborhood school. We ended up having to pull him out of school there because of the bullying behavior we witnessed by some of his teachers and the administrative staff. This bullying caused him to suffer extreme anxiety for which cost him a good half a year of learning. This school district is very lucky that my husband and I merely chose to withdraw him and find a school that was willing to work with him – a school in Vallejo with teachers who cared more about his emotional well-being in conjunction with his learning, something he clearly did not experience at our neighborhood school. It now seems like he is being bullied again by those he should be able to trust, his teachers and administrators.

I am hopeful that someone will assure me that any bullying and intimidation that is taking place in regards to the CST’s will cease immediately and that our concerns will be addressed.

Thank you for your consideration.