By Nina BishopMy son is crushed and has cried most of the evening. I held my ground and stood firm against what I believe is wrong, against my rights as a parent and as a citizen of the United States and we were denied entrance to Rocky Mountain Classical Academy
Clearly, they can teach the Constitution but just don’t believe in it. They fail to see the hypocrisy of what they’ve done. They teach the Constitution and Bill of Rights but don’t practice it. This is exactly what we fought against during the Revolutionary War; taxation without representation. My kids were in school on count day and RMCA received funding partly because my kids were there.
Part of $50 million plus we waste on CSAP testing and all the other standardized hogwash came from taxes that I paid.
Yet, I have no rights as a parent or an American when it comes to the education of my children. It’s in essence, taxation without representation and to hell with the Constitution! I have no rights and you have no rights and our children belong to the state.
It’s all about the testing not about our kids or our rights as parents to guide their education; so stated by the Supreme Court and Colorado Revised Statute 22-1-123-(5) (a). Schools don’t tell parents their rights; it would ruin test scores.
RMCA is a charter school that my kids have attended for the last two years. We’ve opted out of testing before and were not denied entrance. The new principal, Ms. Fogler, was unconcerned that my son has a 504 Plan due to anxiety and Asperger’s characteristics. She’s unconcerned that denying him entrance will cause him more harm than it would cause the school.
My son is gifted, he reads way above his grade level and his vocabulary is huge. He’s a science sponge and a creative writer but needs a 504 Plan under the Americans with Disabilities Act. RMCA will take students with lower GPA’s, behavior problems and from out of district but will not take my son because we refused standardized testing; not only due to my son’s condition but because it’s wrong and all the constitutional and educational evidence supports my case.
RMCA deduced his gifted abilities; he has no behavior problems and is a high achiever. Two of his teachers from RMCA wrote letters of recommendation for his admittance into an education augmentation program at UCCS. It’s all testing; that’s all that counts. The students and parents don’t count and have no rights. I thought we lived in the United States of America; I must be wrong. I guess the school, the district and the state are King George and we’re still part of England!
The thing that makes me infuriated and deeply sad is that by teaching my son that we have rights as Americans and we have to stand up and defend those rights; he’s no longer allowed to attend the school of his choice with his friends. It was a very hard lesson to learn at age 11; that your school and your government is filled with hypocrites.
When did it become acceptable or permissible for testing to come before the betterment of the student? When did Americans become so passive and complacent that we let the powers that be strip us of our rights? That’s okay…we’ll take this lesson because in 7 years my son becomes a voter! Lesson well learned."
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Illustration: President Obama's trampling of the constitution
