Democrat Freda Deskin, candidate for schools superintendent, says incumbent Janet Barresi is “a year late and $14 million dollar short” of solving a vendor problem.
She note that more than 8,000 students in grades 6-8 and End of Instruction were abruptly cut hort due to a testing vendor error: preventing students from finishing assessments that may determine driving privileges or high school graduation.
Deskin said that upon the recommendation of Barresi, the State Board of Education renewed the contract with CTB/McGraw Hill testing vendor for almost $14 million on the cusp of a similar testing interruption in April 2013.
“The state superintendent’s latest publicity stunt to end the contract with CTB/McGraw Hill is a year late and almost $14 million dollars short at the expense of Oklahoma’s children and taxpayers. I am outraged; it is bad enough to mismanage taxpayer money, but to also mishandle the future of our children. We prepare for the state mandated high-stakes test for most of the year – only to suffer a repeat of the testing disaster again this year,” said Freda Deskin, State Superintendent candidate and founder of ASTEC Public Charter School.
In January, all schools complied with Superintendent Barresi’s orders to halt learning for a ‘stress test’ upon her threats to strip educator’s of their certification if they didn’t comply and with the assurance this equipment test would alleviate testing interruptions.
“As the only candidate for State Superintendent who works with students in all of the grades affected by this testing debacle today, I cannot emphasize enough the stress and anxiety our students worked through to begin testing. Approximately 97% of our students are considered high poverty and are not awarded the opportunities of test preparation at home – we meet those needs to achieve student success. Unfortunately, Superintendent Barresi may use this vendor testing error to label and punishour students and schools again as she did last year,” said Deskin.
