Schools

Pearl River Schools Opt Out of Race to the Top

The Pearl River School District Board of Education voted to opt out of the Race to the Top program. 

Pearl River Superintendent Dr. John Morgano recommended the decision. He explained why in a letter posted on the district website Tuesday, which was also sent out to parents. For more on the recommendation, read this report on Patch. 

School district in New York had until Thursday to opt out of Race to the Top, a federal grant program that was funded in 2009. Morgano spoke again Wednesday about his concerns regarding the program, which were the focus of a discussion when he joined a group of about 50 district superintendents in a meeting with the New York State Education Department (NYSED) last week.

The primary concern is protecting the privacy of students. Morgano explained that in the past, the district had sent its data to a regional information center, which then sent it to NYSED. 

"Now they are going to forward the data to a private company called inBloom, which will manipulate the data and produce reports for the school district and parents," Morgano said. "One of the issues the superintendents had was the data dashboard, the vehicle we will use to view the data, has one feature for student discipline. The state has never asked for individual student discipline (before). You don't have a dashboard option for that unless you intend to use it. That alone was reason enough for great concern, I believe.

"If we are not in it and we don't have the dashboard, we don't have to worry about providing the information."

Morgano said nobody could tell him for sure if the data from schools that opt out would be sent to inBloom or not. The state representatives also could not answer what kind of information would be collected.

"Tomorrow is the deadline," Morgano said. "If they could have answered our questions and given us the answers in writing, we may not have withdrawn. If I don't have the answers to our questions, I have to do something to protect (the students') privacy rights as much as I can. We can't not send the data to the state, but I can do this and that is my recommendation."


Morgano said he knew of approximately 25 schools opting out, primarily in Westchester. Some other schools planned to let the deadline pass and not pick a dashboard, but he was concerned that the state could choose one for districts that go that route. 

The move costs Pearl River $4,278 in aid. Morgano said he was able to confirm that it would have no impact on other grants and aid. The district could also opt back in at a later date, but he said he could not see why it would. 

Morgano said opting out of Race to the Top has no impact on the district's obligations regarding the Common Core Learning Standards, New York State assessments or APPR regulations for evaluating teachers and administrators. 


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