HERMITAGE SCHOOLS Officials object to state's plan for proficiency seal on diplomas

By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Hermitage school directors aren't impressed with the state's plan to place a state seal on the diplomas of high school graduates who exhibit a certain academic proficiency.
It's a bad idea, director James Lumpp said at Wednesday's school board meeting, urging the board to take a stand against it.
The proficiency rating is based on one test taken by all juniors.
An honor student who had a bad test day could end up with a permanent black mark on his or her high school record by failing to get a seal, Lumpp said.
Director Carol Rich spoke out against the plan, suggesting that the state is trying to take educational control away from the local school boards.
Superintendent Karen Ionta also objects to the plan.
Here's why: Local school districts know their students and know if they've met the graduation requirements set by the state and the local school board. A state seal is unnecessary, she said.
Carol Gurrera, district director of administrative services, said the state requires that the seal also be placed in the students' academic transcripts, which means colleges looking at applicants will know if a particular student got a seal.
Duane Piccirilli, board president, said private schools in Pennsylvania aren't required to get the seals, nor are charter schools.
It's only public schools that are being affected, he said, adding that the board will address the issue and will likely take a stand against it.
Teacher testing: The start of teacher testing in the state didn't go over so well in Hermitage, either.
Ionta said Hermitage was in the first group of schools selected by the state for teacher testing Nov. 21, and teachers took a half-day out of a scheduled in-service training day to take the computerized exam.
All teachers in kindergarten through the sixth grade had to take the math and reading portions of the test, and teachers in grades seven through 12 had to take only the reading portion, unless they teach a math or science course.
In that case, they also had to take the math portion, Ionta said.
All went well for the first part of the test, but some technical problems at the testing center's end of the computer line prevented about 40 teachers from completing the second portion, she said.
Some teachers were down to their last two math problems when their computers got knocked off line and they couldn't reconnect, she said.
What was determined: The testing center later contacted the district to ask when those teachers would complete the test, but Ionta said that won't happen.
"We're done," she told the board, adding that the district and its teachers took the time to participate and it wasn't their fault the testing center experienced computer problems.
She questioned the necessity of the testing, which the state says will help school districts map out their staff training and development programs.
"We don't need a test to tell us that," she said.