PARCC test not planned for properly

To the members of the Board of Education and to whom it may concern, I am expressing my concern for the lack of planning and decision making during this past week, the first week the PARCC test was supposed to be administered.

My child attends third grade at the Hardyston Elementary school and was well prepared for the test. She slept, she had a proper breakfast, she took time to familiarize herself with the website over the weekend; she was ready to go on Monday. She did all that was suggested by the school.

Unfortunately, she only took the test on two occasions last week, two out of a total of five possible days.

I am not so much concerned that she could not take the test because there were two delayed openings and one closing, however, I am greatly concerned about what took place instead, which apparently was absolutely nothing.

During the time of the PARCC meeting held for parents to familiarize themselves with what to expect, there was no mention about what would/should happen if the PARCC test could not be administered. There was no mention that the children would basically not do anything for the remainder of the day and that there would not be any homework.

Day one: my child comes home from school, no homework. I asked how the test went; she replied that it was not given because of the delayed opening. I asked what she did and again, she claimed because they took the PARCC, they could not do anything else. Problem is they did not take the PARCC.

Day two: took the test, still no homework. Are my expectations too elevated to think that a 90-minute test should/does not incapacitate a third-grade class to the point that nothing else can be done for the remainder of the day?

Day three: delayed opening again, same as day one. I am stunned my child is going to school and learned nothing yet again because there is no Plan B. We are all familiar with the weather in the state of New Jersey. The likelihood of delays is very high as it happens every year, yet, Nobody thought about that possibility?

Day four: school closed
Day five: took PARCC, nothing for the rest of the day.

To summarize, my child did not have one day of schooling this past week. Had I taken her out of school to go on vacation, I would have been reprimanded to act against the laws of the state of New Jersey. However, if the school takes it upon themselves not to school my child, it appears to be perfectly reasonable.

Honestly, I am very confused.
Doing the math, my daughter now has 175 days out of 180 days of education, which, correct me if I am wrong, are required by law. In addition to that, the PARCC tests that she missed because of the weather will have to be made up on yet another day, which will then again turn into another non-productive school day.

It appears that the test to measure an 8-9 year old's readiness for college and careers more so interferes with the preparation for the same.

Again, my question, where is/was Plan B if the test is not administered that day? What happened to organizing and planning and if not for day one, then at least for day two but definitely day three.

Sina Brehmer-Songer
Franklin