“If you don’t take the PARCC, you will have to sit in a classroom for four hours and be quiet.”

“You will have to read a book alongside your classmates taking the test.”

“You will have to read quietly the auditorium.”

Those were just a few of the lines I heard repeatedly just days before the PARCC state testing began.

While students were going about their day prior to the PARCC, no one even thought that not taking a state-mandated test was even an option. Approximately two weeks before the test was distributed, there was a lot of talk, regarding the “opt out option” or in actuality, “the refusal option.”

I made the decision to not take the PARCC and I was quite shocked at how the students who refused to take the test were dealt with. There were many rumors swirling around in regards to what the students would be doing if they chose to not take the test. While some heard that other schools were allowing their students to stay home, others were informed that schools had a similar kind of arrangement that we had here. Pascack Valley principal Tom DeMaio explained, “You have schools that have 30 kids that refused and schools that have 600 or 700 kids that refused. Each school handled it differently.”

Contrary to popular belief, the students did not sit in classrooms, lips zipped, books open on lap. This only applied to a few freshmen, due to the fact that only about 25 to 30 of them refused the test. Sophomores and juniors were ushered into the auditorium where we were separated alphabetically and told to not have any food, drink or technology out and remain quiet. While this seems to be the perfect opportunity to work on schoolwork, it was not the most accessible, to say the least.

Pascack Valley junior, Caitriona McIntyre, said, “This school is very pro-tech. All our schoolwork is on the laptops and we can’t use them.” However, although many may have mistaken the no-technology policy as a punishment or were just confused in general, there was a particular reason for this. The administration wanted to ensure that the bandwidth was not compromised. In other words, they did not want to have any disruptions with Internet for the students taking the test. The students’ cell phones and laptops could have interfered with the Wi-Fi that was utilized by the test takers. While this idea would benefit the students testing, it did not make sitting in the auditorium any easier for those who did not partake in the PARCC.

The first day was approximately three and a half hours in the auditorium. Students were scattered about and while some were reading books, finishing up homework (that was not to be completed on laptops) or doing SAT/ACT work, others broke out the pillows and throw blankets and treated this time like it was a nice four-hour nap. People chatted as if it was an extended study hall, but I am not sure as to what exactly the expectation was. Students got bored quickly and yes, they were gradually becoming more and more antsy. However, due to PV’s attendance policy, if the students did not attend school during the PARCC, they would be marked absent for reporting purposes, so it was advised not to skip the morning of school.

I will admit, after the first day of sitting in the auditorium, I was not too thrilled to have to do it two more times. However, as the next couple of days went on, I got used to it. It was not as terrible as I thought it would be. By the time Thursday rolled on in (which was a considerably shorter amount of auditorium time than the days prior), students seemed to be enjoying themselves to a certain extent and simply used it as a time to socialize.

It is unknown as to how the PARCC will be handled in the future. It is also unknown as to if there will still be an option to refuse or what the students will be doing if they choose to do so. From what it looks like, the test is not going away any time soon

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