Though students have been buzzing about the apparent “opt out” option for the PARCC over the past couple of weeks, only a handful of students are following through.

As of the end of the day Tuesday, 80 people have handed in forms refusing to take the PARCC. The day before that, only 25 students had handed in their forms.

PARCC testing takes place Tuesday through Thursday next week.

In New Jersey, the PARCC—unlike in some other states—is a state-mandated test. Consequently, New Jersey does not have an “opt out” option, which would imply that students could stay home during the test. New Jersey has a “refusal to test” option. According to principal Tom DeMaio, parents were not officially informed of the “refusal” route.

In order to “refuse to test,” students must get a form from the guidance office, have it signed by their parents, and hand it in to the main office. Though the deadline to hand in forms was on Friday, it has been moved to Monday, March 9, by 9 am. DeMaio said that most of the students refusing to test are juniors.

“What would be interesting to know,” DeMaio said, “is not that people are refusing. I think the interesting thing is why they’re refusing. We’ve always had a test; we’ve always had a HSPA or NJASK. Now it’s PARCC. Why the big uproar?”

DeMaio thinks many of the juniors may be refusing to test because of the proximity of the SATs.

“It’s a parent’s decision to refuse a mandated test,” DeMaio added. “Could there be repercussions from that? Possibly.”

The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is one of many routes that people could take in order to graduate. Other means to meet graduation requirements include the ACT, SAT, and PSAT tests among others.

“Right now you have 5 or 6 different ways to meet the Math requirement and Language Arts requirement through state testing,” DeMaio said. “Eventually the only test left will be PARCC.”

While the district does not have a stance on the “refusal” issue and will not interfere with a parent’s decision to have their child not take the test, The Department of Education is saying that 95 percent of students must take the PARCC or the school will lose funding.

“Whether or not they hold true to that, we don’t know,” DeMaio said.

Students who “refuse to take” the test will be required to sit in their assigned classrooms during the testing period. No electronics will be allowed. Students will be permitted to study or read a book and missing the day will count as an unexcused absence.

Students and parents from other school districts are refusing to take the PARCC as well. An article in the Bergen Record details the differing refusal rates other districts have had to that of Pascack Valley’s.

“We’re really not concerned about [what’s happening at other districts],” De Maio said. “We’re just concerned about our students and making sure the exams go smoothly.”