Parents concerned about testing issue

NORFOLK, Va. - A testing issue has sparked debate within the Norfolk Public School system.

Wednesday night, the Norfolk School Board, for the first time, heard from the public about the recent testing problems.

Those problems came to light last week when the Virginia Department of Education took issue with special education test results at Lafayette-Winona Middle School. The Department of Education says teachers violated rules by submitting work from students with numerous errors.

Norfolk School Board Members vow to find out what went wrong at Lafayette-Winona Middle School.

"We are working to get to the bottom of the issue with regards to testing irregularities," said school board member Kirk Houston.

The state says two dozen special education students at Lafayette-Winona missed tests which would have measured their progress causing students to not be properly assessed.

"My son was given his Christmas gift early," said one parent. "He's getting "A's" when he didn't deserve it."

Parents let board members know how they felt.

"I'm telling you, someone has got to wake up," said one parent, Victoria Makhlouf.

Makhlouf says the testing report was no surprise. She pulled her 8-year-old autistic son out of the school system, because she felt he was being neglected. "They get older and realize they can't function quite to the other level of kids that have been held accountable."

Parents believe some teachers are simply passing special education students to the next grade because of the pressure to maintain a passing classroom.

Parents think teachers are over worked and under trained.

"I do think the teachers that were caught in this instance need to be fired and a policy needs to be set," Makhlouf said.

Norfolk Superintendent Stephen Jones has ordered there be an independent review of the testing report at the middle school. Jones'  findings should be finished by the end of January.

Superintendent Jones also announced, starting soon, schools will be randomly audited to make sure the problem isn't system wide.

The superintendent also said Norfolk special education teachers will now be required to have more training.