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Parents, community leaders against easing of graduation standards

Parents say lowering the standards will hurt students and their future.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A group of parents, church leaders, and elected officials are raising their voices against a move made by the New York state education department to lower the standards for high school graduation in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The group says the state allowing those who score a 50 on the regents exam to still get a diploma makes the diploma essentially not worth more than the paper it's printed on.

"I think it is an insult to our community that we continue to dumb down education," Bishop Michael Badger of Urban Think Tank said. "This is not compassion for our children. Compassion for our children is to ensure they can read and write on grade level and that they graduate college and career ready."

And when you don't, and when they are not, it does them no good in the world that awaits them.

"So for example, if you're going to be an attorney, you're going to have to pass an exam to be an attorney. They aren't going to say, we're going to decrease the standard of being an attorney just to give you an attorney's license," said Samuel L. Radford III of Community Action Organization and We the Parents. "You want to drive a truck, you're going to have to pass an exam."

Radford claims lowering the bar allows the state education department to cover-up how badly the system performed during the pandemic, despite billions of dollars spent on the system.

"This is not for students. This is for adults," Radford said.

Radford also talked about something called the college career and civic readiness indicator of students, after last year, when tests were canceled entirely.

"So in Buffalo, they said up to 79 percent of students who got a diploma, 75 percent of them are not college or career ready," Radford said. 

With talk of extending the less stringent requirements into next year, they've started a petition drive to stop it, and they are not alone. They've found a powerful ally in the form of the majority leader of the New York State Assembly, Crystal Peoples-Stokes.

"I've already mentioned this to the governor earlier today, to let her know this is not going to work for our community," People-Stokes said. "This is a mistake, it should not stand, and I will do everything within my power to make sure you do not change the standards to lower people's capacity to be able to live and work in this society."

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