Students seek injunction against MCAS

 

By Anand Vaishnav, Globe Staff, 2/21/2003

Backed by former Board of Education members, eight high school seniors in danger of being denied high school diplomas because they failed the MCAS test asked a judge to block the state from using the exam as a graduation requirement.

In the latest development in the closely watched legal challenge to the test, lawyers filed for a preliminary injunction in Suffolk Superior Court seeking to bar the state from withholding diplomas of students who failed the exam. Passing the test's English and math sections is a graduation requirement for the class of 2003, and the suit, filed in January, contends that the graduation prerequisite is illegal.

Yesterday's injunction request was an attempt to speed the timeline because graduation is less than four months away. Lawyers for the eight students - from Billerica, Cambridge, Holyoke, the Leeds section of Northampton, and Springfield - said they want a judge to halt the graduation requirement while they await trial on the merits of the case.

''Given the timing and given the reality of the court calendar, it's not likely we could get a full trial prior to graduation,'' said Nadine Cohen of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of the Boston Bar Association, and one of the student's lawyers. ''This preliminary injunction is very, very important.''

Among the key arguments: A graduation requirement based on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test is illegal because it was created through regulations, not through the Education Reform Act of 1993. Also, it narrows the curriculum by requiring students to pass just two subjects, English and math, rather than the other subjects targeted for improvement in the act, the suit alleges.

''The regulation is invalid,'' said students' lawyer Thomas Frongillo, with the Boston firm Testa Hurwitz &Thibeault.

Department of Education spokeswoman Heidi B. Perlman said she could not comment on the 106-page filing because officials received it late in the afternoon and had not read it. She said the state will respond ''in due course.'' The suit names the department and the Board of Education as defendants.

''The test we have in place is the right test, and we believe that what we're doing in Massachusetts is improving education,'' Perlman said.

Also filed were affidavits supporting the students from former state Education Commissioner Frank W. Haydu III and former Board of Education vice chairwoman Madelaine S. Marquez.

 

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 2/21/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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