Education’s Erin Brockovich
Jeanette Deutermann’s family has long been involved in education. Her sister is a teacher. Her father taught physics; his students include a man who became one of the state’s top education officials. And she and her family moved back to Long Island from North Carolina, in part because of the quality of its public education.
But through a combination of personal experience, circumstances and her own education about New York State’s system, Deutermann became the first or one of the first Long Island parents to have her children “opt out” of now-controversial state assessments.
She founded Long Island Opt Out and grew it, using social media, strategy and a loophole in education law to get 65,000 Long Island students recently to refuse to take state assessments.
She became a major force in recent school board elections, as her group’s blessing propelled dozens of candidates to seats. Some call her education’s Erin Brockovich, a mother who shaped concerns about excessive, untested testing into a movement.
“I can’t say I’m not selfish,” Deutermann said. “I’d love to say, ‘It has nothing to do with me, I’m doing it for other people.’ I’m doing it for me. I’m doing it for my kids.”
Deutermann built an organization and became a calming and collaborative force, leading the charge as Long Island becomes a blackboard battleground.
“She’s a strong leader who understands how to cultivate relationships and community build to motivate others to take action,” said Lisa Rudley, a Westchester mother also leading the charge. “She is a thoughtful leader with tremendous integrity and has lit up this opt-out movement in unprecedented ways.”
The story of Long Island’s opt-out movement is the story of the biggest social movement to be mobilized on Long Island in years. More than 65,000 students “opted out” of standardized tests for students in grades three to eight this year, amid concerns that new tests had twisted the education system.
“One day we were complete strangers,” said Deborah Abramson Brooks, an attorney and co-founder of Port Washington Advocates for Public Education, who works with Deutermann. “The next, we were attending rallies together and bonding over the fight for the well-being of our children.”
Even New York State Chancellor of Education Merryl Tisch, who leads the state’s Board of Regents, weighed in on the issue of excessive testing.
She at a recent Regents meeting said the board needs to “reflect carefully about how much testing
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