Despite "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" being this week, a school district in Pennsylvania is telling parents to keep their kids in school instead to avoid interference with standardized testing.

In the Easton Area School District, "Superintendent John Reinhart alerted parents about the district's policy through a message on the district's website. In an interview, he said any student who goes to work with their parents instead of reporting to school on Thursday will be charged with an unexcused absence," according to an article from Lehigh Valley Live.

The decision has been met with criticism from some. According to the article, one parent went so far as to write to the state's Governor to take action. The executive director of the foundation that organized "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" was not as angry, yet was "perplexed that the district doesn't appear to be working with parents to make sure their children get the chance to spend a day at the workplace instead of the classroom."

Reinhart has responded to criticism by arguing that the day should be reschedule for the summer so that it doesn't interfere with classroom instruction at all.

The foundation's executive director, Carolyn McKecuen, "said the day's been the fourth Thursday of April ever since its inception in 1992. She said the reasoning, in part, is that children would be able to return to school on Friday to share what they learned in the workplace with classmates," according to the article.

McKecuen said "she hopes Pennsylvania considers a different time of the year for testing so it doesn't conflict with the day in future years. New Jersey a few years ago had a similar conflict that has since been resolved by its Department of Education..."

Read the full article here and comment below.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

04/20/2015