Our Rose Cup Weekend

Before I post how the race went this weekend I want to post the reason we did this. It was another venue to bring attention to our cause. To let parents who don't feel good about the WASL, but don't know where to turn, know that they are not alone and that there is a organization fighting for their children's rights.

This race may have been in Portland but being right next to Vancouver many people from our state attend this event. I was able to talk with many people from Washington at this event and then there will be all the people reach through the article in the paper.

This venue was our way of "thinking outside the box" something that our state is no longer allowing our children to do, but as parents we need to encourage in our children. We need to think outside the box to get our message out that WASL is a flawed test and if that means throwing a anti WASL emblem on a race car and entering it in the Rose Cup than so be it. This emblem will be on all my husbands races for the rest of this year and we will be racing again in Portland, in Seattle, and in Mission BC. Parents need to know they are not alone!

We had the photographer from the Columbian with us for a couple of hours, but then again he was a car nut so that was to be expected. The reporter was with us for just under an hour. He had no experience with the WASL at all, he is a general reporter not an education reporter but he still did okay in his reporting.

To put this race in perspective, my husband normally races in the ITE class where he places in the top three, these are similar cars in speed and capabilities.

This weekend he raced in the Rose Cup which is an SPO classes. This class has some seriously fast cars, but was a chance in a life time to mix it up with these fast cars.

The track is 1.964 miles long.

The top three races cars were as follows:
1st place Chevy Monte Carlo, specially built race car...fastest lap time 1:13.230
2nd place Dodge Viper...fastest lap time 1:15.771
3rd place Porsche 962...faster lap time 1:13.965

Steve placed 23 out of 41 cars ( the Columbian had the wrong number of cars)...his fastest lap time was 1:27.423

As you can see this comes down to seconds!

In this race there were 2 Monte Carlo, 4 Vipers, 1 Corvette, 2 Pont Grand Prix, 1 Mustangs, 13 Porsche, 5 Panoz GTS, 2 Cobras, 2 Camaros, 3 RX7 just to name a few.

One of the highlights of this weekend was talking with students who have taken the WASL and hear their stories, it just made me want to fight this test all the more. I talk with one 19 year old who was a 4.0 student all through high school yet failed all three sections of the WASL. Like she said to me, if I was graduating in the class of 2008 I would not be getting my diploma yet I worked hard in school and had a 4.0 GPA. Another told me how she threw up each day before the WASL this year and was sick to her stomach through all the testing, she said she barely ate during WASL time. She said she didn't have her scores yet, but figured she didn't pass, she said there was stuff in the Math WASL that she has not yet learned. Another family talked to me about the stress this test was causing in there family and was happy to know there was an organization fighting this test. I could go on and on!

Despite the comments made in the comment section on the Web site of the Columbian, I feel the weekend was a success. We were able to touch many families and got our name in the newspaper once again. Now there is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Johns Laird's Fathers Against Mothers Against WASL will rear it's ugly head this week, that is to be expected from the bias Columbian Newspaper that is pro WASL! But I will hold my head up high knowing that we got our message out down here in Vancouver.


http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/06122006news35244.cfm

Taking it to the test

Monday, June 12, 2006

PORTLAND -- Lisa Sampson is putting her foot down about the Washington Assessment of Student Learning exam.

Her husband, Steve, helped out by putting his foot down on the gas pedal at Portland International Raceway this weekend.

An Oregon racetrack might seem a strange place to tell Washington parents about the test, but Sampson had a good reason for being there. Her group, Mothers Against WASL, sponsored a car competing in the Rose Cup race.

The black 1994 Chevrolet Camaro Z28, which hits speeds of 120 mph, was adorned with the group's "WASL-busters" logo. It was driven by Steve Sampson.

While others might take a more traditional route for their cause, Sampson had the idea of decorating her husband's race car.

"We decided to do it a couple of weeks ago," she said as engines revved in the track's pit area.

Putting the logo on the car is just another way of spreading the word, said Lisa Sampson, who is an executive board member for the organization.

The response from race fans was good all weekend long. A lot of parents don't like the exam, but they don't know how to oppose it, she said.

Sampson was ready to tell them how. Parents can request that the test not be administered to their child, she said. She also told parents that they could request copies of their child's test.

Sampson isn't opposed to testing, she's just against the WASL.

"It's a flawed test, it doesn't measure basic skills," she said as race cars slowly drove past her after the race.

She has also said that the exam tests how students think as opposed to what they know.

It's not a standardized "bubble test" that many adults took when they were in school. "It's a very subjective test" that is graded by people who aren't educators, she said.

Honor students have failed it, a test that they should easily pass, she added.

And high school students shouldn't be required to pass the test in order to graduate, she said.

Sampson has opted her son out of the test at Mountain View High School. And she plans on doing the same for her other children, who attend Ellsworth Elementary School.

"Why subject your child to a flawed test?"

Meanwhile, Steve Sampson had his own version of a pass/fail test to worry about and finished 23rd out of 51 racers. He didn't do too badly, considering that the amateur driver was racing much faster cars than he usually does.

A Chevrolet Monte Carlo that is "scary fast" won the race, he said. A Dodge Viper came in second overall.

Jose Paul Corona can be reached at 360-759-8038 or jose.corona@columbian.com.

So that ladies and gentleman is my weekend Rose Cup Report!