Truthout

Nadia Brumell, left, a student at the Rockaway Park High School for Environmental Sustainability, which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy, at her apartment complex in New York, November 13, 2012. (Photo: Robert Stolarik / The New York Times) As Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast of the United States, the worst fears became reality for many residents of Maryland, New Jersey and New York. While some property damage and elimination of some services were expected, few anticipated the enormous impact the storm and its consequences would have on public school students and educators in the region hit hardest by the hurricane.

Rather than use such time to connect what students learn to the pressures and issues that bear down on their lives, many school officials were more concerned about how to make up for lost time in in order meet the demands, if not the pressure, to demonstrate student performance on standardized tests.