It has been a sore point for the leaders of New York City’s opt-out movement that Mayor Bill de Blasio, who promised to be an advocate for public-school parents, has not fully embraced their protest against state tests.  They got the chance on Wednesday to express their concerns to the mayor directly, when a half-dozen parents and a principal who has criticized the tests met with Mr. de Blasio at City Hall.  The meeting took place a few hours after opt-out advocates held a news conference on the steps of City Hall, where they accused the city of failing to inform low-income parents of their right to refuse to have their children sit for the tests.  Ursulina Ramirez, the chief of staff to the schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, said in a statement that the mayor believed the tests were important but that he met with the parents because he wanted to hear their perspective.  “While these results give families, educators and the D.O.E. important information to hold ourselves accountable for improved instruction and academic progress, we’ve directed principals to respect a parent’s decision around these assessments,” Ms. Ramirez said, referring to the Department of Education.  The meeting was a result of a chance encounter between the mayor and one of the opt-out activists at Colson Patisserie in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where Mr. de Blasio often stops for an espresso on his visits to his old neighborhood, his office said.  In November, a group of parents wrote a letter to the mayor and the schools chancellor, laying out their complaints about the tests and asking for a meeting, but they had received no response.  At the bakery, the parent brought up the letter, which the mayor’s office said Mr. de Blasio had not previously seen.  The mayor’s office said the attendees were parents and one principal, Jamaal A. Bowman, of Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle School in the Bronx. Mr. Bowman has argued that the emphasis on the state tests hurts black and Latino students.  A version of this article appears in print on April 1, 2016, on page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Mayor Meets With Group of Parents Opposed to State Tests. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
An Education Department official said that although the mayor continued to believe the tests were important, he wanted to hear the parents’ views.