Well, it's the end of a semester, which means kids are scrambling to hand in enough late work to somehow gain credit for a course that they, more often than not, have decided is not worth their time. Also, your eyes do not deceive you: the end of the semester and all the midterms come the week after students return from Christmas break. Don't worry, I bet they all study over those 2 weeks.
My particular favorite amongst these scenarios is a child named "Lance". A slow, lumbering, sloth-like creature, Lance likes to sit in the back of the class and do nothing. He came in late the first 6 weeks (like most of my students), but unlike most students, he chose not to make up the tests he systematically failed. He got an average of a 56.
At parent conferences, his mother stayed long past her allotted time to inform me that this was basically cheating Lance out of an education, didn't I know he came in late? And on TOP of that, he's DYSLEXIC! How can I do this to him?
I told the mother that I believed the grade accurately reflected his ability level in Spanish, and would only change it under one condition: If during the 2nd six weeks, Lance did "extremely well" and proved that he was a victim of circumstances the first six weeks. Well, wouldn't you know he got a 100 the next six weeks? Turns out it was all my fault; without my constant oppression, Lance is flourishing as a straight-A student.
Wait, that's not right. He failed the entire grading period until he scraped by with a 70 after I let him turn in a bunch of late work the day before grades were due (school policy... for success!). So I did not change the first grade.
Fast forward, and mom is seething. She says since I didn't "quantify" my expectations to merit a grade-change, I should change it anyway (I ended up giving him the average of the 2 six weeks = 63 instead of the original 56... after a "strong suggestion" from the assistant principal to change it to passing). In this meeting with the assistant principal, she also brought up how many "A" students seem to fail my class. I made the foolish mistake of tactfully suggesting that other teachers are perhaps much, much more lenient with grades than reason should permit. She looked at me like I had 12 eyes and then changed the subject.
To really keep up his stellar image, Lance was in a fight in November. As I approached both boys (on the ground by this point), I yelled "Both of you, come with me RIGHT NOW." The first boy followed, Lance lumbered away as quickly as he could and hid from me in the library. First boy got a conference with a (different) assistant principal. Lance got a referral for fighting and disobeying teacher instructions.
Would you like to see a copy of the rambling email I got from Lance's mom? I was merely copied on the email, it was addressed to the principal and her boss. Just imagine reading it on a Monday morning (after being called a "bitch" by a random student in the hallway... just to set the mood):
This e-mail is in reference to the problems I seem to be having with mainly Ms. MyName. At this time in the school year I feel as if this school is setting up my child to fail. As hard as I fight, everyday, to keep my kids on track I refuse to let my child fail because helping him achieve his goals were not meet by the school system. We are now getting into the fourth six week of the year and simple things that could and should have been fixed, concerning my son grades in Spanish, are still not done. In Ms. MyName class, my sons 1st six weeks grade is wrong and I was told that it would be fixed by the time the next report cards came out. That didn't happen. I'm still trying to get that grade fixed. How can you fail a kid who was not even in your class until the fourth week of the school year and did not even have a teacher for that class (subject). I am getting very frustrated with the answers and feedback (of what is now lies) that I have received as a response. This seems to be an ongoing problem that is not going to get fixed. I do plan to take this problem to VeryHighRankingSchoolOfficial and even a higher authority (if I have to). I am tired of the rudeness of the staff, the lies about whatever the school does not want you to know, and staff who do not seem to want their jobs. This referral that Ms. MyName wrote on Lance is another reason for my anger. She never told my child about this referral and he was never asked his side of the story (author note: remember how the child had RUN AWAY by that time?). Ms. MyName did have another student that was with her that is the person my child thought she wanted to come with her. talking to other students that was with him him story seem to fit better than hers. I am starting to wonder who is really conducting this school and why are more good kids getting in trouble? This referral is the first of its kind for us. The content of words like "ran away", "fighting?", that's a lie. I know why she said those particular word. Things like that happen so much around here so that is the reason words like "fighting" and "running away when he or she was ask/told to talk to an administrator" seems so common on referral. I am really feeling like my child is a target now at this school and I refuse to let that happen because I am a parent that speaks out. I will continue to say what I am concern about if I feel that my child (or any child) will be safer, wiser, or treated fair. While I am speaking of safety what is really going on especially on the second floor. Drug sales in the bathroom??? After a meeting with someone by Thursday (1/13/11) if unsatisfied this letter will be forwarded to SchoolBoardMember and others.
Mom'sName
P.S.- Did the other child get a referral? And also you need to check the back history of this other kid. To many other kids seem to get the short end of the stick with this kid. There has been a pattern ("of things to happen") with this kid since 3rd grade at ElementarySchool. I have the wrong e-mail for miss associateprincipal could this message please be forward to her. (thank you)
Ah, nothing like being called a liar in a digressive, disjointed, diatribe with heinous grammar errors... regarding the student that you stay after school to tutor and give extra credit to. YAY!
P.s. This is the first mention of drug sales in the bathroom... I cannot say I don't believe it.
Just to wrap things up, here is a submission (not from Lance) I got after asking the students to detail their daily routines. I forwarded it to the "strong suggestion" assistant principal, let's see if anything comes of it.
Yep.
0 comments:
Post a Comment