Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Realistically, the blame does lie with administrators, the school board, and/or even those at the federal or state level. There is a tremondous amount of pressure to make sure that every kid passes. In our district the process we need to go through to hold a student back is so ridiculous most teachers don't want to go through it. I'm not saying it's right, but this is what happens. Because of this I had a sophomore who couldn't read the number 40,000,000 or the year 2015 and also did not know what physical features were. This really is a crisis and I'm sorry that you have had this happen to you.
She did not attend 'sporadically', but did have a couple weeks out at various timesin the year. Her grandfather is active duty military. Her grandmother was unable to get a job here when he transferred, so she commutes, but is only home for the weekends. They didn't know anyone and the school was unable to refer them to any help. They did not provide any instruction for the lessons she missed. As her parents (grandparents) are ESL, though she is not, they (the school) send her for additional help/tutoring, but according to the girl, they play games, but it didn't correspond with what was happening in the classroom.
Now that we have found each other, we will be able to help them out and she won't miss anymore school unneccessarily.
I do not want to teach. I have no desire to be a daycare provider. I wanted to stay home and raise my kids, not 30 others.
Of course, now I'm taking the other side of the fence. Parents suck too. I guess I was just angry about these summer school 'teachers'... who taught her nothing. But I will be homeschooling my kids from now on, to ensure they get an education... no more rolling the dice.
Hmmm, when most people say "a couple of weeks" they mean two or three weeks. "Various times" could be any amount but let's say three or four. So, the child missed from 30 to 60 days of school out of 180 days. Most school districts in my area contact the parents with a stern letter about truancy after the child has missed 10 days of school during an entire school year. By the time a child misses 30 days (which is very, very rare) they sometimes require medical documentation or refer the parents to social services for neglect(depending on the reason that they were absent). In my area if a child missed 60 days (1/3 of the school year) they would almost always be retained in that grade because it would have been impossible for the child to keep up with grade level skills needed to move up a grade.
I am sure that the family had a difficult time but if you aren't physically in school there is no way that you can learn the skills that are taught each day. The new skills build on the old skills so a child that is absent that often normally would have very serious difficulties in every subject.
Last edited by germaine2626; 08-02-2012 at 08:47 PM..
Hmmm, when most people say "a couple of weeks" they mean two or three weeks. "Various times" could be any amount but let's say three or four. So, the child missed from 30 to 60 days of school out of 180 days. Most school districts in my area contact the parents with a stern letter about truancy after the child has missed 10 days of school during an entire school year. By the time a child misses 30 days (which is very, very rare) they sometimes require medical documentation or refer the parents to social services for neglect(depending on the reason that they were absent). In my area if a child missed 60 days (1/3 of the school year) they would almost always be retained in that grade because it would have been impossible for the child to keep up with grade level skills needed to move up a grade.
I am sure that the family had a difficult time but if you aren't physically in school there is no way that you can learn the skills that are taught each day. The new skills build on the old skills so a child that is absent that often normally would have very serious difficulties in every subject.
my school district begins de-enrollment procedures after a kid has missed 10 straight days with no contact from the parent / guardian. if this chick was missing weeks at a time with no real excuse i'm surprised she wasn't simply de-enrolled.
IMO since attendance seems like such an issue home schooling would be best regardless of instruction.
my school district begins de-enrollment procedures after a kid has missed 10 straight days with no contact from the parent / guardian. if this chick was missing weeks at a time with no real excuse i'm surprised she wasn't simply de-enrolled.
IMO since attendance seems like such an issue home schooling would be best regardless of instruction.
Many other districts need the funding that comes with each enrolled student, so they try to keep them on roll as long as possible while sending out officers to determine why the child is missing.
She did not attend 'sporadically', but did have a couple weeks out at various times in the year. Her grandfather is active duty military. Her grandmother was unable to get a job here when he transferred, so she commutes, but is only home for the weekends. They didn't know anyone and the school was unable to refer them to any help. They did not provide any instruction for the lessons she missed. As her parents (grandparents) are ESL, though she is not, they (the school) send her for additional help/tutoring, but according to the girl, they play games, but it didn't correspond with what was happening in the classroom.
Okay, she did or didn't attend sporadically, and did or didn't have excessive absence? I based my response on this information that you offered earlier in the thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by sskc
Although she's been in my daughter's class for the past two years (and I am aware that Roman Numerals were part of their cirriculum), she has had sporadic attendance, due to her home situation - which is why she failed; excessive absences - grandma couldn't find someone to care for her overnight and get her to school when grandpa was sent for training.
When there are clearly homelife issues (and living with guardians who cannot, for whatever reason, ensure that attendance is regular is absolutely a homelife issue, regardless of how well-meaning guardians may be), it's really not legitimate to lay the blame squarely at the feet of what is or isn't allegedly going on in school. And, really, as others have mentioned, a couple of weeks out at a time here and there throughout the school year is actually a tremendous amount of instruction to miss.
Yes, my point was that she was PASSED with no indication given that her education/knowledge was lacking. Teachers blame administrators, administrators blame teachers, both blame parents, parents blame them. Nothing is solved. I am taking my own children out of the equation and choosing for them to have an education. My son has had some AWESOME teachers, my daughter has had one - it's a gamble, and I'm fed up.
She was not disenrolled, as the school was aware of the time she was missing, and where she'd be. When my stepmother passed, I approached the teacher, then was referred to the vice principal at my daughter's school, as she was going to be absent for 2+ weeks - as the vice principal told me, she was in charge of referring excessive absences, so as long as the teacher "approved", my daughter was passing and she was aware of the coming absenses, she would not refer the case. As to this child, she came back for Friday classes, having missed Monday through Thursday, for two weeks in a row. This happened twice - I did say "couple", right? Couple does not mean "two or three", as another poster stated. Couple means two. She had 19 absent days for the year (I saw her final report card, as she showed them to me when my kids presented theirs). At 18 (10%) you have to take summer school here to make up the time. She missed 3 other days for other reasons that I am unaware of.
Roman Numerals are on the STARR tests here in Texas. I know almost no one who really "uses" them. I also don't know anyone who uses trigonometry in their daily lives, so should we also cut this from the school cirriculum? How about Shakespeare? Who NEEDS Shakespeare (other than English majors/college professors) or poetry, for that matter? This is a ridiculous argument - it is one of the lessons listed in their cirriculum, so she should've been taught them. She did not miss one day of summer school; so while it's possible she was absent when they taught them in the regular school year, it is not possible for her to have missed them during summer school.
I am aware that teaching 30 is different than 3 (including my own two, plus this little girl). Her "tutoring sessions"/special classes have 3-6 students. Playing games is not the same thing as teaching, especially for a child attending because they have been identified as needing extra help.
Again, the problem isn't so much what she wasn't taught or missed, but the grades she received, which indicated that she HAD been taught these things and mastered them. It's not JUST Roman Numerals, though that has been the part some want to focus on here, but also multiplication, fractions, decimals... things she will (or should) actually USE in daily life.
I wish I could homeschool her too, but her parents (grandparents) are from Puerto Rico... and they don't seem to understand the culture here and why she can't just learn this stuff at school. I did speak with the school she will be going to, and have an appointment with the registrar to get myself and my husband set up as her temporary guardians with a temporary POA from her guardians. The registrar is apparently the school district's "go to" Spanish speaking personnel member (for want of a better term), and I hope to have her help the grandmother understand what has been happening and what is lacking, so that grandma will be better prepared to be an advocate for her granddaughter.
As to counting on her fingers, she should not have to use it for numbers up to ten. There is no memory issue with that. If you need your fingers to take three from four, well, that is strictly an intelligence factor - people go to college all the time and have degrees that they paid for (or their parents + the government paid for), but did not earn. It is a hard fact that a college degree is an attendance certificate these days, not a indicator of any actual knowledge.
Added: I know part of the reason she has been shuffled along in the past is because her grandparents are ESL - they and their concerns have been 'dismissed'. I thank GOD my daughter brought this little girl into our lives. As God knows, I excel in "battle" and while the school initially told her grandmother (and me too) "no" when she inquired about allowing me to register her granddaughter, and also to have them provide bus service to/from my home, I knew that they don't have that power - she did not know. I also knew that they don't want the kind of publicity that comes from blowing off a child of an Active Duty servicemember when he's called away. I also know that they get extra funds for having her enrolled, as her family is ESL and guardian is Active Duty... something grandma didn't know.
Again, while administrators could be blamed for this, none of the teachers stepped in to help explain to grandma that her rights were being stepped on. The teachers were aware, as grandma told me she had conferences with all 4 each quarter. One of the 4 teachers they had for fourth grade was in charge of teaching Spanish - so either she couldn't communicate because she's not qualified to teach Spanish or doesn't teach because she 'cares', at least not for this girl. And this is the best behaved girl I know this age... so sweet and eager to please. She's lived with us now for going on 3 months, and her behavior only gets better. And although I only know like 5 words in Spanish, I never seem to have a problem working things out with her grandparents. My best friend is a native speaker (Mexico) and I often rely on her to help me smooth conversation/communication problems with others by calling on the phone and having her translate, but I haven't had to use her with these folks.
Last edited by sskkc; 08-04-2012 at 10:52 AM..
Reason: added
Yes, my point was that she was PASSED with no indication given that her education/knowledge was lacking. Teachers blame administrators, administrators blame teachers, both blame parents, parents blame them. Nothing is solved. I am taking my own children out of the equation and choosing for them to have an education. My son has had some AWESOME teachers, my daughter has had one - it's a gamble, and I'm fed up.
<snipped>
Again, the problem isn't so much what she wasn't taught or missed, but the grades she received, which indicated that she HAD been taught these things and mastered them. It's not JUST Roman Numerals, though that has been the part some want to focus on here, but also multiplication, fractions, decimals... things she will (or should) actually USE in daily life.
Certainly, she should not have been passed and her parents should have been told that she was not learning. The teachers may have had to pass her or lose their jobs, but even then her grade would not have been that high. I wonder how she got a 91 in math in summer school, but I can say from experience that kids were graded more leniently in summer school in Chicago when I taught there.
I understand not focusing on specific things like Roman numerals. That was just a passing comment.
I've done summer school (8th grade math). You do not cover the entire year's curriculum in summer school.
And if they are in summer school then they have failed TAKS twice. By the time summer school starts schools have the results of the TAKS and focus on those parts where the most failed.
This year was STAAR though and it doesn't count yet and there was no second seating for those that failed.
But summer school is too short to cover an entire year's curriculum.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
