School board to vote on defying exit exam law

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/5/6 | Simone Sebastian

[SmithL]

Nearly 500 West Contra Costa high school seniors who have failed the mandatory California Exit Exam could receive diplomas anyway this June if a majority of the school board joins a colleague's call to rebel against the controversial graduation requirement.

Trustee David Brown says the graduation test is unfair to many students. One of the other four board members is willing to consider joining Brown in support of the plan. Two board members are adamantly opposed, and the remaining member is undecided.

A vote is scheduled for Monday on the proposal, which would grant high school diplomas to students who satisfy all course requirements and either pass the exit exam or an alternative assessment designed by local officials and graded subjectively.

"What can we do for our students who have demonstrated they will have a successful life, yet can't pass the exit exam?" Brown asked in proposing the resolution. "There's a work ethic that's needed (for employment) that our students demonstrate that may not show up on an exit exam."

Adoption of his plan would make the West Contra Costa Unified School District -- which covers Richmond, North Richmond, El Sobrante, El Cerrito, San Pablo, Pinole, Hercules and Kensington -- the first in California to reject strict adherence to the exit exam law.

State Department of Education officials said Tuesday they contacted Cynthia LeBlanc, the district's interim superintendent, to warn that passing the resolution would violate the law. The Chronicle could not reach LeBlanc for comment.

But Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for the state education department, said her agency "would look at all possibilities, including enforcement through the courts." She also pointed out other leverage, noting that "the Department of Education is the entity that provides funds for schools."

[SmithL]

Do the students also get to pick and choose which rules to follow?

[2banana]

Will they put a big asterisk on their diplomas so future employers know that they are idiots...

[mnehring]

Work ethics are useless if you cannot read the ethics manual from the company that hires you.

[polymuser]

It'd be interesting to know if Trustee David Brown is one of the board's union players.

More dung from the unionized diploma mills called public schools.

[Chiapet]

Nearly 500 West Contra Costa high school seniors who have failed the mandatory California Exit Exam could receive diplomas anyway this June if a majority of the school board joins a colleague's call to rebel against the controversial graduation requirement.

Trustee David Brown says the graduation test is unfair to many students. One of the other four board members is willing to consider joining Brown in support of the plan. Two board members are adamantly opposed, and the remaining member is undecided.

Translation: We are incapable of teaching effectively enough to prepare students to pass this exam, and we don't know what else to do with them, so let's allow them to graduate.

[Gay State Conservative]

More American students who can't read their diplomas.Just what American industry needs to compete!

[RicocheT]

This school board should also had out rolls of toilet paper to their graduates along with these bogus high school diplomas. Both contain paper useful only for cr^p.

Bogus high school diplomas given for learning nothing in 4 years cheapen all their graduates. Employers are now on notice these kids know squat.

[freeangel]

Well now, that's the ticket! Along with granting amnesty to every ILLEGAL in the country, the US could also grant high school diplomas to each of them so that they will not be considered part of the uneducated "class" of citizens. We wouldn't want to have our new "citizens" feel badly about themselves while looking for gainful employment.

[P-40]

the controversial graduation requirement.

It is controversial to require that students meet the learning requirements before they get a diploma that is given to prove that they have met those requirements? Am I missing something?

[demkicker]

I doubt anyone who reads this will be very surprised. Reminds me of the big brouhaha a few years ago about high school seniors who failed and were not going to graduate. These kids and their parents threw such hissy fits that their kids were not going to get to walk across the stage with their classmates or hear their name called even though they wouldn't be given a diploma.

Their logic was that students who failed were going to go to summer school to pass the necessary classes to get their diploma and it wasn't fair to deny them a graduation ceremony with their class! Nevermind the fact that many would fail summer school too.

Of course, the schools caved in and these dumb@sses paraded across the stage celebrating like fools. And the reason I know all about it, of course, is because the media was there in all their glory to cover it , sympathizing with the failures.

[demkicker]

Please read my post #10

[Thombo2]

Students who can't pass the exam can take "an alternative assessment(exam)designed by local officials and graded subjectiely."What a joke.Alternative assessment exam = coloring book and crayons?

[P-40]

Please read my post #10

When social promotion was really starting to rear its ugly head its supporters said that the students would not be able to get good jobs without the diploma. Trying to explain to them that it was not the diploma that mattered but what it stood for was pointless.

[Lancey Howard]

Nearly 500 West Contra Costa high school seniors who have failed the mandatory California Exit Exam could receive diplomas anyway

Let them do whatever they want. Who cares? Most of those kids will never do anything productive with their lives anyway except hold up liquor stores and have babies like flies. So let the school board hand out some meaningless paper if it makes them happy.

[ApplegateRanch]

Let them have the diplomas, BUT print each student's class-standing on them. Oh, and add in any Honors, too.

"Richard Head; 8 Varsety Letters; 679 of 679," would tell the story quite nicely.

[P-40]

So let the school board hand out some meaningless paper if it makes them happy.

That is the problem. By and large, the high school diploma used to mean something. You could see that someone had the diploma and that would mean that they could perform a set of basic skills. Now it does not even guarantee that they can read.

[peggybac]

This is great for the libs - keep em illiterate and stupid. Those leeching off the government equals more votes for the dem party. It's obvious libs don't want the young kids to succeed in this country - they show it in every way except verbally.