Posted on 06/14/2007 2:49:33 PM PDT by Sopater
WATERBURY, Conn. Every school district has those few students who lag behind a grade or two, but 2,000 of them?
Thats approximately the number of students that might have to repeat their current grade in Waterbury, Conn., under the citys newly enforced absenteeism policy, WFSB.com reported Thursday.
The current policy prevents students with 19 or more unexcused absences from advancing to the next grade.
"These kids shouldn't be advancing end of discussion unless I hear otherwise," Board of Education President Patrick J. Hayes Jr. told Channel 3 Eyewitness News Monday. "It would make a mockery of the whole system."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Isn’t that what the Dim’s have been trying to do for the last 40 years?
About time students aren’t just passed to the next grade for no better reason than “just because”
Attendance rules are moot since public education is already a mockery in many locales.
Bueller? Bueller?
Good to see they’re trying to end social promotion.
That’s good, but this poor man will be called a racist and mean-spirited for trying to make a diploma mean something.
It’s not going to be long before students who excell in school will be held back a year, or more, in order to prevent self-esteem problems with all rest of the morons.
Huh? This is NOT good. It’s not about “social promotion”. It’s about forcing kids to repeat a whole year of government indoctrination if they missed 10% of the indoctrination time this year, REGARDLESS of how well they performed academically. Given the crap that goes on in public schools, there is certainly no direct relationship between achievement and time spent sitting through the classes.
I had a friend in college who’d missed a great deal of school during elementary and middle school, in large chunks, due to having leukemia. She did her academic work in the hospital and at home during the periods she couldn’t attend school. At a meeting with school officials, her father asked them how they could explain the fact that there was an inverse correlation between her grades and amount of school attendance (didn’t get much of an answer, obviously). She went on to do very well in high school, and in a highly ranked college.
It’s ridiculous. You shouldn’t have to get a doctor’s note every time your kid is absent.
If the kid has a note from the parent, the kid does the work, and the kid can pass the final they should go to the next grade.
Exactly. Schools aren’t baby-sitting facilities. The student’s time is a matter of him and his family.
If the student learns his stuff and passes honestly, all is fine.
Except that 19 unexcused absences are ridiculously few to justify the repetition of an entire year. Set the mark higher, to at least make it appear reasonable.
My state (MO) operates exactly in this fashion, and I believe CT does too.
They’ll probably just give them amnesty.
19? It was 15 when I was in school, and most kids never got that many, anyway.
Going to make their money back one way or another, aren’t they?
“Given the crap that goes on in public schools, there is certainly no direct relationship between achievement and time spent sitting through the classes.”
A universal truth, unfortunately.
During my junior high and high school years I had exactly ONE unexcused absence when a friend and I ducked out to take our driver’s tests. One half a day out of 4 years. That was about typical for my generation. Many of today’s useless drones don’t know the meaning of personal responsibility and neither do their parents.
I’m well aware of that. It’s how California runs its schools also.
Yesterday, the 8th graders at my son’s middle school graduated. However, today was the last day of school and they planned a carnival. The 8th graders were required to attend.
I told my 7th grade son to go to school and call me if he wanted to go home.
I didn’t have to read the entire article to guess that the ever diligent journalist did not provide a statistical racial breakdown of the 2000 flunked students.
Move along....not relevant. No, not relevant to the story at all.....
If you miss school because you have a cold and don’t go to the doctor and get a note signed, it’s considered an unexcused absense.
When I was a kid, all it took was a note from the parents.
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