Posted on 04/22/2005 3:33:56 PM PDT by GeorgiaBushie
And to think that you have 3 more years of dealing with this school and its employees. Be brave, and pray, a lot.
Dear Georgia:
Please contact the ACLU. Yes, they are dismantling American education, but you have a perfect case, and you can really rub their noses in their totally unfair way of deciding who they will represent.
Also, don't send a note. Hand deliver it, and make sure you impress upon the idiots running that school that they're not going to get away with it. After you got kicked out on your can from the ACLU, please try the Christian conservative law centers. There are several. Let your daughter know that right is right, and no amount of "go along to get along" will make her a more educated person, and you're the mom, and you're going to stand up for her. Good luck to you and Ashley, dear.
I am going to try and get my daughter out of that school.
I forgot to add, before, that during my research, I learned that over 40 teachers (20% of Osborne teachers) are not renewing their contract at the school and it would be most interesting to know why. Is it part of NCLB's Highly qualified teacher or are the teachers upset at the school. Someday, someone will answer it for me.
Go to the post office & get material for sending certified,return receipt letters. Send ALL of your correspondence to the super, et al via this method. At the beginning of each and every letter, note the certified number being used for that letter. This method denies them the opportunity to claim that, "yes, we got the letter, but it didn't say what you claim it said".
This type of [undeniable] paper trail is a real attention getter for bureaucrats. Fewer [overt] threats are necessary because the method alone indicates a reasoned precurser to legal action.
You can trust me on this. I know from personal experience. And this is the recommended procedure by lawyers.
Wow - I never thought it would go this far. Poor Ashley must be very upset at having to go to summer school when she did nothing wrong.
Good luck with your quest!
Go up the chain of command. If you get no where with the principal, head straight to the district office. I usually got results there.
Per your previous posts, all calls were made by cell phone and a list was kept so that I could prove the calls being made.
This really has moved beyond the grades. I tried to tell that to the 9th grade administrator, but he did not want to hear it.
I feel really bad for other parents out there that are unaware that NovaNet (a program promoted for children in non-traditional learning environments ie students that are behind, adult-education and transitional learning centers) was adopted as a one size fits all education for all of the Algebra 1 classes.
Students that were capable of passing Algebra in a traditional educational environment were robbed of an education and were self taught to take the tests.
Which, are not a true measure of what they were doing. With the NovaNet system, a child works on a particular chapter and takes a test when they feel ready, generally once a week. If the child makes below an 80, they must stay on that chapter until they score an 80 on the test and that score will replace all other scores.
In essence, all of the children should be passing Algebra with a pretty grade. The only thing that can bring it down is class participation and final exams.
Using this as an example, a child could have an 80 in Algebra 1 all year, yet only be on chapter 6. I estimate that there is a large portion of children on this chapter and most parents do not realize that even with an 80, their child essentially flunked Algebra 1 as they will spend most of the next year finishing it.
The school had the nerve (or was too stupid) to send me a letter stating that Osborne had made great progress in Algebra 1 and then later in the letter said that my child would not be receiving credit for Algebra until she finished all of the chapters. At least 452 out of 492 parents received the same letter.
They did not seek to comfort parents by letting them know that only 8% of freshmen completed the requirements for Algebra 1.
This is turning into another wordy post, but what boils me is that students were capable of being challenged weren't. They spent their time learning on their own (right or wrong) and teaching their friends how to do the work when the teacher could not get to them quickly enough(some students were stuck for weeks. If you read about NovaNet they promote kids helping kids as a great benefit.
She tried to tell me that she passed and would only need a few weeks to catch up next year.
Ashley came around after taking her final exam and making a 65. The end of the year grade bothers her and she wants to do better. She was recalculating her GPA based on a 90 in Algebra 1.
I am glad that Ashley is going to go to a good summer school.
It is so disappointing to have to learn this lesson about the state of some of our public schools. The silver lining in all this is that Ashley now understands that learning is her responsibility if she wants to do well on the SATs and the other college entrance exams. Once she "gets" this concept, no matter how bad the school system, how poor the curriculum, or how lousy the teacher, she will tackle her studies with enthusiam.
Here in NY State, we have something called Regents' exams. In the bookstores, you can get copies of the last few years exams. We did this with our children. They could look over the exams, and make sure that they studied on their own to take them. Many times, a teacher wouldn't cover entire sections of material that they would be required to know to pass these exams.
When they complained, I explained that life is like this. If you want to succeed and be good at something, you have to "do it yourself", and not depend on someone else to do it for you...
That way of teaching sounds absolutely nuts to me! I can't imagine too many teenagers that are self-motivated enough to teach themselves an entire year of Algebra. And especially to keep up the pace so they cover all the required chapters. So why are we even paying teachers when the children end up having to teach themselves? I can understand how limited time working with a peer can help, but both kids would need direction from an adult.
My son loves math, and I will be teaching him geometry this summer so when he takes it in the fall, he'll be able to handle it AND a hectic football and percussion schedule. But, even though he loves math, I have to physically sit him down and show him the lesson myself. There's no way he'll do it himself and learn enough. Kids that age (and most adults) just aren't able to do that. Otherwise, we wouldn't need teachers at all levels! What is your school district thinking...
In addition to / instead of contacting the ACLU, you should really contact FIRE. http://www.thefire.org/
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. They helped us a TON when we were fighting the liberal administration at Bucknell, and were also involved in a high-profile case in California. If nothing else, they'll be able to give you advice (from experience) on dealing with incompetent school administrations.
Good Luck.
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