Posted on 05/21/2009 6:53:44 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
In many ways, Jessamine “Sisy” Brown is a typical high school kid — a student athlete who looked forward to prom and keeps her grades up in the hope of snagging a college scholarship.
But Brown, a world champion horseback rider, has found herself in a quandary. Her success as an athlete has caused her trouble at Steele High School, where her numerous absences for competitions have marked her a truant.
On Thursday, Brown and her mother, Kimberly Howard, will appear in a Guadalupe County courtroom for a pretrial conference.
“I was surprised,” Brown, 17, said about the charge. “I was like, I'm not supposed to be truant. I'm a good kid.” The 11th-grader has since withdrawn from Steele and is being home-schooled.
But officials with Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District say the charge should come as no surprise, noting that parents are always warned in writing before truancy charges are filed.
“If we don't hear from them, if the truancy officer doesn't hear from them, to them they're truant. They're missing school,” said district spokeswoman Rebecca Villarreal.
Howard said she received no notices and first heard from the truancy office last month, when she was asked to produce contest entry forms to validate the absences. She no longer had the forms.
“If she wasn't a good kid and she wasn't toeing the line, I wouldn't be putting up this fight for her,” Howard said of her daughter, who was enrolled in rigorous courses at Steele and earned A's most of the time.
Jose Galan III, Steele's truancy officer, said he could not talk about specific cases but that the rules are clear.
Parents have three days to bring in documentation, such as a doctor's note, or absences will be unexcused, Galan said. When 10 unexcused absences pile up, it's time for court.
“Parents will try to bring up other factors such as behavior, grades, activities they're involved in, awards they've received, etc. etc. And I tell the parents that I can't take any of those things into consideration,” Galan said. “It's truancy and only truancy. That's all I look at.”
Though Brown said she misses Steele, she and her parents characterize the school as uncooperative and say her NCAA-recognized sport is given short shrift.
“It seems like all he cares about is football,” Brown said of Steele's principal, who could not be reached for comment. “I think it's ridiculous because nobody has even won state, and I've won three world championships and I can't have excused absences.”
Howard said her husband spoke with school officials last summer and that the family thought Brown's absences would be excused. During Brown's sophomore year, she received physical education credit for the time she spent pursuing her sport, but she has since completed the required PE credits.
“That's bizarre,” Brent Harnish, chief operating officer of the Palomino Horse Breeders of America, said of Brown's situation. Last year, Brown earned two world champion titles from the 10,000-member organization.
“High schools do not give equine activities the credit they deserve,” said Harnish, a former coach and trainer. “My frustration is if this was volleyball or baseball or basketball, a traditional high school sport — it's not an issue. It's a lack of understanding about what this sport involves.”
Still, Harnish said most schools work with student equestrians, who typically do not resort to home schooling.
Brown, who hopes to attend Baylor University and wants to become an ophthalmologist, said she would not return to Steele regardless of the outcome of her court case.
Instead of pursuing her hopes and dreams. Instead of working hard and enjoying a sport in which she excels....
She should have been a cheerleader or in the band. That way, she could have missed a whole lot more school and not have been punished for it.
Tons of comments at the site. Well worth reading.
This is from the kid’s mother.....
I am Sisy’s mother and I assure everyone who has posted here that we did indeed send in notes that Mr. Wohlfarth, the principal required. By his own words to us last summer, he said tht he would personally excuse said absences. The school has now coded her absences correctly and the truancy officer is the one who will not dismiss the charges. If anyone would like, I can send you a copy of an email from the school. Mr Galan told me personally that I should just send in notes that said she was sick in the future to excuse her absences. I will not teach her to lie about anything. We had plans to homeschool her last year, but Mr. Wohlfarth assured us that it was not necessary. She has 12 absences. Ms. Ivers told me that when she competes in the future I should withdraw her and when we return re-enroll her. Our tax dollars at work...Another Steele student who is a varsity player on a school team has 22 and they are all excused for a school activity....hmmmm, I do not think that is fair. My daughter takes AP courses and has a 3.7. In my home, education comes first and foremost. Three of her teachers actually cried when she withdrew. I do not think 12 absences is excessive. Thank you to all out there who are supportive and those who are not, I am sure do not know the whole story. Kimberley Howard
No good deed (or good parent in this case) goes unpunished.
Definitely time to homeschool or go to a private school
In our “brave new world” - achievement WILL be punished because such behavior isn’t “fair” to those who don’t achieve.
cheerleading or band would not have caused her to miss whole days of classes. seems as if mistakes were made on all parts. if the parents had taken and hour and gone to meet with the school, this could have been avoided, imho. you can’t just not show up for school if you are enrolled.
Kimberly is pursuing an individual sport that does not bring recognition to her government school. Government schools are not in the business of encouraging individualism. Had she been on a team sport garnering recognition for the school, she could have had 22 absences and nothing would have been said.
just read this post. thanks for clarifying.
Truant officer is obviously trying to justify these ridiculous charges and thus justify his job. He is not qualified to hold this job...but then, it’s probably a political appointment position.
Back in the day (my senior year at public HS) I was dancing ballet on average 2-4 hours a day not including rehearsals and performances but did not get PE credit, and had to still take PE at school.
When my kids were in school the whole excused/unexcused absence system was really stupid.
>>>When my kids were in school the whole excused/unexcused absence system was really stupid.<<<
I agree, it just encourages parents to lie. If you claim they were “sick” (she almost sneezed once) or had a “family emergency” you’d be fine, but if you tell the truth and say that as the child’s PARENT you decided something else was more important than school that day, you are liable to labeled a law breaker.
Excuse me but I can speak from experience with the High School band at my High School.
Band DID cause me to miss entire days of school, for competitions, both collective (marching band, orchestra, ensemble, etc), individual competitions, and performances.
I can't speak to this individual's issues but I just wanted to clear up that band can, and does, cause whole days to be missed.
Exactly, my granddaughter is a cheerleader and no-one ever says a thing about the time off she takes for that. She’s also in MESA(Math, Science, Engineering, Academics), Honor Society, FFA and 4-H, in all of which she will learn life and academic lessons and regularly gets punished for it, by her teachers and especially her cheer coach.
She’s a talented athlete and actually made it to State in Track and Field when she was in 8th grade and this year wasn’t allowed to be on the team by the cheer coach even though the track coach was willing to bend over backwards to accomodate her cheer practice. I don’t think that will happen next year because she took it up with the administration. She’s not willing to give up cheerleading but she is willing to fight to be in track.
The principal should have stood up to be true to his words and excused the absenses - end of story. These systems that are used to take roll are editable at anytime before submitting to the state for core data. This guy is a complete hack for going back on his word. This young lady is competing in a even recognized by NCAA (higher than HS) and that should be taken into consideration.
Fixed it
“Still, Harnish said most schools work with student equestrians, who typically do not resort to home schooling.”
Bet they’ll all resort to homeschooling now, at least in this district.
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