Posted on 04/16/2012 2:11:27 PM PDT by Velveeta
A 17-year-old varsity baseball player in suburban Cleveland is being banned from walking at his own graduation for racking up two too many unexcused absences. While those circumstances might be considered the fault of the athlete in most cases, Carrollton (Ohio) High senior Austin Fisher's case is a rather extraordinary one: His absences were all brought on by time he spent caring for his mother, who has spent the past six years battling breast cancer.
As reported by Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW, Fisher has missed 16 days during his senior year, none of which have technically been excused. The Carrollton school district caps the number of absences allowable for a student to walk with his or her graduation class at 14, a number which means that Fisher will not be able to walk across the stage with the rest of his classmates.
For Fisher and other seniors at the school, that seems extremely unfair, particularly because all of his absences were brought on by his own heroic efforts to care for his mother, as he is the only other person who lives in their household. When Teresa Fisher became too sick to work, Austin Fisher took on two different jobs to help pay the bills. On a number of other days, Austin Fisher missed school so he could run his mother to cancer treatments and then care for her when she was bedridden after returning home.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Some large companies have migrated to the concept of Flexible Time Off (FTO.) In essence it is an earnable vacation time that you can take whenever you need it. You can take it also in case of short term medical problems. Long term medical is a different story.
Petty tyrants only have power over this guy because he wants something that they control. I certainly wouldn't beg them for anything; but this guy's circumstances may be different.
Myself, I never set foot to a graduation ceremony of any kind. I hate such things. The teacher was really confused when I said that I have important things to do instead :-) (like the tuning of my 80 meter dipole on the roof, as I recall.) I also remember picking up my university diploma at the secretary's desk. Easy, quick and convenient. The end result is the same. Skip the fluff, do things that matter instead.
I was told on the last day of classes in my senior year of high school that even though I had earned the proper class credits and passing grades in order to successfully graduate, I would not be getting my diploma certificate because I never paid my $20 in “Senior Dues”. At the beginning of the year, they stated that your $20 in Senior Dues got you admission tickets to the graduation ceremony, paid for after-school activities that I never attended, etc. I saw it even back then for what it was, a school money-grab. And I didn’t even care to attend my graduation, so I just said screw it and didn’t pay it. Still, I was never told that they would withhold my diploma from me until I paid. I found that wrong, and in my eyes blackmail by them to get that money. This was in 1992, so any insane school policy today doesn’t surprise me at all.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer when my daughter was a senior in high school. I was on chemotherapy from Jan to June. She took days out of school to hold my head over a pan while I puked. My daughter also got a letter from the school stating that she had gone over the acceptable limit of absences. The difference was that this was a private Catholic school and instead of punishing her they sent me get well cards when she explained the situation.
I think he & his mother should go to the graduation ceremonies and sit in the audience section. Then at some pre-arranged moment, preferably when the idiot school administrator gets up to speak, blah-blah-blah, the entire student section (and most likely 98% of the audience as well) should stand up and start chanting “Let Fish Walk!” and keep doing it until the administrator & school officials relent....which they will after 10 minutes of pandemonium!
“Do not know about Ohio, but in California absences are only excused if the student is sick - no exceptions.”
==
Ridiculous.
What about the death of a parent,sibling,or grandparent?
No excuse for that?
carrollton is in carroll county about 80-90 miles south and east of cleveland. its the country, worlds away from
cleveland, if you get my drift.
my brother owns a business in carroll county.
he and lots of others are really starting to make some money
associated with the utica shale/chesapeake energy.stores and restaurants opening,vehicle sales through the roof,
housing at a premium...until government shuts it all down is suppose.
Any 17 year old who can take on and endure such a huge responsibility has learned far more about life than what wasn't taught him in those missed days. The mother has raised a terrific son it sounds like with FAR GREATER VALUES than what the so called public schools have to offer. This is where rules made to discourage truancy go way too far and common sense is nowhere to be found except for the 17 year old.
School phone number 330.627.2134
Thanks for the phone #. I just called and left a msg on the High School Main Office .. and voiced my opinion very nicely. Said I was a Grandma with Grandchildren graduating this year .. and that the young Mr Fisher should be able to walk.
It took only a couple of minutes .. Hope they let him walk.
A lot of school districts after either the third or fifth day missed a year require a doctors excuse or it is unexcused. Yes even if the school system knows a bug is going around like wildfire. Attendance policies are not written with life events in mind. They are written solely for obtaining maximum state and federal funds.
There is much missing from this story.
What do they mean by,”none of which have technically been excused”. HUH?! Are you kidding me? What does this mean? Do your job and EXPLAIN!
Why aren’t school officials interviewed or why doesn’t it say they refused to comment.
This woman has a six year battle with cancer and school officials aren’t aware of it until this young man’s senior year? Did he miss excessive days his junior or sophomore year? Maybe the mom’s health degenerated to the point where the young man was needed.
We are expected to take for fact much inferred by this reporter. It is difficult for me to believe anyone could be this out of touch, even an administrator.
There is much missing from this story.
What do they mean by,”none of which have technically been excused”. HUH?! Are you kidding me? What does this mean? Do your job and EXPLAIN!
Why aren’t school officials interviewed or why doesn’t it say they refused to comment.
This woman has a six year battle with cancer and school officials aren’t aware of it until this young man’s senior year? Did he miss excessive days his junior or sophomore year? Maybe the mom’s health degenerated to the point where the young man was needed.
We are expected to take for fact much inferred by this reporter. It is difficult for me to believe anyone could be this out of touch, even an administrator.
If this had happened in the workplace, Austin could have taken time off to care for his mother, without penalty, under the Family Leave Act.
I don’t ask permission, I just do it. My reputation for not putting up with the crapola preceded me when she went to middle school.......haven’t had a single issue.
I didn't read the article.
How many games and practices did he miss?
ML/NJ
Good question. When I was in HS, my friend’s mother died and they told her she still had to come to school.
That Fox reporter needs to clear this up...I lived in Cleveland and Suburban Cleveland for 52 years, when you head South of Lake Erie you are going ‘COUNTRY’
Public Schools today leave a lot to be desired, thankfully my kids are raised.
glad to hear your brother and others are doing well in business..I had my own Salon in CLEVELAND in late 60’ and early 70’s and it was so much fun...I spent the finally 17 years in nursing homes, hospitals, and funeral homes as a contractual service and loved every day of my 42 years of hairdressing...today's hairdressing is so different. but still FUN
Copied from Facebook :-)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/281683671915631/
ITS OFFICIAL, “FISH CAN WALK!” MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, THANK YOU, TO THE WHOLE NATION FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT AND TO THE TOWN OF CARROLLTON. sorry carrollton I made you the center of attention the past few days but i just felt it was wrong that I was being punished for doing the right thing. Once again everyone, thank you for everything. I love you Mom :)
- Austin Fisher
As I was reading this, I was thinking, “I bet this boy is white”, and I was right.
Schools need to be extra hard on the minor infractions of white kids in order to even out the discipline statistics on the black kids whose infractions are **not** minor.
Wow! You are absolutely right! I only got one out of the four right. He is white.
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