Read this.. What Happened at School Board Meeting

You can see my report to the School Board just below but just as important is what happened at the meeting:

I was given 5 minutes and from this they took away the minute it took to supply them with copies of the 500+ signatures on petitions and the examples of what other VA districts are doing. So after talking for 4 minutes they abruptly said, “Your time is up!”.
Now, get this… They then said something like, “We would like the boy in the back to come show us his leg.” “What??”, you ask. Well, the guy comes up with very normal looking legs and Dr. Lackey (I believe) said, “Let’s all give him a hand for kicking the winning field goal.” Then many of the Board chatted with him for more than 5 minutes.
Now, does anyone else (besides everyone I have told) see a problem with this?

I think taking him out of class and congratulating the guy was a right thing to do. However, it should have been considered unacceptable per the school policy! (It was an excused absence because it was school sanctioned.) If it had been your child being recognized for volunteer work at a local agency, it would not have been.

They have said the purpose of the policy is to improve attendance because it will have a direct effect on SOL test scores. If they think fining ($20) and confining (4 hrs) and stealing student’s grades are going to keep students from missing, they are right! Most students will sacrifice their health and well-being to keep their grades.

Report to the School Board re Attendance Policy                    January 11, 2010

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today about this important issue.

Dr. Lackey states in his letter to the Citizens of Franklin County, “Our motto this year will be EVERY CHILD, EVERY CHANCE, EVERY DAY.” He also asks us to, “Join me in proving…that we will do whatever is required to assure the best education for our students.” That is what I am here to do.

I realize that you are not paid enough to spend a lot of time researching all the topics brought to your attention.  Therefore, I have spent literally 100’s of hours doing it for you.  The most important discovery was found in the Code of VA. Dr. Lackey has informed us and maybe you that Virginia requires the students miss no more than 20 days of school a year. I have literally scoured the internet for any proof of this.  I am providing you with what the Code of VA says.  In addition, I am providing you with the attendance policies of other VA schools from which you can verify that our county’s policy can be significantly improved.

As you peruse them, you will see that most schools follow the Code of Virginia in allowing for more excused absences and, for the few that require it, they make decisions for that student’s particular situation. Most schools have to put forth very little effort related to absences until a student misses 5 days of which the parent is unaware, and I quote from the Code, “Whenever any pupil fails to report to school for a total of five scheduled school days for the school year and no indication has been received by school personnel that the pupil’s parent is aware of and supports the pupil’s absence.”

Our High School policy has become far more intrusive than any I could find in the hundreds of Googled pages related to VA school attendance.

After discussing the current attendance policy with Dr. Lackey and Keith Pennington this is what they confirmed to be true.

Here are a few instances in which the policy hurts the student:

When the current first or second highest ranked student of the 2010 graduating class missed six days because of illness he became the victim of the policy. He had to go to Saturday school or get F’s in each of his classes. Is this beneficial? Is it right? This student plans to represent Franklin County at Harvard University. This student has blessed Franklin County with positive recognition and wonderful test scores and yet he is to be treated like this?

Another student was hurt by the attendance policy. She missed several days because of serious illness and went to the required Saturday School. Then at the end of the term she injured her finger and went to the emergency room.  Since she did not get out until 2 am, she slept in for a couple of hours.  She missed 2 classes the next morning and was not notified of the requirement to go to an additional day of Sat. school.  She had a 105 average in her Environmental class and a B in the other class. The policy resulted in her receiving an F in each of the classes!  She had to take them during summer school even though it was obvious that she had mastered the material. Then, in addition, since the school could not get everything scheduled properly, they have demeaned her and considered her a Junior instead of a Senior this year.  Only recently have they said that she might be able to go to the Senior Prom, but as it stands, she will not graduate with her class just because she missed 2 hours of school.

How has the helped the student?  How has this helped the school? How has this helped the district?

For each student this sort of thing has happened to , it has affected their self-esteem and in some cases has spiraled them downward with grades and attendance since there was nothing they could do. The concept of failing a student solely based on lack of butt time and not performance is unacceptable. The business community is being informed of this policy and how it teaches the student that showing up is all that matters, not performance. It is as if a school administrator should be docked their pay for the entire quarter because they had to take their Mother to the hospital for a day after already missing a few. Has that ever happened to you or anyone else you know in the workplace?
How much stress do you think it would add to your life if you had to live with that possibility each day of your work life?

Is it fair to put that stress on our students and their families? It is the right way to treat anyone?

The policy has failed any student that suffers a 10 day suspension for any reason if it fell in the same nine week period. The very same student would have received the grades they deserved if only it had happened over 2 quarters. All the other VA school handbooks I could find consider suspension an excused absence with no further consequence.

Here is the summary of what I determined from reading the other VA High School’s handbooks.

Excused absences are excused- no consequences except that the student supply a note and make up the work on a timely basis.
Excused absences include:
Illness
Pre-arranged appointments with court, social services or other state agencies
Family Death or Emergency
Religious Observances
Suspensions or Exclusions from school
Exceptional Circumstances- the principal may approve prearranged absences for situations in which an exemption from attendance appears to be in the best interest of the student and his or her family.

Isn’t the purpose of our school system to enrich the lives of our students? Doesn’t Dr. Lackey say in his letter, EVERY CHILD, EVERY CHANCE, EVERY DAY?  With that statement, he left no room for the hurtful effects of our school attendance policy. That should have applied to every one of the children mentioned above.

Is it not time to revamp the policy so as to allow Dr. Lackey to keep his word?

Otherwise, we need to change the signs in the schools that currently say,

“Failure is not an option.”"Failure is not an option, it is our policy!”