School Policies That Hurt

Yeah! New Board Members!

Brian — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:57:17 +0000

Letter to the Editor:

The new School Board has some serious issues to address. The Roanoke Times reported this week that Lackey said “the school system’s high rankings and awards are proof that the administration and school board have been successful.” This year was the worst of the 3 years reported! If we look at reports in the current year’s Franklin County school calendar anyone can note that SOL grades dropped for over 50% of the elementary and middle school tests and dropped for 9 of 11 of the high school tests! Also, the VA Dept of Education has reported which districts met benchmarks for Adequate Yearly Progress for the last three school years. “AYP is the minimum level of improvement in Standards of Learning test scores, attendance and other areas that states, school districts and schools must achieve…” Although some elementary schools did make AYP, our middle school and high school did not and the division overall did not.

As is quoted above, attendance is one of the determining factors. I tried to help the administration see the faults with their new high school attendance policy two years ago. (see www.schoolpoliciesthathurt.com According to the figures supplied by the administration, the policy negatively affected grades and/or attendance of about 10% of the high school students. Dr. Lackey fired me as a substitute teacher for speaking out against it and the School Board at the time would not discuss it in open session as is required by School Board regulations. Many of the school staff stated their frustrations with the policy but knew from others’ experiences that it would likely be detrimental to their employment to speak out.

Therefore, I am very happy that the monopoly within the School Board and the Administration may have come to an end and the new Board has the opportunity to work to make common sense decisions, follow regulations by only having discussions during open meetings, and provide school staff regular opportunity to give honest input without having to fear retribution. The end result should be higher scores and improved staff morale.

Carol Duvall

Callaway, VA

Substitute Teacher Speaks Out About Being Fired For Opposing School Attendance Policy

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:05:38 +0000

One of many very sad results from this policy issue is that the schools have had one less experienced substitute since Dr. Lackey fired me for speaking my opinion which opposed his.

This would not be a big deal except that I have always been very flexible- they could call me in the middle of the day. Teachers have told me that they were not able to go home sick because there was no substitute available. Since I have subbed on and off for over 13 years and since I have had so many children including other foster children go through the schools, I could go into about any classroom without a teacher’s plan and actually teach so that a day with a substitute was not a wasted day.

Ask any student and you will hear that many substitutes are great but many others just act as babysitters, many have high standards, others cuss or speak of inappropriate things in the classroom. So, it shows that the administration was not acting in the best interest of the schools when they fired me just for hurting their egos. That action was also proof- positive that you are endangering your job if you speak out.

I have had more than 20 in the school system say that no one who speaks out is safe based on what they have previously seen happen. None of us were surprised when it happened to me, just dismayed because we hoped that it was not reality.

Comment by Carol Duvall — July 17, 2010 @ 11:13 am

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:04:37 +0000

Kari H, you are exactly right on that “target” mention. I was a PTA leader for 10 years in the Bedford County school system and I had many parents bring concerns and questions to me because they were afraid of retaliation tactics against them or their child if they spoke out and in a taxpayer funded school system that WE ALL pay for, that is just wrong. I have confronted many a school board, board of supervisors, as well as teachers, vice principals and a Superintendent. If you do it well, the only target on your kids is the one that says, “Don’t even think about it!”. But when a fool did happen to test that theory…well let’s just say Sarah Palin is not the only one who knows about Mama Grizzlies! I have no doubt there are teachers who still use my name as an epithet but I would not change a thing. Someone has to stand up and tell the truth when it needs telling and most of all someone has to stand up and speak the truth to power when it hurts kids who do not deserve it. You all stay strong and be the backbone for those without one.

Comment by Sandi Saunders — July 16, 2010 @ 3:02 pm

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:03:21 +0000

A large part of the problem with the attendance policy is their definition of “excused absence”. My daughter threw up at school. The nurse called and told me I had to pick her up. She continued throwing up for the remainder of the day and into the next afternoon. I found out that 2 of her friends had a stomach bug the day before. Their Mother’s told me that theirs lasted for about a day and a half. I kept her in bed, tried to keep her hydrated, and let her sleep. Aside from the early dismissal, she missed 2 days of school. According to the attendance policy, these are 2 unexcused absences. My daughter is an A/B student. Should these absences REALLY be treated as unexcused??? Since when is a Mother NOT capable of determining when her child is sick and whether or not a visit to the Doctor is necessary, or even makes sense? Call you doctor and ask what to do if your child has a stomach bug. They will tell you to do exactly what I did. I REALLY hope that I didn’t just put targets on my children’s backs by giving my opinion. They are currently hard working students with good grades, and love school. I’d hate to see them penalized because I’m choosing to speak up. I suspect that same fear is keeping other parents quiet.

Comment by Kari H. — July 16, 2010 @ 2:33 pm

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:02:43 +0000

I do not know Carol Duvall but I do applaud her efforts since I am a parent of a FCHS student! I am going to state MY facts of dealings with FCHS attendance policy!

I have a child with Asthma/Severe Allergies/IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and he has braces which requires frequent orthodontist visits! He had to attend 2 Saturday schools this past school year due to his absences! His absences were excused by his Medical Physician and his Orthodontist. I had to pay for doctor visits for allery infections just to get a doctor’s note for school ONLY to have the absences held against him! If his orthodontics appointments were early morning, he arrived later in school, WITH A NOTE FROM DENTIST, and was counted as ONE ABSENCE! Since the school was going to continue to count his dental appts as an absence, I kept him out of school for the entire day. I have to drive 35 miles one way to this school! Why should I take the gas and time to rush my child to school when he will be counted ABSENT no matter if he has a DR excuse or not? By the way, he made up all missed school work and carried an A/B average.

Enough about my own BAD experiences! FCHS Absentee policy is NOT fair to a good student, to a student with medical excuses, to a student with dental excuses, in general, to the average student. Just to clear up something, my son is an A/B student, who was absent with EXCUSES, and forced to attend TWO Saturday schools, back to back! Not to mention I, the parent, was forced to pay $20 per Saturday and the gas to drive him to and from school! Remember, I live 35 miles one way from FCHS! My child made up all missed work and when he attended the Saturday schools, he did not have school work to do because he had already made up his missed work, on HIS time, not the Teacher nor the Schools time! BUT, his math teacher was gracious enough to give him work sheets to “keep him busy” during the Saturday school time because that is a requirement as well!

Bottom line, EXCUSED ABSENCES should be just that…EXCUSED! I think medical doctors have the right to decide whether your child should be in school or not! I think a PARENT should have the right to decide if their sick child should be in school or not! I think the PARENT should have the say over THEIR own child PERIOD! If the parent is abusing the system and not forcing their children to school, then that’s when our Truancy system should step in. After all, that is THEIR JOB!

Carol Duvall, your work does not go unwarranted! Keep up the good work!

Comment by Michelle Corvin — July 16, 2010 @ 2:28 pm

One of my proposed policies

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:59:55 +0000

Their “early intervention” is not intervention at all. My proposals to them would be intervention. The parent and student will be asked to meet with a member of the attendance committee when their child has missed a fourth day. The student will lose 2 points from their 9 week grade for each unexcused absence. I feel: • Parents must be held partially responsible • Currently the notes and calls may not even make it to a parent. • No unexcused absences beyond 3 should go unaddressed. Just as Ed Jamison, a School Board Member said, he would take as many days as he could without negative repercussions. Well, many of the dedicated teachers have negative repercussions from the student from day 1 because they are trying to catch the student up and often have to put in additional hours to do so or take time from other students in the classroom. Of course this is only applicable in some classes, like math. Most work can be made up by just getting notes from friends. • Consider further the pros and cons of removing a full class credit based on attendance. • Will losing credit help a child to stay motivated and therefore stay in school? • Does losing it all for attendance teach them the benefit of doing good work? • Would the ideas from others work better- lose credit for the actual unexcused days missed? • Research shows that if a student is failed, then absenteeism goes up and performance goes down. We will have an Attendance Review Committee “Committee” which will consist of at least 4 of the following: classroom teacher, a guidance counselor, the principal, school attendance officer, central office representative, representative from the department of juvenile justice. Excused Absences: The Board recognizes that certain absences cannot be avoided. Therefore students will not be penalized for absences that have resulted from conditions beyond the control of students, parents, or the school. The following documentation is required for considering absences as being excused: • Personal illness (this is probably the most difficult because it is so easy to falsify. But when legitimate is so important to accommodate. What can be done to accommodate those that really do have “sick migraines” ??- I have only had a few but my husband used to have them regularly and had to miss work and was not penalized. There are so many situations like that which would be accommodated in the workplace. What about those that really do have a flu or virus which does not need to be seen by a doctor? We don’t want to list a number of acceptable misses for this because then many will take that number of days and say they were sick. And then the teachers have to do all that extra work. I don’t know that I have a great answer that is in all fairness to the student and their family. Overall, what I think will be most effective is for it to be an inconvenience to the student ( or parent) to be absent. Therefore, this is just a couple of suggestions- 1) require the student to handwrite a paper of a certain length with a given topic for the attendance committee (most high school students test poorly in writing) or, 2) For the attendance to be excused, require the parent to stop in and speak with a member of the Committee within 2 days of the absence (that would be less difficult than having to pay for and take the time to get to the doctor.) These are other comments I made regarding the new policy: • Visits to medical professionals (needs this instead of dentist/doctor because it also needs to cover therapists and counselors that may not be “doctors”) Note from the medical professional • Severe illness in the immediate family (I would not put this as a separate line item because if it is legitimate, then it should not have a random limitation and if not legitimate, it is too easy to falsify info) • Death in the immediate family (I would not put a number here for the same reason as mentioned above unless it says , “more than 2 days will have to be approved by a member of the “Committee”. • Religious observance Advance notice, approval from the Committee • College visits Advance notice, Juniors and Seniors only, Verification letter (more than 2 absences must get approval from the Committee) • Court Appearance – Subpoena with Student’s Name • Other Extenuating Circumstances (such as, but not limited to: parent deployment and academic enhancement programs) ( I would not list natural disasters or pandemic flu because those are obvious and would not need Committee review) Documentation must be approved by the Committee What can be done for students that may have the opportunity to participate in something like a championship game out of state for their team on which they have been playing for many years (like a traveling team)? They should be allowed excused absences as much or more than a player for the school’s team who may have only given a little effort in order to be on the team. I don’t think it needs to be listed separately, but I do think that when the request comes to the Committee for this or any other activity that will be advantageous for the student or family, that permission to have it excused should be given if it is reasonable. As with all absences, the work needs to be made up with minimal teacher involvement and given the grade the work deserves. There is no benefit to Saturday School unless the time is actually used to have them meet with the Committee and/ or do extra work. I don’t think it will be financially beneficial anymore because a large percentage will most likely get it free. 11- This is a sore spot for many, so maybe a compromise like that mentioned in the Board meeting could be accommodated: Maybe have half of the days suspended be considered unexcused. However, again, what is the benefit? We want to improve ADA and ADM numbers. I understand suspensions are necessary. So when they are suspended, would it not be advisable for them to have consequences that actually negatively affect them directly for their actions? This is just an example, “On return from the suspension, a handwritten research paper must be submitted and accepted by the Committee before the student is allowed to participate in sports or extracurricular activities.” Additional Notes Remove “It is important…. (Because the absences will be addressed before then – which is encouraged by the state policy- and they will lose credit for each unexcused absence. If they lose 2 points off their class average for each unexcused absence, then a student would get no higher than an 80 if they missed 10 days. We should no longer need a statement about if you miss X number of days because absences are being addressed early on and by doing so: • Teachers don’t have to work as much extra to catch kids up. • It is more effective in reducing absences. • It will be perceived as the school actually caring. • The consequences will steer the students towards improvement. • Kids and families will feel empowered to make good decisions. Comment by Carol Duvall — July 14, 2010 @ 8:21 pm

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:58:19 +0000

I fully agree with all the first part of the roundtable comments about the policy allowing too many skipped days and that many kids will take advantage of every day given them. That is why I propose a stricter policy for unexcused absences. Students that skip should get immediate consequences. The current policy gives them 5 days a quarter to skip or 7 if they go to Saturday School! That is absurd.
But what is worse, is that they treat those with legitimate excuses the same as those that skip!

You say,
“This past fall, just 44 students failed. Given time, and the seriousness the school attaches to attendance, that number might plummet further.”
That number is so misleading! And it has been the key number that the small attendance committee gave to support this policy. This is the only number the Board noted for their decision.
However, I used the Freedom of information Act and obtained the actual raw data directly from the School Board office, instead of comparing unrelated numbers. They reported to me that 230 students received F’s for a nine week period as a result of their attendance policy! The 44 that they mention to others is the number of students that failed the whole semester just because of the policy. If a student got an F for a quarter because of the policy and then just gave up since they knew that if they were able to earn a C for the 2nd nine weeks, they would probably still average an F for the semester, their F for the semester was not included in the 44. It was included in another much larger number of students that “failed academically”.
Anyone that cares, especially a reporter, should not be lazy about getting their facts straight.

Comment by Carol Duvall — July 14, 2010 @ 7:59 pm

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:49:41 +0000

As a parent of 7 – most of which are in AP or pre-AP courses, a CPA, a substitute for many of the last 13 years, a bank financial manager and policy writer for years and a coach, I am more in touch with students and policies than almost anyone else. This is the first time I have had a reason to aggressively campaign for a change. It is obvious that I care more about the kids and their families than any of the ones supporting the current policy. It has nothing to do with how “strict” it is. My suggestions actually would make it stricter! Comment by Carol Duvall — July 14, 2010 @ 6:56 pm

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:48:01 +0000

Brian Duvall: “At no time did she use class time to lobby against the policy nor did the school system accuse her of such. ”Advocating” for something is not wrong. If you go to lunch with your office buddy and mention you feel strongly about a work policy and why, you are in the right to do so. However, if you are at your computer typing about it when you are supposed to be writing for the paper or otherwise “on the clock” you are wrong to do so! I never did it during class time.In addition, it is not “my cause”. When I saw a problem, I took the time to research it. After speaking with 100′s face to face, I realized the problem was worse than I realized.Therefore, I then went through each of the steps to correct it that is available to a citizen. However, as anyone can see if they read the input on http://www.schoolpoliciesthathurt.com, the administration is unresponsive. They were not willing to do their own research, not willing to take the time to read the hard copy or email copy of the research I spent 100′s of hours on. They, like many others, are satisfied with just hearing unsubstantiated facts from a few at the top.I wanted it corrected because I have 6 teens (1 adopted, 3 foster children) that will be going through FCHS in the next 6 years. I care about them and I care about all the kids I have coached in the last 13 years (and their families), I have only met 14 people (8 School Board, 4 admin and 2 others out of the 100′s, that supported the current policy. All the others have been willing to review some of the research and adamantly disagree with the policy.
And, like I mentioned before, we were specifically requested by a Board member to get input from other parents- she even told us what she wanted from them!

Comment by Carol Duvall — July 14, 2010 @ 6:45 pm

Brian — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:45:50 +0000

The policy was created to ensure students get enough class time so that they can master the subject being taught. Another key problem with the attendance policy is that it ignores student performance. A student will get an F for missing school even when they have pre-arranged the absence with their teachers, done all the required work ahead of time, and passed all the quizzes, tests and exams clearly demonstrating mastery of the subject. They policy states that if the student does NOT have note from a doctor or an officer of the court then they will lose credit for the class. Any thinking person can clearly see that this is wrong.