Avery Gigliano recently turned 13. She is a world-class pianist who has won international competitions. To play in international competitions, it is necessary to travel. To the D.C. public school system, she is not a champion, she is a truant. I forebear from using the words that come to mind. The D.C. schools should be celebrating her success. Instead, they drove her out of the school system. Great story by Petula Dvorak in the Washington Post.
“The prodigy, who just turned 13, was one of 12 musicians selected from across the globe to play at a prestigious event in Munich last year and has won competitions and headlined with orchestras nationwide.
“But to the D.C. public school system, the eighth-grader from Mount Pleasant is also a truant. Yes, you read that right. Avery’s amazing talent and straight-A grades at Alice Deal Middle School earned her no slack from school officials, despite her parents begging and pleading for an exception.
“As I shared during our phone conversation this morning, DCPS is unable to excuse Avery’s absences due to her piano travels, performances, rehearsals, etc.,” Jemea Goso, attendance specialist with the school system’s Office of Youth Engagement, wrote in an e-mail to Avery’s parents, Drew Gagliano and Ying Lam, last year before she left to perform in Munich.
“Although administrators at Deal were supportive of Avery’s budding career and her new role as an ambassador for an international music foundation, the question of whether her absences violated the District’s truancy rules and law had to be kicked up to the main office. And despite requests, no one from the school system wanted to go on the record explaining its refusal to consider her performance-related absences as excused instead of unexcused….
“Too bad, so sad. After 10 unexcused absences, it doesn’t matter whether a child was playing hooky to hang at the mall or charming audiences in Hong Kong with her mastery of Mozart. D.C. bureaucrats will label the kid a truant, will mar her transcript with that assessment and will assign a truancy officer to the case.
“When Avery returned in March from winning the Grand Prix at a big competition in Hartford, Conn., for her performance of a Chopin Waltz, she didn’t get calls of congratulations from her school. That was her 10th absence, so a truancy officer was called.”
The parents decided not to fight the system anymore. Avery is being home-schooled.
Hello, Kaya Henderson. Isn’t this embarrassing? Bring Avery back and honor her accomplishments.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Sometimes public school administrators are public education’s worst enemy. This one incident, which could easily have been resolved on its own merit, now becomes a new example for private school and voucher supporters.
Many of us teachers would strike the word “sometimes” and add, somewhere in there after a sigh, the word “typical.”
If anyone thinks private or charter or voucher schools don’t give preferential treatment to some but not all, then that person is delusional.
It’s worth remembering that Michelle Rhee and her successor, Kaya Henderson, don’t want the DCPS system to work. Henderson and her staff want to move students into their pet charter schools.
This is ridiculous and infuriating. Why can’t they embrace the skills of this child as an asset to the school community? She will miss a lot of the benefits of school by being kept in home schooling. Possibly they can see her through to graduation. But, how is this “rule” for the betterment of the child or the school for that matter. If she were failing her academic area subjects, it would be a possible situation to look into. But this is absurd. The problem with some rules is that one size does NOT fit all. But, because of a litigious society, many rules are steadfast with no exceptions, just to be “fair”. What a bunch of bunk.
Morons.
you’re giving to much credit
For the record, DCPS officials have published a letter saying that they never used the word “truant” and that that they told the family orally that they could ignore all the letters threatening them because if the girl’s absences. Strictly CYA moves, naturally.
I wonder if she were a travelling athletic prodigy if she would be treated in the same manner. I would like to know if there are hockey players or gymnasts in the DC schools who travel and miss days like this.
Great, now the haters have more reason to hate public schools. If you read the comments to the linked article, that seems to be the direction the discussion is heading.
Remember, Dienne, that Henderson is a TFA-bot who was Michele Rhee’s underling. She’s there to discredit and privatize the public schools, not represent them honestly or honorably.
Large bureaucracies often have difficulty in treating everyone involved as an individual. That is one reason why independent schools might be better.
it is called bureaupathology…See West, G. E. (1977). Bureupathology and the failure of MBO. Human Resource Management, 16(2), 33-40.
When you think about the 135,000 faculty and staff along with the 1,100,000 students in the NYC public school district the appeal of a charter school like Community Roots is pretty clear.
The administrators brains appear truant.
Not only are their brains truant, they are simply absent.
I read about this a couple of days ago and thought it outrageous. I read more and she is a kid who wants to go back and be with her friends in her public school. She has received offers to attend private schools, too, now. The point, though, is common sense and common decency. I often think back to earlier times in smaller communities where there would be face to face communication and a case by case consideration. As long as that is fair, there is no problem. Trouble is we have to be fair, but what is that truly? Is it equal exactly? I think not otherwise, why would a kid with a broken leg get to use the elevator when the rest cannot? Lots of other simple examples. An administrator should be savvy enough to have taken care of this issue in the beginning, in order to avoid the back-pedaling etc. in the end. Get someone to re-do the programming for the computerized notifications, create a code where it could be over-ridden. Make it hard to over-ride, ie two people need to sign off to be sure there is no temptation to look the other way for a friend’s cousin’s neighbor’s truant child. Celebrate this child. Let her play at a school assembly. Honor the other talented kids with an arts hour where they can share with one another. Bureaucracy is a problem without good leadership. This kid is a role model and should be encouraged by the school. Her test scores will elevate the school’s profile, BTW!!!
As we learn more about D.C. and other big city public schools (such as L.A.) we are finding that it is the administration, and not the teachers, who are incompetent.
Oh, it is prevalent all over, not just in big cities. Small districts have administrators with big egos. Did you ever see Boss Hogg on the Dukes of Hazzard … Oh, my. Some little districts have people controlling them for decades and the reverse happens. There are people who are shown favoritism…unmerited … It is absurd.
As in, “Where does the incompetence end, and the malice begin?”
Large bureaucracies lack the ability to make exceptions due to the over abundance of rules and regulations. Local control, smaller schools and smaller classrooms where the administrators trust teachers to be educated professionals makes all of the difference (ie the teacher may have been fine providing make up work for this child). Yes, indeed, this is an example why voucher programs will grow and take money away from public schools. Now apply the 10 day truancy rule to kids with special needs and it is apparent that the public school industry has no interest in solving real problems for real children. It is a competitive system based on rewards and punishments–sadly, humanity has flown out the window.
“How clueless” can they be?!?!? These are the folks who hired and defended Michelle Rhee.
‘Nuff said.
(BTW, this kid is GOOD!)
Were the boys in Chicago who won the country’s little league championship considered truant? Virgil, above, said it right. Sometimes school administrators are public schools worst enemies by the inept way they handle situations.
Gordon–surprisingly not! & not only that–they were given a big parade & celebratory day (so missed even more school, sanctioned by CPS).
Some folks on this post have connected Kaya Henderson to Michelle Rhee…yes, she was her deputy, and yes she has a similar background (TFA, etc). And yes, there are some aspects of the Rhee regime still around in DC…However, I can tell you from my personal interactions with both people that Henderson is much different than Rhee.
Lloyd, you write, “Don’t forget who runs the D.C. schools. The Rhee mentality is still there and her method of management is a legalistic one where there is nothing but black and white rules—-no shades of grey—and those rules are written by sociopathic, narcissistic, linear thinking”….
I would disagree…recall that Henderson was one of the first of late to call for teacher evaluations to not be connected to test scores while the new tests are being introduced. This was NOT a popular move with the US Dept of Education:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-public-schools-takes-hiatus-from-test-based-teacher-evaluations-as-city-moves-to-common-core-exams/2014/06/19/184b8b44-f7c2-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html
In addition, in another related scandal, a teacher from a local middle school had a class assignment that compared Hitler to George W. Bush:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/10/dc-public-schools-homework-assignment-compare-bush/
Henderson had posted something on FB even before things got out of control…note she has kept the confidentiality of the teacher…(Something I am not sure Rhee would have done).
So, please be careful to group people together…
jlsteach
I refer you to:
“Henderson’s ambivalence is seen in DCPS enrollment statistics. Despite lavish expenditures on the schools and an increasing city population, DCPS has only recently stopped bleeding away students. She and her predecessor Michelle Rhee drove many students into charter schools in their drive to shrink the footprint of DCPS. Despite the pleadings of communities in which the closed schools resided, the people who wanted to keep what DCPS was offering, these campuses were closed anyway. Though Henderson has had the resources to compete, she has chosen instead to give up territory to charter schools. Henderson and Rhee have never taken responsibility for the fact that the closed schools failed to thrive. Failure has always belonged to others, be they parents and communities who did not embrace the schools or administrators who ran them poorly.”
http://gfbrandenburg.wordpress.com/2014/03/09/how-is-kaya-henderson-performing-as-chancellor-of-d-c-public-schools/
Lloyd…You have to consider the statistics…First of all, Rhee closed many schools that were under-enrolled…I am not saying that is a good thing or a bad thing, just a fact…those students had to go elsewhere, thus charters..
Now, note the following article that in 2014 DCPS enrollment is again up:
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/08/25/dcps-enrollment-numbers-continue-to-increase/
I would argue that it is the State Education Agency (OSSE) and not DCPS or Henderson that opened the door to charter schools in DC…Certainly there were some folks that were not fans of Rhee and her mentality…but I think more parents are open to Henderson…
I’ve been searching for any information on Henderson that would indicate she knows what she’s doing. I can’t find anything.
But I did find this: “Kaya Henderson began her career as a middle school Spanish teacher in the South Bronx. She has served as a a recruiter, national admissions director, and DC Executive Director for Teach for America.”
It could be that she is just following the current Bill Gates “suggested” take a break and back off from using standardized tests to rank and yank teachers for a year or so and then we’ll start chopping heads again.
In other words, let’s disarm the resistance while we regroup and rethink how to sell our agenda.
I will reserve my opinion of Kaya and see where she is a few years from now.
Lloyd, I have worked with people from TFA that were fantastic, and have worked with folks from TFA that clearly demonstrated that they only had two years in the classroom. I would be the first to agree that I get frustrated by the TFA mentality within DCPS – there have been times that I have felt like a complete outsider because I didn’t do TFA…
that said, I don’t think saying that she worked for TFA is enough to label her or her thinking…
And in terms of agreeing to not use the tests to rank teachers, even if she is simply following Gates’ suggestion, the fact remains that the Dept of Ed was disappointed in her decision – why not give her a little bit of credit??
BTW, reserving your opinion on her is completely fair…
jlseach,
Sorry, the thirty years I spent in education as a classroom teacher is enough for me to say, “Not so fast!”
How many years was Henderson a middle school Spanish teacher in the South Bronx? I find it suspicious that information is left out. When did she start teaching? I am always suspicious of administrators who quickly leave the classroom.
I want to see a timeline. How many years for each step of her climb up the ladder of education reform.
She was born in 1970. That makes her 44 today. In 2000, when she started her work with the New Teacher Project, she was thirty. By 2007, at 37, she is Deputy Chancellor under Rhee.
During the thirty years I was a public school teacher, ALL of the administrators who climbed quickly up the ladder were usually “idiots” [my emphasis] who left the classroom quickly and moved into administration because they couldn’t teach and were usually horrible administrators who thought they knew all the answers but clearly didn’t.
But the best administrators—the honest ones who supported teachers and understood the reality of what it’s like to work with at-risk children who live in poverty—usually didn’t last long, because they wouldn’t do what the idiots up the ladder ordered them to do.
I keep looking for vital information on Henderson and running into the same PR language used to describe all of the worst administrators I worked with as a teacher.
And of course, I see the following pull quotes as a warning from an August 11, 2014 piece:
“This year, 54.4% of the district’s students were deemed proficient in math, a 1.4% increase from last year, and 49.9% students were proficient in reading, an increase of just 0.4%. However, only 43.8% of Black students were proficient in reading, basically flat since last year. Among English Language Learners, a 2.3 percent decrease since last year left just 37.3% reading “proficiently.”
“Superintendent Kaya Henderson celebrates these scores as signs of progress, asserting that “we’re continuing on an upward trajectory.” The data suggest otherwise.
In addition: The latest results of the DC-CAS … show that the percentage of public school students judged ‘proficient’ or better in reading has declined over the past five years in every significant subcategory except “white.” English Language Learners lost the most — over ten points since 2009.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-weiss/dc-public-schools-education-reform_b_5663113.html
Henderson’s response is exactly what I heard from incompetent high level administrators during my three decades in the classroom.
Don’t forget who runs the D.C. schools. The Rhee mentality is still there and her method of management is a legalistic one where there is nothing but black and white rules—-no shades of grey—and those rules are written by sociopathic, narcissistic, linear thinking.
Here in Nevada, the little league team that lost to Chicago was excused from 9 days of school, no truancy warnings here! But she isn’t an athlete, and, of course, she is a musician, that is “non-academic.” Conformity must rule, or people might think they are individuals and rules might be questioned, that would threaten our class distinctions that reformers really want to maintain.
In any given year during my 10th-12th grade years of HS, I was out for 2.5 days of school for every music festival I attended as a representative of my school. The festivals occurred every two weeks. If you factor in three different organizations (band, orchestra, and chorus) and two possible levels for each (district and region) plus one state festival, a student could conceivably miss 17.5 days of school from February to May. I qualified for three in my first year, six in my second and all of seven of them in my senior year. My second year physics teacher was the only one who protested that I missed half a week of class time every other week that last year.
As a representative of my school, I was allowed to miss without threat of the truancy label. If the student had been part of a sponsored school organization or at least had been representing her school or district, the truant issue would probably have been avoided.
LG,
It is pretty clear that this student had outgrown the sponsored musical activity of the public schools.
I also outgrew my school music program which was why I auditioned for these honors ensembles in the first place. They were supported by the school, and I was only eligible because my school directors were members of the state music teachers association. I can assure you that these festivals existed because there were advanced students who would benefit from making music in a high level environment that one could not find in their schools. I went as a representative of both my school and my directors who had to maintain membership in the organization. And before you talk about how un-impressive that was in comparison, I passed three audition levels to attend the state festival two years in a row in two different areas (instrumental and vocal) in one of the largest, most competitive states in the country. The difference here is that I attended these festivals as a representative of my school. Therefore…no truancy issues.
Isn’t it amazing how these are probably the same administrators who expect “individualization” from teachers toward each and every student in their classes? Yet, they cannot individualize when it comes to policy enforcement.
great observation.
When our teachers participated; n professional development to understand multiple intelligences and ways to teach to those as identified in every class, I found that it was interesting that the idea never dawned on anyone that teachers are likewise governed by their own learning styles. That impacts teaching styles. Then some came along to debunk that theory.
Here is the DCPS response. http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Press+Releases+and+Announcements/Press+Releases/Statement+from+Chancellor+Henderson+Regarding+Inaccuracies+in+Petula+Dvorak+Washington+Post+Column
Thanks Suzanne for this clarification. I thought it all seemed bizarre!
Suzanne: what title one texas teacher wrote.
Still and all, I have two little words for Kaya Henderson*:
NO EXCUSES.
*See Michael Fiorillo’s comment above: “Remember, Dienne, that Henderson is a TFA-bot who was Michele Rhee’s underling. She’s there to discredit and privatize the public schools, not represent them honestly or honorably.”*
If you can’t walk your own “education reform” talk then you should resign your position immediately, if not sooner.
That is, of course, if you’re really in it “for the kids.” But if you’re Rheeally in mad dog pursuit of $tudent $ucce$$, you’ll do a doozy of a Deasy and find any way to make even the flimsiest explanation serve as an exculpation.
And Kaya Henderson chose…
😡
IDIOTS.
Thanks Suzanne for posting the reply from Henderson…I think that there are always two sides to any story – I agree with many of you that I thought it was ridiculous when I first read it in a paper…And normally I would say that Henderson, etc. are trying to cover their arses with the reply…however, I do wonder if a reporter may have been a bit too over eager to report a story about DCPS instead of getting all of the facts from everyone…
Yes, it is ridiculous…however, how often have other large entities (banks, etc) sent out automatic letters in responses to late fees, etc. The school system is set up to call a house every day if your child is not there, even if you already know this…these systems are in place for a reason…to try and improve the situation…Certainly there was a lack of clarity involved…and I think that DCPS is to blame on that…but to go after them as many of you have hear seems a bit harsh…
Perhaps what the whole story points out is the problems of relying on robocalls and roboletters. How we use technology can create as many problems as it solves. We really need to think long and hard about what can be standardized and what needs an individualized touch.
Reblogged this on Teacher View Today and commented:
Unfortunately this scenario plays out across our nation. In a country where standing among nations was built on the unique gifts and talents of individuals not fitting a “mold” our vision for progress has sorely dimmed.
Nancy,
I see this as a good argument for charter schools. There was a post a while ago about a charter school in Florida specifically set up to accommodate students with unusual schedules. This is the kind of accommodations that are possible when students are not assigned to a school by street address.
TE,
There are places where street address is best and sometimes where it isn’t. It is not cost effective to do some of the kinds of “choice” schooling when buses are criss-crossing, wasting diesel fuel, wasting time, delivering students to schools that are in different and often dangerous neighborhoods having students far away from their parents, esp. younger students.
Maybe somewhere in edutopia there are places where you can have everything you want. But, most environments aren’t conducive to having that situation. It does no good to discuss education in terms of an idealistic wishlist that accommodates every child’s needs. There are plenty of things that I “wish for” and never got and never will get in life.
A better thing to teach children is how to survive with their own peculiar needs. Once they leave school, they will have a mix of people and jobs to interact with … and it won’t always be heavenly.
This isn’t to say that there are some solutions for some people. If and until our society views education as something desirable instead of pretending that a bumper sticker with honor student praises on it is all important, we are going to tread water.
We have lots of cross purposes and views that are a mix of our own experiences, education and limitations. So be it. It isn’t going to be whatever each person wants for each of their children. And, the cockamamie homeschool ideas that I have seen are NOT going to produce a society that has a clue. People with personal agendas tend to become very narrow minded and then try to push their narrow ideas on others, not realizing that they are infringing upon others in the way they wish to avoid for themselves.
The manner in which a state sets up charter schools and has or doesn’t have regulations upon them will produce varied reactions to their existence. In Ohio, we have a governor who is complicit with the agenda to degrade public schools and give a blank check to charters. He does the same with prisons and other public services, preferring the private sector “making money” instead of “taking money”. There is a disdain for those who serve as being “inferior” and worthy only of being run over if they don’t want to get on his bus. It is the same with Wisconsin. There is a real sickness permeating our political twisting of public services. Acting as if the only people with morals are of one party is the sickness. The condescension and the use of fear to breed willing followers is frightening.
There are no good answers. But, to make a blanket statement that charter schools are an answer to this huge problem in the US is simplistic at best. And, it doesn’t apply to every district. Promote what you want in your community and if people agree with it, fine, but don’t act like it is a solution for everyone. It isn’t.
Unregulated greed and a lack of interest in true educational needs of children is a huge problem. Face it.
Deb,
I certainly think that density matters.
In my local school district students are routinely assigned to schools that are further from their home in an attempt to balance SES across school. That spends fuel and bus time as well, but the local community thinks that is fuel well spent. The same might well be true for fuel spent matching students to schools that best fit the students need and aspirations.
Our district covers 72 sq miles.
Deb,
Districts differ in density. As I said, density matters. NYC Public can do different things because of public transportation network and the 1.1 million students than are possible in rural districts.
TE,
When you claimed that money had nothing to do with the results of elections and I proved that you were wrong, instead of replying, you slipped away from that conversation thread.
So, don’t be surprised that I find it interesting that you are a cheerleader of Charter schools while making sure not to mention the lack of transparency, the support from Hedge fund billionaires, the fraud, the FBI investigations, cherry-picking students that are easier to teach and getting rid of at-risk children who are a challenge to teach, paying teachers less and managers more, and the teachers’ rapidly revolving door in Charters, etc.
FBI Cracks Down on Fraudulent Charter Schools
http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/fbi-cracks-down-on-fraudulent-charter-schools-140821?news=854030
Charter School Scandals
http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/
Florida charter schools: big money, little oversight
http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/
Charter School Gravy Train Runs Express To Fat City
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/09/10/charter-school-gravy-train-runs-express-to-fat-city/
Florida Study of Charter Schools Show Fraud, Failing Schools
http://www.thecherrycreeknews.com/florida-study-charter-schools-show-fraud-failing-schools/
NBC4 Investigates: Taxpayers Left Holding Bill For Charter Schools
“$1.4 billion has been spent since 2005 through school year 2012-2013 on charter schools that have never gotten any higher grade than an F or a D,” Collins said.
http://www.nbc4i.com/story/24778722/nbc4-investigates-taxpayers-left-holding-bill-for-charter-schools
SEC hits Chicago charter school operator with fraud charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against a Chicago charter school operator accused of defrauding investors in a $37.5 billion bond offering for school construction.
http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/chicago-charter-school-fraud/
Weak Michigan charter school laws enable scams, insider dealing
http://www.freep.com/article/20140623/NEWS06/306230027/charter-school-law
Despite Shocking Reports of Fraud at Charter Schools, Lawmakers Miss Opportunity to Increase Oversight
http://www.thenation.com/blog/179778/despite-shocking-reports-fraud-charter-schools-lawmakers-miss-opportunity-increase-overs#
Report Documents $100 Million in Charter School Fraud in 14 States and D.C.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2014/05/report_documents_100_million_in_charter_school_fraud_in_14_states_and_dc.html
And from the U.S. Department of Education, we have a long list of Investigative Reports into education fraud.
You have to cull the list to find the Charter schools but they are there. I did a search of this page, and found “Charter” mentioned 26x, going back to 2004.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/ireports.html
And what does TE say to Nancy, “I see this as a good argument for charter schools.”
Have you read any of the following four books yet?
The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession
By Dana Goldstein
http://www.danagoldstein.com/
“Ms. Goldstein’s book is meticulously fair and disarmingly balanced, serving up historical commentary instead of a searing philippic … The book skips nimbly from history to on-the-ground reporting to policy prescription, never falling on its face. If I were still teaching, I’d leave my tattered copy by the sputtering Xerox machine. I’d also recommend it to the average citizen who wants to know why Robert can’t read, and Allison can’t add.” —New York Times
Reign of Error
By Diane Ravitch
https://dianeravitch.net/
Diane Silvers Ravitch is a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Previously, she was a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education under President G. W. Bush. She was appointed to public office by Presidents H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
A Chronicle of Echoes:
Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education
By Mercedes K. Schneider
http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/
Schneider says, “Corporate reform” is not reform at all. Instead, it is the systematic destruction of the foundational American institution of public education. The primary motivation behind this destruction is greed. Public education in America is worth almost a trillion dollars a year. Whereas American public education is a democratic institution, its destruction is being choreographed by a few wealthy, well-positioned individuals and organizations. This book investigates and exposes the handful of people and institutions that are often working together to become the driving force behind destroying the community public school.
50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools:
The Real Crisis in Education
By David C. Berliner, Gene V Glass, Associates
http://nepc.colorado.edu/author/berliner-david-c
David C. Berliner is an educational psychologist and bestselling author. He was professor and Dean of the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. Gene V Glass is a senior researcher at the National Education Policy Center and a research professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder.
I’ve taught in DC and I’m surprised they even investigated, but they’ve had students who sadly have died and been murdered – and rather than being the first to report they usually been one of the first to find out during the police investigations hence the heightened scrutiny. In addition, the CYA move also allows them to argue that they aren’t playing favorites. See we go after upper-middle class Ward 3 kids. On the other hand, I’ve also taught in MD and had the pleasure of teaching an young girl who later won an Olympic medal. She too missed many days of school and one issue my colleagues had was having to provide her with missing classwork and work in advance. I took it as a challenge and it allowed me to be creative in my approach to teaching her history. I assigned “book work” to pacify the admins, but also decided to have her read historical fiction and novels and then fact them for accuracy for the various themes and units we worked on. Since she was on a bus, train or plan she had time to read. She learned more doing that, than if she had sat in a seat. In addition, I had the pleasure of yelling to my friends and colleagues: Hey, I taught that girl history! It has to be a DC area thing. It really defies common sense and makes her the “poster child” of all that is wrong with ‘government’ schools’ providing ammunition for charter and voucher advocates.
My apologies for the typos and missing words. It has been a long day.
I’m sorry, but the only thing absent here is common sense. No wonder people think education needs reform…but not the teachers…dumb bunny admins.
Sounds crazy. Students are often given leave from school to attend competitions and cultural events, as long as they can keep up their grades