Is this Truancy?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think part of the problem is that kids who do this stuff place a large burden on the teacher. They have to get assignments ahead of time, correct them when they turn them in, keep the kid up to speed etc.

Not sure its fair to as a school to do that.

I can understand that to a point. But this is a straight A kid already so clearly she has goood sutdy habits and school managment skills. And its not as if she is missing half the year. Again, I just think they should use more discretion. Isn't this a kid we want to keep in DCPS?

Not at the cost of having to essentially create a unique school curriculum for them, no.

I wonder if she or he could have applied for an IEP?

Do you understand what an IEP is? It's for kids with actual educational needs, not someone who wants to pull their kid out of the school all the time to pursue outside interests.

She's obviously a talented child, and that should be fostered. But not at the expense of school resources and the other children in her class. If the family can't afford a private school that will accommodate these pursuits, it sounds like they'd be better off home schooling.

But doesn't developing and following through (assuming that happens) on an IEP take resources? Are school resources only to be expended on the kids who are behind, but nothing at all to accommodate a gifted prodigy?

Schools have limited resources. The children who are struggling due to disabilities need it a lot more than a prodigy whose parents are opting to remove her from school. It's fine if they don't want their daughter to have to work within the structure of the school system, but then they need to take responsibility for their daughter's education and homeschool her. If she's as brilliant as everyone is saying she is, I can't imagine it would be too difficult. After all, you can buy a curriculum to homeschool. If it wouldn't be too much burden on one teacher who is also responsible for 20 other children to put together a separate program for this child, surely it wouldn't be too much for two parents who are only responsible for one.

[Anonymous]

That's not the point-- of course it would be relatively easy to homeschool such a child (except for the rather problematic point that one parent cannot work, which could significantly impact the family income-- it certainly would in my family). The point is that kicking out such a bright child hurts the other children in the school community. They lose a friend. A friend that perhaps inspires them with her perserverance. My child is at Latin and not at Deal and I would hope that Latin would be more flexible about these rules. For example, not reported as truent if all grades stay above B and the teacher is not expected to do any additional work whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that a public school has to put up with excessive absences just because a child is deemed to be a 'prodigy' in some area. She's missing a ton of school and that is a burden for her teachers and the school. She needs to either be in a private school, go to a performing arts boarding school, or be homeschooled. If she is that talented (which she apparently is), it is hard to imagine a private school or performing arts school would not be very generous with financial aid and/or a scholarship. OTOH, it is ironic how awful DC generally is with truancy and how on top of their game they are with this child.

[Anonymous]

I still don't get why people think the teacher would have to screwy some entire new curriculum? Tell the parents what you are covering in the next 2 weeks (eg chapters 4-10), essays or math problems. Students must email all homework on the day it's due (computers!!). Be responsible for all make up tests at teachers convenience. The parents can provide a tutor on the road if necessary. With all the testing and common core, there isn't too much creativity left. My mom was a teacher and just retired because of all this BS. I'm a big fan of teachers but this kid will be fine and probably requires a lot less work than a higher needs student sitting in class. Deal missed the mark on this.

[Anonymous]

As for the view that the parents need to toe the line or home-school their daughter: There's always so much talk about sacrosanct "diversity" in DCPS. Is that only so much BS, or does "diversity" only mean having people of (a certain) color? What about the enhanced diversity of having a widely-recognized musical prodigy in the school? Doesn't that, too, enrich the learning environment for all students and add to the school's culture.? It seems to me that DCPS should be doing anything remotely within reason to keep her in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I still don't get why people think the teacher would have to screwy some entire new curriculum? Tell the parents what you are covering in the next 2 weeks (eg chapters 4-10), essays or math problems. Students must email all homework on the day it's due (computers!!). Be responsible for all make up tests at teachers convenience. The parents can provide a tutor on the road if necessary. With all the testing and common core, there isn't too much creativity left. My mom was a teacher and just retired because of all this BS. I'm a big fan of teachers but this kid will be fine and probably requires a lot less work than a higher needs student sitting in class. Deal missed the mark on this.

I don't believe that most people, when they think about it, really feel that DCPS made the right call here. Most of the negative comments about the girl and her parents are probably from those always who feel the knee-jerk need to defend DCPS, or at least their kids's school, right or wrong, come hell or high water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the problem is that kids who do this stuff place a large burden on the teacher. They have to get assignments ahead of time, correct them when they turn them in, keep the kid up to speed etc.

Not sure its fair to as a school to do that.

I can understand that to a point. But this is a straight A kid already so clearly she has goood sutdy habits and school managment skills. And its not as if she is missing half the year. Again, I just think they should use more discretion. Isn't this a kid we want to keep in DCPS?

Not at the cost of having to essentially create a unique school curriculum for them, no.

I wonder if she or he could have applied for an IEP?

Does he or she have a disability?

Maybe the disability is not being able to abide narrow-minded, inflexible DC bureaucrats.

[Anonymous]

the little girl is also a math prodigy. She took geometry in 7th grade.

Ahem, geometry in 7th grade is not exectly the stuff of prodigy...

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Normally I love Petula Dvorak's columns and opinions on a range of topics from the profound, third world aspects of the city she knows well to the superfluous first world worries of those of us who should know better.

But this article is disturbing on several levels. Nothing can compare to Relisha Rudd's case. Nothing. But if we do go there, let's not forget that she has a brother from the same mom who went to the same school without the fake doctor's notes from that horrific predator. How much intervention is too much and can that happen without enough intervention?

We can't have it both ways. Adults will say and do a lot of things in the supposed interests of a child. Without policies, procedures and, gasp, bureaucrats, the majority of our children could be in horrific conditions. My heart wants to believe that these parents who live not far from me are indeed upstanding citizens who want the best for their amazingly talented child.

Deal and DCPS could have likely handled this particular situation with more sensitivity. But at what cost? How many competitions are too many? Do straight As mean straight happiness? Does she miss her friends because of school or because she's put on an airplane by adults?

I wouldn't want to be in DCPS or Deal administrator shoes in this case. However, I'm grateful for my own kid's sake that someone is checking up on the kids.

Are you an idiot? The DC truancy law does give schools discretion in this matter and Deal chose to not use here it which is stupidity. And for you to suggest that a child not pursue her talent just because her parents may be spurring her on is incredulous. I seriously doubt this child would be displaying that much talent if she hated playing the piano.

So if the kid is missing a month of school at a time for all of this travel, practice and performance, the teachers should just suck it up and basically play the role of private tutor in addition to teaching a class of kids? Would you really like it if half your kid's teacher's prep time was spent catering to one student?

There is no reason for any teacher to spend oodles of time for lesson planning or curricula nowadays when all of the major textbooks have all of the teacher and student materials spelled out. Frankly, I do not want many teachers who are not content experts doing lesson planning or curricula development when there are tons of materials already developed by professional content experts with the textbook companies.

If the materials are adequate, then it should be fairly simple to instruct the student and family on what material to study and do.

It seems that the parents put together the study an during their her absence. All the teachers would have to do is review and less it. Are they really too busy for that?

To busy to create a unique system of testing and assessment for one child (who most likely missed plenty of tests and graded assignments during her absense)? Yes, I imagine they are too busy for that.

"A unique system of testing and assessments"? Why not just tell her what the work is before she goes, ask her if she understands it when she gets back and then give her the test that she missed? Is that so hard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Normally I love Petula Dvorak's columns and opinions on a range of topics from the profound, third world aspects of the city she knows well to the superfluous first world worries of those of us who should know better.

But this article is disturbing on several levels. Nothing can compare to Relisha Rudd's case. Nothing. But if we do go there, let's not forget that she has a brother from the same mom who went to the same school without the fake doctor's notes from that horrific predator. How much intervention is too much and can that happen without enough intervention?

We can't have it both ways. Adults will say and do a lot of things in the supposed interests of a child. Without policies, procedures and, gasp, bureaucrats, the majority of our children could be in horrific conditions. My heart wants to believe that these parents who live not far from me are indeed upstanding citizens who want the best for their amazingly talented child.

Deal and DCPS could have likely handled this particular situation with more sensitivity. But at what cost? How many competitions are too many? Do straight As mean straight happiness? Does she miss her friends because of school or because she's put on an airplane by adults?

I wouldn't want to be in DCPS or Deal administrator shoes in this case. However, I'm grateful for my own kid's sake that someone is checking up on the kids.

Are you an idiot? The DC truancy law does give schools discretion in this matter and Deal chose to not use here it which is stupidity. And for you to suggest that a child not pursue her talent just because her parents may be spurring her on is incredulous. I seriously doubt this child would be displaying that much talent if she hated playing the piano.

So if the kid is missing a month of school at a time for all of this travel, practice and performance, the teachers should just suck it up and basically play the role of private tutor in addition to teaching a class of kids? Would you really like it if half your kid's teacher's prep time was spent catering to one student?

There is no reason for any teacher to spend oodles of time for lesson planning or curricula nowadays when all of the major textbooks have all of the teacher and student materials spelled out. Frankly, I do not want many teachers who are not content experts doing lesson planning or curricula development when there are tons of materials already developed by professional content experts with the textbook companies.

If the materials are adequate, then it should be fairly simple to instruct the student and family on what material to study and do.

It seems that the parents put together the study an during their her absence. All the teachers would have to do is review and less it. Are they really too busy for that?

To busy to create a unique system of testing and assessment for one child (who most likely missed plenty of tests and graded assignments during her absense)? Yes, I imagine they are too busy for that.

Again most textbook companies have test generators and tests, worksheets, activities, homework sheets, etc. that go along with the text. There is nor reason for a teacher to spend tons of time on making student materials. The greatest amount of time for a teacher would be ensuring that the teacher is familiar enough with the materials that are supplied.

[Anonymous]

PP here -meant to say no reason

[Anonymous]

DCPS would label Katie Ledecky a truant.

Even though she has already been accepted at Stanford.

[Anonymous]

A link to the Chancellor's statement:

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

According to this, there is no problem here. I hope that is true and she is back at Deal asap!!

[Anonymous]

it seems to me that the parents over reacted to an automated letter the school sent. If, as the statement suggests, the school had talked to the parents..I don't see a problem. Maybe they pulled her for other reasons and are using this as the excuse. I don't think DCPS is that unreasonable at least not in my dealings with them.

[Anonymous]

Check your privilege everyone and just respect the rules of the District of Columbia!