Is this Truancy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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!!

Sounds like the girl's parents are total morons.

[Anonymous]

While I appreciate the rapid response, it seems like overkill for the chancellor to respond so strongly. It seems like DCPS should have bigger fish to fry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!

Sounds like the girl's parents are total morons.

I would take much of anything DCPS tells me verbally and assume it for fact. Maybe the parents wanted a written assurance which they were not provided.


"After a conversation with the Office of Youth Engagement, the family was told to disregard the letter. We also confirmed by phone for the parents that no CFSA referral had been completed, nor would this escalate any further. We believed our communication with the family as recently as August 25 clarified that Avery’s absences had been excused."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!

Sounds like the girl's parents are total morons.

I would take much of anything DCPS tells me verbally and assume it for fact. Maybe the parents wanted a written assurance which they were not provided.


"After a conversation with the Office of Youth Engagement, the family was told to disregard the letter. We also confirmed by phone for the parents that no CFSA referral had been completed, nor would this escalate any further. We believed our communication with the family as recently as August 25 clarified that Avery’s absences had been excused."

sorry -- "would NOT"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!!

Sounds like the girl's parents are total morons.

I would take much of anything DCPS tells me verbally and assume it for fact. Maybe the parents wanted a written assurance which they were not provided.


"After a conversation with the Office of Youth Engagement, the family was told to disregard the letter. We also confirmed by phone for the parents that no CFSA referral had been completed, nor would this escalate any further. We believed our communication with the family as recently as August 25 clarified that Avery’s absences had been excused."

sorry -- "would NOT"

+1 unless you get something in writing (and even then it isn't ironclad) from DCPS they may come back later and insist the person you spoke with was "misinformed" this has happened to me many, many times.

[Anonymous]

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

Very helpful, thank you.

[Anonymous]

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

LOL

[Anonymous]

Oh please. This was a Tiger Mom over thinking this and running to Petula, who, true to form didn't due background.

As a Deal parent I knew something wasn't right from the start. I am pretty sure these parents subscribe to the "no press is bad press" concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. This was a Tiger Mom over thinking this and running to Petula, who, true to form didn't due background.

As a Deal parent I knew something wasn't right from the start. I am pretty sure these parents subscribe to the "no press is bad press" concept.

"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."


Henderson's statement is consistent with at least one key point in Dvorak's piece. DCPS sent robo calls and formal notices on one hand (providing a formal record of "unexcused" absences) vs. informally conveying a decision over the phone without providing a formal record of that allowance. If DCPS was willing to work with the family, why nothing in writing to that effect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

In-class discussions, activities, & debates are often important components of the learning process that aide in the development of critical thinking skills, especially in subjects such as English & social studies.Textbooks, worksheets, etc. might allow a student to independently gain the raw knowledge needed but can't always replicate the full educational benifits of being in a classroom environment, particularly in some higher level classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. This was a Tiger Mom over thinking this and running to Petula, who, true to form didn't due background.

As a Deal parent I knew something wasn't right from the start. I am pretty sure these parents subscribe to the "no press is bad press" concept.

"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."


Henderson's statement is consistent with at least one key point in Dvorak's piece. DCPS sent robo calls and formal notices on one hand (providing a formal record of "unexcused" absences) vs. informally conveying a decision over the phone without providing a formal record of that allowance. If DCPS was willing to work with the family, why nothing in writing to that effect?

Having been on the receiving side of the robocalls-- you can barely understand them much less worry about them. Then we received a letter, which I threw in the garbage. That was it. Of course I wasn't trying to get my kid in the newspaper (with video) so I figured the issue was done and my child is back at Deal again this year.

They are bureaucrats. I don't bother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. This was a Tiger Mom over thinking this and running to Petula, who, true to form didn't due background.

As a Deal parent I knew something wasn't right from the start. I am pretty sure these parents subscribe to the "no press is bad press" concept.

100%

While I almost never (ok never) am on the side of DCPS, this will be a first. The parents went nuts on this one.

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/petula-dvorak-no-misrepresentation-of-piano-prodigys-treatment-by-dc-schools/2014/09/09/8d19659e-385f-11e4-8601-97ba88884ffd_story.html

She has gone off the rails, no longer a reporter but a ranting DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who takes robocalls and obviously robogenerated emails over talking to an actual human being is an idiot.

The parents and Ms. Dvorak want a story so they made up drama when there aren't any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do think DCPS could have made a different call to not sue the parents for truancy, but neither does it have a system to cope with an extraordinary talent that requires global public appearances. With this child's concert schedule, this was bound to happen.

I went to school in NYC where a number of my classmates left our school around 6th-7th grade to attend the Professional Children's School. At some point, extraordinary talent and a regular school schedule does not work.

I also went to high school with a piano prodigy and her parents told her that she had to finish high school and stay local. (It was NYC which helped.) She has had an amazing international career which took off once she finished.

There are many kids homeschooled in this area and the family needs to connect to those groups so their daughter continues to make new friends and they receive the help they need to educate her through high school level.

Who are these groups and how does one go about connecting with them?