Faking the Grade -- Columbia Heights Education Campus
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Anonymous
I like how everyone thinks administration or central office actually listens to teacher's signaling there are schools not complying with attendance rules. I have a friend who used to work in central office and is now a teacher and he expressly commented on how he was listened to and his comments were taken seriously as a central office admin but now that he's a teacher no one cares what he has to say. |
Anonymous
+1000 |
NathanBacaABC7
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There are truancy laws. DC Code states after around 15 unexcused absences -- I don't have the exact number in front of me -- kids and their families are supposed to be referred to child protective services and the Attorney General's Office for scrutiny. We have records that indicate that rarely happens, despite students racking up those numbers of unexcused absences. |
NathanBacaABC7
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I'm hearing the same. I'll report on any documents I get in the future. |
Anonymous
And yet it does happen in cases that make headlines for how crazy it is that parents were referred, like the Mom who took her child on a trip to pick up an adopted baby, and the Deal music prodigy who missed school for performances. |
Anonymous
I work at a school where we regularly report AND NOTHING HAPPENS! The reports aren't because kids are on educational trips or other important family outings. They are simply truant day in and day out, over an entire school year and usually in the past years too. Seriously, there are so many agencies that need to be reviewed -- from the places that don't report, to what happens once a report is made, and what happens when reports are made multiple times for the same families over and over. I've been in DC a long time. Remember Banita Jacks? Relisha Rudd? Let's stop worrying about the kids who missed school because their parents have the wherewithal (and the resources) to keep them out of school for a few days for a family trip and can document it. Some of these kids are missing from school for horrific reasons - like abuse and neglect. That alone should make DC take all reports seriously and follow every one of them up. Even if the issue isn't child abuse, educational neglect is serious. Whether it's perpetrated by a system that gives kids grades they haven't earned for coursework they haven't mastered or perpetrated by families whose kids miss months of the school year without consequence. |
Anonymous
What about the policy that if the student steps in the classroom when attendance is counted the students is marked present. What about the students who then leave the classroom and don't come back or repeatedly leave, there is no tracking system. In high school in particular students are very aware of that policy and to a lesser extent it also happens middle school for those students who are already exhibiting troubling behavior and in need of intervention. They don't get the appropriate help beaches on paper they look students who are failing to progress for "unknown" reasons, but regularly miss instruction because they are not in the class. Why are teachers force to mark attendance early, why not the last 10 mins of class to signify that students were present for the full-period and a half-credit if they left? |
Anonymous
Also what at DCPS counts as an unexcused absence? Because a parent brought a note that says they were sick after the fact and once called by attendance monitor, so now absence excused! There may be needs to be a special inter-agency dept. to track this as CFSA is already overwhelmed with abuse/fostercare cases this can't be just dumped on them to investigate they would never have time there are so many truant kids. Agreed educational neglect is a real issue and needs to be addressed! |
Anonymous
So the schools are essentially aiding and abetting truancy? |
Anonymous
Turns out it doesn't even mean that much. |
Anonymous
| Anacostia HS records should also be examined. Truancy there is extreme. The school cannot be expected to deal with it on their own as kids are coming from extreme situations. City and schools need to work together. Vocational Ed in DCPS has been completely gutted so Kids who are not interested in going to college or don’t have the resources end up completely disconnecting from school as DCPS has nothing to offer them. |
Anonymous
Social workers, councilors, mental health professionals. As much as I support the SEL work going on at DCPS right now, for students who are experiencing extreme trauma, sitting in a circle once a week for advisory is not enough, in fact it good trigger a whole host of issues and were are the professionals to pick up the pieces? |
Anonymous
Sad but true. More accurate to say, a students spent some of their formative years at a DCPS school! Nothing more, nothing less 
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Anonymous
Most DCPS high schools have PARCC scores that are sub 30s and have graduation rates 50, 60, 70, even 80% percent It's obvious the whole system is corrupted The attendance scale is just the top of the iceberg. The real issue is "graduating" students who in many cases lack even basic skills mastered at the elementary level |
Anonymous
Are you looking into Wilson? |