NP here. OP was wrong to send her sick child, but there is plenty of blame to go around--in a school system as large as MCPS, it is ridiculous that there is no consistent policy on makeup exams for illness. And in this case the school had a doctor's note attesting to the illness, and didn't care--I find that unconscionable in an institution dedicated to children.

Unjustly punitive HOW?

Sounds like they pulled a fast one on you, OP. They simply could not decide to not allow your kid to take a make-up exam. They can't. Had you kept your kid home, they would have magically come up with a solution. You got played.

AP was my child's Assistant Principal who we were dealing with. My child is NOT taking any AP courses.

My child is an A/B student who knew the material in all of her classes but was facing serious academic repercussions if she missed the exams. I'm sure she could have performed better if she wasn't sick but she could pass even if she was taking the test with a fever. We gave the school the doctor's note but they didn't care she was contagious. The school doesn't care for the well being of others so my child did the best she could with the circumstances she was given.

It would help if MCPS had a consistent policy that school administration has to follow when children are sick and provide medical documentation, but the fact is that the school administration has broad discretion on how they handle individual situations. The result for my child would have been unjustly punitive so my child took her exams while she was sick.

Anonymous wrote:Missed that it was an unimportant AP exam. You made your kid take that test in the hope that you can save a few bucks on college credit...which is absurd.

Everyone needs to dial the AP ridiculousness down a few notches.

So your kid starts AP classes freshman year and accumulates tons of college credits...what does that mean? Are you really going to make your kid graduate from college a semester early? Probably not.

AP exams are given in May. If there's a semester exam, it mirrors the actual exam but doesn't count toward college credit. It's simply a county exam given to expose kids to the format.

I assume AP was assistant principal. AP exams are given in the spring.

Missed that it was an unimportant AP exam. You made your kid take that test in the hope that you can save a few bucks on college credit...which is absurd.

Everyone needs to dial the AP ridiculousness down a few notches.

So your kid starts AP classes freshman year and accumulates tons of college credits...what does that mean? Are you really going to make your kid graduate from college a semester early? Probably not.

What? Why on earth would you send her? You do know that some people die from the flu, right? Nice job exposing more people to the risk.

I don't think it would have made any difference if your child had just skipped the AP exams, OP. Stupidity is heritable and clearly you've got a LOT of genes encoding for ample stupidity.

Epic parental fail, OP.

YOU are in charge of the well being of your child. Of course the (lazy) school doesn't want to deal with the inconvenience of (gasp) funding an adult with a pulse to procter your child's make-up exam.

Here's what I would have done: been very polite to whatever school rep I was communicating with and assured them we would do our best to get her to school for the exam...but if she's too ill then she'd circle back as soon as she returns to school to schedule the make-up (and she would be prepared when she returned to school). If I got any push back, I'd remain calm and respectful, let them say whatever crap they wanted to say (taking mental notes), and then follow up with, "yes, we are both on the same page" and leave it at that.

I would not send my sick kid to school for an exam. Period.

And after the exam score was received, if I wasn't pleased with how the school handled it, I would launch into advocate mode. Everyone has a boss...even principals.

A friend got mono right before finals in LAW school. If law school can figure out how to reschedule four or five exams for a sick person, then I think an mcps middle or high school can figure it out...but maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

Sorry, still going to blame the parent who couldn't just say "I understand it is an inconvenience and I apology, however DD is really sick and won't be in to take the exams. We will work with you however we can to reschedule them"

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand either.

Your child had the flu. You told the school. The school said that making up exams would be inconvenient. So you sent your child with the flu to take exams.

Is that an accurate and complete summary of the events?

And, we are somehow supposed to blame the Principal if our kids got sick as a result (???)

I don't understand either.

Your child had the flu. You told the school. The school said that making up exams would be inconvenient. So you sent your child with the flu to take exams.

Is that an accurate and complete summary of the events?

This is utter nonsense.

What a stupid post. You are an adult. You say, "My Child has the flu. She won't be in school. We apologize for any inconvieinence."

The End.

So sorry to all the teachers and students my child exposed to the flu last week. This particular strain is vicious and spreads like wildfire. The school administration had a doctor's note explaining my child's condition and the risk of exposure to others, however, pressure was put on her to complete her exams during the normal exam periods.

The administration said it would have been "inconvenient" to the staff for my child to take the exams after she recovered. There was a limited time frame and no consistent plan in place to address making up exams. Therefore, my child showed up sick, coughing and sneezing her germs all over her exam papers and the hallways of the school. Were some kids annoyed of the noises she made during the exam? Sure, but right about now the noises are the least of their worries as they develop the high fever, achiness, and congestion like my child had when taking her exams. For the students and teachers that come down with the flu this week, thank the AP's and Principal for pressuring students to come to school sick.