Open Thread - Quick Question

Open Thread for this beautiful Friday.

One question: does your PTA send you an e-mail reminder the day of the PTA meeting? If so, good idea or just one more piece of e-mail in your box?

Comments

Dorothy Neville said…
So now you open an open thread, right after deciding to put this on Harium's blog rather than threadjack somewhere. Here's the duplicate:

At the recent RHS PTSA meeting, the parent reporting about the Instructional Council meeting said there had been a discussion about some teachers docking kids' grades for excused absences, whether sick or on a school sanctioned field trip or other reason. The chair of the Performing Arts department said some kids on music trips had this happen. You know, like the nationally award winning Jazz band.

Some parents said this had happened with their child, others reported long illnesses where the teachers were great about handling the absence. But one mom said her child had mono for 6 weeks and missed only one day of school so as to avoid getting bad grades.

Brian Vance seemed to downplay this, said that it seemed more like it was miscommunication and lack of clarity. I said no, not at all. This policy was explicitly listed in one of my son's syllabi last year. If you miss class for any reason, you might miss participation points or peer review points or whatever. And this isn't just not counting them, this was giving an explicit Zero for the grade. There was no systematic way of making those points up, the student was just told to look for future opportunities to do extra credit work (which was not always provided.) Yes, it happened to my son when he was home sick with a fever.

Brian asked for details, ie teacher names, given to him after the meeting. I did email him with my information.

I suggest that anyone with a child at Roosevelt who experienced this to email Mr Vance and let him know. And if this sort of grading policy is in effect with any other school, please let your principal know.

Do you really want kids with active mono infections sitting next to your child at school? Do you really want to fight with your sick child about staying home for their health? Do you want kids with H1N1 virus attending class to avoid the punishment of a teacher?
Dorothy Neville said…
Another open topic. Mr Vance gave a presentation at the latest PTSA meeting claiming that the AP Human Geography class was a success. Hmmm. Well, there were lots of holes in that claim, but whatever.

Here's how he started. The first slide said that previous to the decision to require all 10th graders to take AP HG, there were three different options. (Note that he used the word "track" but giving the student options is not tracking them.) The problem is that they were "Inequitable and Inconsistent." I asked for clarification. What was inequitable? He said because they were inconsistent. I asked again, ok, so they were inconsistent, but you also say inequitable. How were they inequitable? He repeated that they were inconsistent. Kids learned different material, different amounts of material.

So pay attention all you folks who like the RHS LA Options curriculum. The principal's logic should apply there as well. Since the Options classes explicitly teach different topics, they are inconsistent. By the principal's logic, this makes them inequitable. Therefore, one can safely conclude that Mr Vance would appreciate doing away with the inconsistent and inequitable LA Options classes.
adhoc said…
We just had curriculum night at Hale last night. Several parents asked how missing school (for excused absences) was handled. Teachers, including the science teacher (and science is hands on in the lab) said not to worry at all about missed days. All said that if they were planned absences they would give kids work to do in advance, and for unplanned absences they would either excuse/forgive the work or let them make it up. Thankfully, no talk of giving kids a zero, or anything like that.
ParentofThree said…
"can safely conclude that Mr Vance would appreciate doing away with the inconsistent and inequitable LA Options classes."

Yep and will see his career skyrocket in the district as a result. Which is his objective.
On another note, anybody notice on the new assigment we page that sates:

"Please note that the new student assignment plan is scheduled to be implemented in phases, beginning in the 2010-11 school year. The assignment rules for the current 2009-10 school year will remain the same."


Phases? Huh?
SE Mom said…
Last year I recall hearing that there was going to be phase in for the new plan, beginning with high school. I think it's the district's way of creating a sort of "out" for themselves if they don't get it all together for next year (and I doubt they will).
Yes, I saw that as well and thought, hmmm. I think it's an out in case they can't roll it out at once. High school would certainly be easier.
squeagle said…
Um, sorry to be "on topic" here (Don't know what this Brian Vance business is about), but:

The schools I've encountered in the central cluster and south don't have an interactive online presence period, including email.

There was none to speak of at Thurgood Marshall, though I understand it's currently being put in place. There was nothing online at Kimball two years ago. Can't speak for other schools.

Good question: Which schools are online, which aren't, and why? Is it up to each school's PTA? Who pays for it?
Rose M said…
My student's class has not been able to access the online tools for the new Discovery math text. (The teacher says he has been communicating with the district.) This means that she is lugging the textbook 2 miles home from school.

Is this a problem that others are having?
SolvayGirl said…
Graham Hill, in the southend, has a simple Yahoo group that they use to email out info. One of the parents set it up. Anyone in the group can post so it is an interesting mix of PTA info, community info and fun stuff like group playdates at Seward Park.
We're not there anymore, but we stay on the list to keep up with the community.
SE Mom said…
Rose M: My (middle school)daughter has been able to access the online math text for her Discovery algebra book. The teacher gave the kids a password. Opposite to your experience, her class was short on texts and for now she does not have a book to bring home.
Megan Mc said…
Our school (AS#1) sends home announcements by kid mail, announcements to our Yahoo group, as well as posting it on the website. When there is a big issue being discussed then we also use the robo call since many of our families don't have daily access to email. Our website was built by and is maintained by one parent volunteer.

A friend of mine is working on translating the Beacon Hill Elementary website into Spanish and Mandarin. How awesome is that?!

It would be great if there could be an adopt a school webmaster program for schools who don't have a parent with webdesign skills.
Sahila said…
Two blogs that Seattle parents concerned about where education is heading in this country/district might like to go check out... sorry I still dont know how to do live links... cant make the written instructions work for myself - need someone to show me... must make me a 'special ed' person in that regard, having a particular learning style that cant be catered for by text books and scripted lessons!...

http://www.schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/

http://www.ourglobaleducation.com/

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