Showing posts with label public school issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public school issues. Show all posts

Should schools get to regulate potty breaks and if so, how?

 I remember being in elementary school... actually it was a catholic school.  In the  younger grades we took a bathroom break mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  If we had to go besides that, the teacher would ask, can you hold it until bathroom break?  If the answer was no, she sent you about your business. In older grades, teachers did not have a problem letting you go when you needed, except if you had to go every day or multiple times a day, you might need to have a conversation with the teacher, parent, and or principle to find out if you were OK or if you were trying to get out of class.

So in recent news...

"A Brooklyn elementary school teacher has come up with a controversial idea to get her children to hold it in."



I know before we started homeschooling, you couldn't pay my kids to go to the public restroom.  It was just too nasty. This inability or refusal to go to the bathroom at school actually did cause, or at lease exacerbate existing health problems for my son.  So when a teacher refuses or limits a child's ability to eliminate, it is problematic.

Then there's the risk of people taking it into their own hands.  A friend of my mother's once told the story of a teacher that refused to let her go to the bathroom.  So she stood next to the teacher and peed on purpose.  She got to go home and was never denied a bathroom pass again.


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Update on Mystery Illness in Le Roy NY... PANDAS???

The school-contracted illness in LeRoy NY may be coming to light. Dr. Siegel says it could be a chronic strep infection that causes the illness caused PANDAS, but it is being covered up.  Kids and parents are not being given the information on their illness.  This may actually be a public health risk but no one's talking.


There is a serious problem when parents aren't allowed to get information about kids health issues.



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Mystery Illness at Le Roy High School in Upstate NY is troubling

I have read what the experts have to say, but am having a tough time swallowing it.


After baffling doctors there is a diagnosis. A condition called Conversion Disorder.
"This is subconscious, they're unaware of what they're doing," explained Dr. McVige
Which makes Conversion Disorder very complicated to diagnose and treat.
The disorder is caused solely by psychological factors, not a neurological or other medical condition.
"What it is...is maybe stressors, things that are uncomfortable events in your life mount up inside and kind of manifest itself in a physical manner," continued McVige.


12 girls at one highschool all get the same illness and they are calling it hysterical?  I am not a medical expert, but it appears to be environmental to me.  Maybe it's even food-bourne?

(note: changed video... other video stopped working)

Several of them are now being homeschooled.

I wonder if this can't be somehow related to a disorder called PANDAS





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Black students not expected to excel... not in my school district.

 I will give the link here for you to read the article yourself in case I am mis-interpreting it.

As I see it, Gwinnett County wants freedom from state education mandates.  Such a mandate dictates things like required instructional time and class size.  To avoid these mandates they must create and sign an agreement with the state called IE2 contracts. 

So far, it sounds fair enough.  Meet reasonable benchmarks, set your own rules.  Cool. 

The details of the agreement are the problem. Simply put, They set acheivement standards of African American Students lower than that of White and Asian students.  Also, standards for hispanic students are set just above that of students with disabilites, and ESOL students are even lower than that.  

This is very telling.  Approximately 40% of white and Asian students are expected to meet benchmarks.  Meanwhile just 25% of blacks are expected to meet the same standards.  It just spirals down for Hispanic students.  

There is a mindset here that is troubling at best.  This tells me that my African American child is not given the benefit of doubt that he or she can meet the same standards of their white neighbor.  Meanwhile, they live next door to each other.  We may even go to the same church, and be on the same sports teams.  Heck, they may even be best friends.  But because my child is perceived to be less academically strong, for no other reason than the color of their skin,  they will surely not be given the same kind of attention in the classroom.... because... why bother?  We don't expect much of the anyway.

And people wonder why we homeschool.


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Getting Carried Away with AP?

 I have lots of public school kids in my family to compare with my own and for a while there I was pretty nervous about the sheer number of AP Classes these kids were taking, that mine weren't.  It seemed to me that my kids might be behind the ball and unable to compete for a place in a good college.

I can see now that the stress was unfounded because as homeschoolers there are ways to stand out

No Family Time Allowed?

I just read and email from the Seattle Public Schools (it got passed around) regarding absences due to family trips.  It took me 5 minutes to find a word that did was family friendly enough to write on my blog.  The letter is in my opinion, WHACKTACULAR.

Here is an excerpt:

Just going to another city, country or out of state, if to visit family or friends and nothing else, would not be excused. Families sometimes arrange their vacations after school starts because airfare is usually cheaper. However, this does not meet criteria for an excused absence.

Interestingly, enough, it is the wealthier and more families that take trips such as these. I doubt the kids are going to fall behind.  Why can't the the kids get a package of work to do while away?

 and

If the trip is to be considered educational, there has to be a plan in place for what the student will learn, what educational activities are to be accomplished, and how the student will report on his/her learning when he comes back. The plan could include language immersion (although this wouldn't be excused by itself), visits to historic or cultural sites, taking photographs and creating a report based on all of this that the student makes to the class or turns in to the teacher, or some other planned educational activity that the teacher and principal approve.


Are you kidding me?  The school want's to hijack a family's vacation time?  I'd rather never go anywhere.

Plus

At least five days of a trip for a funeral can be excused, but any part that would be added beyond this simply for a desire to visit family for a longer period of time may not be excused.

What if the child is still inconsolable?  What if mom needs more time to get her mother's affairs in order?  What if Dad needs to handle his parents estate?  Crazy.

Things like this make homeschooling so attractive.

Here's the school system website, so you can view their overall truancy rules.  I wouldn't want to go to schools like this either.

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What is going on in our schools?

Happy Elf Mom pointed out an incident of special needs children being punished by putting cotton balls in their mouths.   That's just crazy.

In South Atlanta, a child was beaten with a shoe... on her BARE bottom.  That's criminal.



Let's get it together schools!.


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Public school parents, remember you are your child's guidance counselor



I am finding that in my area, several families are being hit up for money because their students needed to take extra classes to be able to graduate. I thought it was an isolated incident until I started asking the question "is your senior ready to graduate?". I keep hearing no.




The good news, is that there are ways to make sure your child graduates on time. There are local online and private schools from which the public school MUST accept credit.

If you find yourself in this position, check out

http://highschool.unl.edu/ and

http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/highschool.cfm

If you can't get anywhere with the school's guidance counselors, then go to the board of education.


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Since when did public school get so expensive?


Never mind the $200 bill most parents get at the start of the school year after buying T-shirts, paying activity fees, and a case of Kleenex on top of the usual school supplies.  I can't speak for other school districts, but here in Gwinnett County GA, the public schools seems to have an excellent money making vehicle... summer school.  They appear to barrel through the curriculum during the school year, and if the student can't keep up and fails the class, they have to go to summer school at $250 per course.  If the child fails 2 or 3 classes, they are out of luck.  Few parents can fork over that kind of dough for summer school with the 3 week notice they are given between the time the child fails the classes and summer school fees must be paid.

Can't pay for summer school?  Maybe you can take the online class.  This can also be costly.  For many students these classes are the only thing keeping them from flunking out of school.  If you can't afford to pay the fees, then you may find yourself repeating the 12th grade.

I never needed summer school growing up, but my brothers did.  (Back in the day.)  It was free. What happened?


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Things that blow me away about public school.

It blows me away when a parent does not know that their child is failing in school.

It blows me away when a parent somehow doesn't see report cards.

It blows me away that schools don't require face to face meetings when a child fails a class or two or three.

It blows me away that my local school charges parents for summer school classes... it almost seems like a racket.  Let the child fail with no intervention and then charge the parent an arm and a leg to take the class again.

Is it just me bothered by these things.


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12 grade year of homeschooling, Finishing Strong

We are almost done with my college prep series. There will still be a video on completing the transcript.    Stay tuned... meanwhile, ...