Yesterday (Monday) was parent-teacher conferences for the two oldest children. This involves me showing up at the high school gym. All of the high school teachers gather in the gym. The teachers are lined up in alphabetical order around the three walls of the gym. The parents stand in the center of the gym floor and wait in line to talk to the teachers.
I brought the two children with me, and as I waited in line for one teacher, I had one of the children wait in a very long line for another teacher. This is a strategy employed by most of the parents there. It is necessary, especially when you have more than one child. The last time I went to this, I was alone, and it took me over three hours to see all 10 teachers that teach my two children.
I learned that I would soon be jumping through hoops to keep the oldest child from flunking her third trimester. This year, the high school changed its attendance policy when it switched from semesters to trimesters. The policy allows only 6 absences. For every absence over six, the student”s grade drops by 10 percent. Autumn (my oldest child) missed 10 days when she went to Florida to help care for her great-grandma.
Weeks prior to Autumn leaving, I read the attendance policy. It discussed what needed to be done for long-term absences (not vacations). We followed the policy. It involved filling out a long-term absence form and having it completed at least one-week before the absence. Autumn went to the school office and obtained the form. I read through the form, and we completed it correctly. Two weeks before she was to leave, Autumn started circulating the form.
When she left, she had most of her homework already. The rest was sent home with her younger sister, and Autumn completed it during spring break.
Last night (Monday) I learned Autumn”s grades were the following: 101.1 percent in Spanish, 93 percent in Language Arts, 79.8 percent in World History (which will round up to 80 percent), and the other class was in the B+ range if I remember right. According to her teachers, however, the absences penalty will lower her grades 40 percent. So that 101.1 percent grade in Spanish? It will become 60 percent. She”ll go from an A to a D.
One teacher told me that I need to make sure to appeal Autumn”s grades after the report cards are issued. She kept emphasizing that Autumn deserves higher grades than that for her work. Really? You don”t say?
The teacher suggested I wait until after report cards are issued to appeal the grades, and she warned the appeals process might go well into the summer. Excuse me?
I indicated I would make sure BEFORE the report cards are issued. I followed the procedures outlined in the handbook. The long-term absence form was a step to prevent the penalty. Why would it be happening?
So, I talked to the vice-principal who is in charge of the absence thing. When I mentioned the form, she asked, “What form? Where did you get THAT?”
Apparently the form the office gave us is the “old” form — that is, it was developed for the old policy and not the new one. I”m not even sure there is a new form. The vice-principal wanted us to give her a copy of the form, and she would need to look at what the teachers wrote before she would know anything.
We don”t have a copy of the form — we turned it into the office. I called Tuesday and requested the form be given to the vice-principal and also a copy sent home to me.
In the meantime, Autumn completed another assignment in biology, and her grade for that class is now an A- (without the absent policy).
From what I understand, the problem I am having is the result of a problem that arose involving another student. There was a student who missed a lot of school due to having mono. The student didn”t follow the policy and get the proper forms filled out. Of the student”s five teachers, only one teacher followed the policy (which meant the student flunked the class).
This apparently led to a meeting, and the teachers and the administration in the building are trying to figure out exactly what their policy is and how it works. This is why, I believe, that something that was OK before and during Autumn”s absence is now being questioned.
I am not waiting until report cards are issues. I want to have this settled before report cards are issued.
<em>Editor”s Note: I started writing this post Tuesday, and I finished writing it Wednesday morning. This is why “yesterday” is really Monday and not Tuesday. 
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