Public education is a cesspool of ignorant fuckwaddity

[mugglechump]

I'm very, very close to going up to Meredith's school and sticking my foot up someone's butt. It's no secret that my kid is not a scholar. Mer has many other things she'd rather be doing than going to school. Her lack of scholastic success does not please me, but it's a fact. Consequently, she is behind in credits. She should be a junior, but she's got one credit too few to be one 'officially'. The plan was to catch her up this year by having her take both English 10 and English 11. We signed her up for that, and she was in those classes for the first week of school. Then the school realized, "Oh gee, students can't double up English like that unless they are seniors who need the classes to graduate." You know, God forbid she get back on track before her senior year. So, without consulting me, they switched her into Marketing co-op, which is a two credit course. One credit for classroom work, and one for work experience. Rather than having a study hall, Mer would get out of school early on B days, and go to work. She had until the end of the fourth week of school to find a job.

Now, first off, Meredith doesn't have a driver's license. So, without my permission, the school pulled her out of an academic class and put her into a vocational elective class. Without my permission, they released her from school early to WALK to a job she had one week less than every other student to find (since she spent week 1 in English). Not to mention that Mer has soccer two afternoons per week, plus weekend games and an occasional Saturday practice. The Co-op class requires that students work 396 hours before the end of the school year in order to get the second 'work experience' credit. The teacher helped Meredith find a job about two miles from school, at a business that closed at 5:30 p.m. every day. Considering she'd only be getting there at around 2:30 on B days, and 4:00 on A days, we're not talking about a lot of hours - especially since she'd only be there three afternoons a week. Not enough hours that she'd be able to get to 396 during the school year, for sure.

So, after the first week, the business decided that Mer can't work enough so they called the school to tell them they were letting her go. This violates the 'you must have a job' rule of Marketing Co-op, so now she's been pulled out of that class, too. The school is 'trying' to put her in Sports Marketing (How many freaking marketing classes do these people offer?), based on Mer's statement that she wants to be a sports trainer when she grows up. Not exactly the same thing, but, you know, it has the word 'sports' in the name, so it must be ok. Again, no one bothered to call to talk to me about this. The problem is that the deadline for switching classes was really at the end of September, so the school isn't sure if they can get Meredith into another class at this point. They might just stick her in TWO STUDY HALLS instead. Even if she gets into a class, she has to make up a month's worth of work now in order to catch up with the class.

To recap, I tried to get Meredith caught up to the level she was supposed to be scholasticly. The school has now worked it so that there is a very real possibility that she will not only NOT be caught up, but she may be an additional credit behind. God bless public education. These bureaucratic fucks sure Know what's best for my child. They're making sure she's getting exactly what she needs to succeed. Yes indeed, thank God the government is here to tell me how my child should be educated. I'd just screw it up with all my talk of academics. But hey - at least the illegal alien's kids are getting taught for free, right?

Comments

[heyurs.livejournal.com]

aaaww, honey! It's pouring!! :O *huggles* I imagine Meredith isn't too happy either...good damn grief! Yep, you need to go put your foot SOMEwhere! They definitely need to hear from you! *smites*

[mugglechump.livejournal.com]

They've put her in the second study hall while the Sports Marketing teacher ponders if there would be too much make-up work for her to handle. Hello? Waiting is just adding to it!

Aargh!

*hugs*

[heyurs.livejournal.com]

Ponders?? *screams* What an idiot! Sounds like you need to go make up their minds for them, hon! Poor Mer...this is a lot of extra stress on her! :( *huggles her*

Poor Mommy! *clings*

[mynuet.livejournal.com]

Call the board of ed. Seriously - they are the only ones at this point with the clout to make something happen, and when the board calls the school about a parent complaint, the school gets REALLY well behaved for a while about that particular student.

[mugglechump.livejournal.com]

I'm actually thinking very hard about pulling her out entirely and having her do correspondence school this year. These people are pissing me off royally.

[13oct.livejournal.com]

No matter how pissed u are with the school, don't home-ed her. I say this as a student whose parents did that for one year - and it went really wrong.

I skipped a year due to sickness, and in order not to loose a year, I stayed at home and did it by correspondence. And man, did I hate it. I missed my friends, all the school activities, and was shunned for being odd coz I was home schooled.

Well, things might have changed now, but the above was my two cents worth.

[dragonsangel68.livejournal.com]

Honey, I'd be up there and in their faces, implanting my foot so far up their collective arses they'd take a year to discover where it had lodged. They're messing with her education and that is not acceptable. Hope you get it all sorted quickly for Mer's sake *hugs*

[heyurs.livejournal.com]

*nodding* AMEN!