FLUNK MY KID
MA FIGHTS TO NIX SLACKER SON'S PROMOTION
Ya gotta love this woman’s attitude! She is so right on so many levels.
Staten Island mom Deanna Hassell wasn't shocked when her son flunked the seventh grade. What shocked her was his promotion to the eighth grade.
"Are you kidding me? Is the Board of Education kidding? How does a kid with a 60.53 average pass?" she asked.
"He should be held back! If children are not getting the education they need now, when they get to high school, they are going to drop out."
Responsibility. Commitment. Rewards for hard work. Consequences for failure. Obviously the Board of Ed doesn’t believe in any of those things. But Mrs. Hassell does.
All year, Hassell warned her 13-year-old son, Anthony Raimo, that he would be left back unless he buckled down.
Anthony paid her no mind. He never did homework. He clowned around in class. He missed 55 days of school - more than one out of four - simply because he refused to go.
Except for the dragging him kicking and screaming to school or shackling him to his desk as this little POS deserved, Mrs. Hassell seems to have tried her best with little Tony. So what happens:
Still, none of it stopped him from squeaking by at IS 51/Edwin Markham School in Graniteville.
In a fortuitous twist for Anthony, the new criteria to end "social promotion," which went into full effect this year, actually worked to his benefit. For the first time, seventh-graders were promoted on the basis of just two end-of-the-year tests - not their year's worth of schoolwork.
He scored a 2 out of 4 on tests in both math and reading. Out of a maximum of 800 points, he got a 608 in reading - 599 was passing. In math, he got a 643 - 610 was passing.
Aaah! The system happened. Standardized tests happened. Sticking to a rigid score and screw the rest of his “work” happened.
So what does little Tony do? He rubs his mommas nose in IT!
"Ha, ha, I passed. I told you so," Anthony recalled telling his mom.
He doesn't even have to go to summer school.
"The message is you don't have to go to school. You take the two tests, and if you pass, that's it," Hassell said.
Bad move, Tony, bad move.
She called administrators at IS 51 demanding to know how her son could not be left back. After all, he failed every class but math, chorus and gym.
An assistant principal told her their "hands are tied" because Anthony passed the standardized tests, Hassell said.
Not quite, assistant principal, not quite.
The Department of Education said principals have discretion in holding back students who are not ready for the eighth grade.
But there ARE enablers in the system.
Robert Tobias, who was director of assessment and accountability for city schools from 1988 to 2001, warned against forcing kids to repeat grades.
"It sounds to me like this kid is bored. Holding him back could be the worst thing to do because it would exacerbate the problem," said Tobias, who now studies testing policy at New York University.
Then again, Mrs. Hassell seems to have HER head in the game.
Hassell, however, believes repeating the seventh grade will be the best lesson for Anthony.
Here’s hoping she wins out. It already sounds like she may have already scored some points in the game of life.
"I don't deserve all this. This is embarrassing," Anthony said.
Sure you do, Tony. You earned every bit of embarrassment your Mom can dish out. Even if you do get to stay in the eighth grade, you better attend every day of school, do your homework and pass every one of your classes next year or you can be sure Mom will be looking to nail your sorry little hide to the wall come next June. She’s already taught you one hell of a lesson.
(from News of the Weird Daily)
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