Two stories last week about incidents in local school systems got me to thinking about the rights of parents.
First, there was a story out of Chesapeake regarding a principal who at first refused to allow a parent to pick up her child from school in order to attend a doctor’s appointment. The school was in the middle of SOL testing and had previously asked parents not to schedule such appointments during the tests so as not to disrupt the classes. By the time all was resolved, the child had missed the appointment.
Then we have the story of a Norfolk employee distributing plastic fetus dolls (photo here) with “a card with a “pro-life” message and information on fetal growth.” The dolls were distributed to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students over a period of time – some reports say several weeks, others say several months.
So my question is: do you think the rights of the parents were disregarded?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Yes, in both cases with the second being more serious.
In the case of the first the school can request certain behavior. Parent always trumps teacher, in cases like this.
In the second case, more disturbing when you look at it, is the fact that this is exactly what is happening in Texas with their decision to teach with a bias. The parent decides on the morals and beliefs it thinks their children should have, not the school system. The recourse is private or at home education to defend against that which should not be an issue to begin with.
“He said Watkins was not facing any disciplinary action.”
He damned well SHOULD be.
The Norfolk employee was also wrong. Such messages about sex, abortion, birth control, homosexuality, etc., are not appropriate topics for schools.
I think parents have a universal and inviolable right to take their kids out of school whenever they want to, but I think that the schools have a co-equal right to notify and enforce consequences, as in “okay, you can take your kid out in the middle of the SOLs, but they’re going to fail the SOLs and be held back a year.”
In the case of the fetus dolls, that’s politics masquerading as education at the 4-5-6 grade level. Handing out dolls to classes actually LEARNING about human development in the womb is one thing. I still find it truly distasteful, but I can see an educational link there. In terms of parental rights, I would expect that I would be notified that such dolls would be used in the “family life” class before they were used.
Just MHO.
The SOLs are a joke, and a waste of the teachers’ time and the students’ time. Alexis is probably one of the better students, and the principal wanted her there to bring the average up. If the kid misses the test, allow a make-up. Are you going to make a student repeat a year because they are sick the day of the test?
But the SOLs are the law in VA. Do you think we should simply disregard every law we think are jokes?
No, we should change them. (ICE, however, has said it IS just going to ignore the laws it doesn’t like, and will not enforce them.)
Are make-up tests not allowed by law?
Re: the SOLs specifically, you can’t really ignore it, but the law should allow for the possibility of make-ups in cases of documented illness. It provides neither a fare snapshot of a student’s abilities nor an accurate impression of the education she’s received to test her while she’s feverish, ill, etc. And as far as how the principal behaved, I would have freaked out if I tried taking my daughter out of class to see a specialist and wasn’t allowed to do so; it can be hard to get on the schedule of a specialist approved by an insurance provider, and if you’re seeing a specialist in the first place, chances are it wasn’t an appointment you could afford to miss.
(I opened that link marginally concerned that I was going to find that Alexis Martin’s mother had scheduled an appointment with an oncologist a week prior or something of that nature).
In this specific case, though, either the mom or Alexis screwed up by not remembering to schedule around the test. They further made the wrong call by choosing the routine physical over an educational obligation. The principal handled it poorly — he should have made it clear that Alexis would have to repeat a year of school and then let the mother make her decision — but I think it’s pretty ridiculous that Mrs. Martin’s making such a fuss over this. In my opinion, she and the principal both look like complete and total idiots.
I’m surprised no one suggested sawing Alexis in half so she could have both been present for testing and still have made her appointment; both of these rubes would have went for it.
“he should have made it clear that Alexis would have to repeat a year of school”
That is a ridiculous penalty for missing a test, ANY test. Just have her do a make-up test another day.
Disincentivizing people from purposefully blowing off the test is, however, important.
What I’d really like to see is if Mrs. Martin was required to pay the costs for making up the test. That seems to be the most equitable way to recognize that the law is the law while also supporting a parent’s right to be a total effing moron.
Will the school reimburse HER for the time off work and for the possibility she had to pay the doctor for the missed appt?
Um, no? Because even by Rae Martin’s own admission in the article linked, she had received written communications in advance alerting her about the testing dates and requesting that she schedule or reschedule around those dates.
As an individual and a parent, she’s absolutely free to ignore those communications if she wants (which she did) even if it was stupid (which it was).
So Alexis gets an extra “X” days to study and prepare for the SOLs that her fellow students wouldn’t get, because her mom schedule a physical on that day?
I think we’d be seeing a LOT of “physicals” being scheduled on the days of SOLs. Lord knows I preferred taking a test solo to being in a room with a million other stressed out students. And doing it a few days later? Absolutely
It’s a question of equity of opportunity for all the students taking the test. Now, if equity isn’t a primary value, that’s a different discussion.
Except that the doctor’s appt was scheduled FIRST.
As you can see, there ARE make-up days scheduled:
Click to access 2009-2010%20SOL%20Test%20Dates.pdf
If I want to take my kid out of school, you can inform me about the test and that there will be consequences (although there are makeup days, kids do get sick), but you can’t tell me that I CAN NOT remove my child from the school. That’s way over the line.
The Norfolk employee who was pushing their political beliefs on 9 and 10 year olds during school hours should be fired.
A teacher or principal cannot tell a parent they cannot take their child out of school. Period. That doesn’t mean that the student automatically gets a pass for a missed day. Life happens, and a school or school district with reasonable officials recognizes that and has some ways to account for this.
As for the second point, on the main point you make, I completely agree that politics should not be in schools. That being said, I can remember a number of instances where it was introduced that would fall on the other end of the political spectrum. No noise was ever made about it, so forgive me if I feel there is a double standard. But while I think politics should stay out of the classroom, if one group won’t restrain themselves, I can’t say I’m going to get too outraged when there is a opposing group doing the same. Sure, it may be hypocritical, but complaining about it also would be.
When did Mrs. Martin notify the school about the appointment and her intent? Back in my grade school days in Maryland, advance notice would have had to be given for such an appointment. If not, it was an unexcused absence.
In this case, it would have allowed the issue to be hashed out prior.