Trouble with school

[mjcb]

Hi, Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Chelsie is having trouble at school. She has A's and B's in all of her classes and works hard not to get behind on her school work when she has to miss for doctor appointments. She leaves early every 21 days her antibiotic shots and misses a day every 6-8 weeks for her cardiology visits. I thought it was quite an accomplishment when they quit giving us trouble about bathroom breaks (you know how lasix works). Now they are requiring her to take end of course exams in her elective classes due to her absences. All of the students have to take them for Math and English and I do not have a problem with that, however it seems that she is being punished for having to go to the doctor so frequently. The only time she has missed has been due to her appointments and she keeps her grades up. I am getting really frustrated with dealing with them!

 

[Harpoon]

Sounds like they want to make sure she's learned all the material inspite of her absences...


Have you tried talking to her teachers directly? Where is the extra testing requirement coming from?


Does the school administration have policies regarding such things? if they do, what are those policies (ask them in a school board meeting) and if they don't, why is your daughter being singled out like that when there's no formal policy or rule that says it's neccesary???

 

[Mary]

Harpoon's correct.
They should be able to show you the policy that requires her to take the tests. Have you checked the student handbook? The school principal can tell you where the information is located, and if it's not, then you have a justifiable reason to contact your state's department of education and file a complaint.
Mary

 

[mjcb]

Required If More Than 2 Days Are Missed

Required If More Than 2 Days Are Missed

If a student misses more than 2 days or is borderline for passing the class they are required to take the end of course test. Chelsie has missed 2 days and has left early every 21 days. I pick her up at 2:00 in order to be at the doctor by 3:00. I realize she has to leave the same class each time but she keeps all of her work done and the classes are one hour and one half each. She has 4 classes. Math, Creative Writing, Debate, and Social Studies. The only one which is required of all students is Math. Because she has left early so many times they have counted that as absences. Even though she has only missed two days from Creative Writing and Social Studies I am being told she has to take all of the tests. I guess I feel like she is being punished because of her medical problem. She has no control over the fact that she has to go to her doctor visits.

 

[Gnusgal]

Unfortunately, that's something that I've had to deal with too. When I was in school I made sure to always keep up with my work and only miss if I absolutely HAD to. We tried our best to work out all doctor's appointments to be on my days off, but it wasn't always possible. The worst was when I would get bronchitus and be out for a month at a time. Even though my mom always picked up my work and I kept up with it, I was told I had to make up the days at Saturday school when I finally came back. Not that I had anything to DO there, I'd already made up all of the work. Unfortunately, that was the school's policy and there wasn't much we could do about it (though my mom was able to get them to reduce the number of Saturdays they made me come in).

I think the absolute WORST, though, was the time that I was out for bronchitus and my mom asked all of my teachers for my work and my health teacher told her I didn't need to worry about it for her class. And she gave me a 70! I had been an A/B student all my life and would have had an A in that class if she had given me the work to be able to do it, but SHE didn't want to be put out and get the work together for me, and punished me for it... Grrr! (here it is 15 years later and it still gets me mad)

Now, I happen to be a teacher, and ALWAYS work with my students that I know are out for legitimate reasons. Unfortunately, the policies are put into place because there are some students who will miss a lot of school for a slight sniffle or because they stayed up too late the night before and DON'T do the makeup work. I would suggest talking to the individual teachers and see if they can work something out. Especially for the classes that she has actually been present in most days. Most teachers, you'll find, are pretty caring if you approach them the right way. Don't go in accusing them of being unfair to your child. Instead, ask them if they could explain the policy to you, because you are somewhat confused as to why she has to take the exams in classes she has been there for... It's a thought anyway.

Wish I had a better answer for you! Good luck to you and your daughter. I can completely sympathise.

 

[geebee]

These types of policies have been in effect for a long time. When I was a senior in high school (1969-1970 school year), I missed around 30 days due to various illnesses. Even though I kept up with my studies and ended up with a 3.8 GPA, I received a blank diploma folder at graduation. I did not receive my diploma until I had made up 25 of those 30 days during the summer. Mind you, I did not do school work during that time, I cleaned classrooms, put away books in the library and other "truly important academic" tasks. I am sure this was supposed to make me much more ready to greet the "real world". What it ended up doing was make me so angry at the school system that I did not attend college until 10 years later (yes, I know I only hurt myself but I was young). As is Niki, I am still angry and this is almost 35 years later. I understand that these rules are made to deal with the majority of students who choose to skip school for stupid reasons. It is unfortunate that folks like us get caught in the trap. I feel for your daughter but there is probably little that can be done because, if they are following policy, not making her take the tests will be giving her special treatment.
I would suggest requiring them to show you the policies tho.
Good luck and smiles always,
Gina

 

[tobagotwo]

I know that the state of New Jersey has a requirement for the number of days a student must attend to be promoted to the next grade. My son ran afoul of that when his mother died. He had to be given special dispensation by the Board of Education, based on doctor's and psychologist's statements that I had to provide.

However, a two-absence limit is incredibly strict. Seems like they could bend whatever it is that they have rectally situated a little bit for a girl who has done so well in her grades.

Best wishes,

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I had Rheumatic Fever as a 9th grader and missed from middle of October until after the Christmas break. I had a homebound teacher from the beginning of December until Christmas break started. They wanted me to repeat the 9th grade, but fortunately, my grades and test scores cause a special dispensation.

School districts have policies that have to be maintained. One special circumstance would lead to many and negate the policy. All of those people with braces who have to visit the orthodontist on a monthly basis and those who have allergies and require regular allergy shots are in the same boat as you, so they aren't really picking on you. Can't you find a doctor that could give her the penicillin shot at a later time? It doesn't take a specialist so any Family Practitioner could do it. I even gave my penicillin shots to myself for awhile. Just a suggestion....

 

[bvdr]

I had to go to summer school the summer I turned 15 to make up for missed time. I had missed weeks with whooping cough in the fall and then in early spring I had what was suspected to be mono but I think it must have been when I had the undiagnosed rheumatic fever. I too was a very good student and even though the absenses were excused I had to make up the time. It wasn't a matter of them being hard-nosed or trying to be punitive. It was a set requirement. I only took Latin and algebra but it made for a long summer. I don't think we had such a thing as Saturday school. This was back in the early 60's.

I hope she just decides to make the best of it and turn it into something positive. She sounds like a terrific girl and I bet she ends up stronger for all she is going through.

 

[Rebecca]

Hi, I would get a letter from her doctor stating the reason why she needs the visits for antibiotic shots and cardiology visits. Make a copy for your file. I then would make a group appointment for a conference with her school counselor, assist school principle and her teachers that are requiring her to take the exam. Ask them what the school policies are and why your daughter with A\B average is require taking the exams. Tell then that she feels she is being punished for having rheumatic heart disease and keeping her A/B average.

In 1971 my sisters miss the last half semester of ninth grade due to illness. She had always had good grades and they made her just take the end of semester exams and pass her on to tenth grade.

I have a sixteen year old who now is in braces for the second time around. The end of last school year we interviewed four orthodontist and an oral surgeon that needed a referred from the family doctor. I hope she is down to orthodontist appointments every six weeks now. This school year she had about five filling from the dentist. She gave the dog to much love and had to have a root canal on a front tooth and have that tooth beach from the inside. The root canal and bleaching were six appointments. She has missed a lot school but she has had her appointment in the morning, lunch time and late afternoon so she hasn?t just missed one class. At the schools open house I did let her teachers know that she was having a lot of orthodontist and dental work done. Her doctors have letter business cards that she takes to the school office for her excuses for missing school.

 

[Harpoon]

I'm seeing lots of posts about orthodontics in here and I've gotta say that I was in braces from 6th grade through 11th grade. I left school a lot for appointments, sometimes I came back to finish the day, sometimes not. I also missed school for the dentist and for illness (I don't ever recall missing a day for a trip to the cardiologist but then, back then, I didn't need that kind of thing, just went annually to make sure my heart was still beating)


This is in New York State, between 1980 and 1992...


Two absences seems overly harsh, especially if doctor's notes don't matter.

If I came down with pink eye on a Tuesday my doctor wouldn't want me back in school until the following week. The school nurse wouldn't want to see me back either!!!

Same with chicken pox and a whole list of extremely contagious diseases.

Granted, the time would have to be made up, but I can't see making someone spend an extra week or more in some summer school type program just to make up school days, especially when they've met all other graduation requirements and are NOT failing students....

 

[Lisa in Katy]

Harpoon, I think there's some confusion between making up an excessive number of absences and having to take final exams.

Every district has their own policy. The policy here is that you can miss 2 days each 6 weeks (12 days per year) and still be exempt from final exams. That allows students to miss once each month with no problem. In high school, absences are counted by the class and you have an advisory period (study hall), so they recommend that you try to either have doctor appts. during advisory or spread them out so they aren't all during one class. The number of exams you are exempt from depends on your age and grades. For instance, a Freshman can only exempt one exam each 6 weeks and a Senior can be exempt from all exams. This is only if you have an A or B average. Our system is pretty easy to work with, and therefore, few if any exceptions are made to the rule.

I don't know how many days you have to miss before you are at risk of not being promoted or having to go to summer school. I think it's something like 24, which is a lot considering school only lasts about 180 days. There are exceptions to this rule if you have an extended illness. I had a first grader last year who missed a lot of school for a variety of illnesses - mom would keep her home every time she "felt bad", never more than 2 days at a time because at 3 days you have a get a doctor's note to return to school. She could tell me to the day how many more days of school she could miss before she was retained. She had 17 absences before the Christmas Break. You can see where it is easy to work the system and the reason they have rules such as this one. Unfortunately, sometimes it hurts people who have no choice. I guess that you could say that it's getting her ready for college where you can't exempt any final exams, but I doubt that will make her fell better!!!!