“School’s out for summer — except for hundreds of children in western San Bernardino County who, because of an administrative snafu, must make up 34 days of school this summer. The fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Rolling Ridge Elementary in Chino Hills and Dickson Elementary in Chino exceeded the state’s requirement of minutes spent in the classroom, and the last day of school was supposed to be Thursday. But because of the complexities of state law and a clerical error on a spreadsheet, the Chino Unified School District will lose more than $7 million in state funds if classes end at the schools before July 31. ‘I’m appalled. I’m just really kind of amazed the state would . . . take it out on the kids,’ said Michelle Knight, whose son, Tristan, is a Dickson fifth-grader.”
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Comments (10)
“…the Chino Unified School District will lose more than $7 million in state funds if classes end at the schools before July 31.”
I wonder how much the district would lose if all the parents pulled their children out.
I hope they do it. I know I would.
I guess at this point we can only hope the teachers stuck in there for an extra month-and-a-half will react to the immovable bureaucracy by being creative – since they have already covered the year’s curriculum, “including arts, music and hands-on science experiments that are increasingly rare in classrooms” could make this into a pretty awesome arts camp/music camp/science camp for those kids whose parents could not, for whatever reason, arrange awesome vacation activities.
Call me an eternal optimist if you want, but the less well-off and less well-organised families might just benefit a little here.
Ogre: Yeah. It would be tempting.
Frédérique: I like your optimism and hope it unfolds the way you suggest.
As a student I would watch the clock each day; counting out the seconds as each long minute dragged by. The giant old clock on the wall would actually click backwards just a tad to tease me before banging forward to remove one more minute from my interminable sentence of drudgery.
I feel for the kids and teachers and all the vast plans for endless summer days being derailed.
As I understand it, they set up a schedule for 175 minutes vs. the 180 minute minimum and it was in effect for the entire year.(None of the days counted even though everyone was there- can you say waiver?) My wife worked in a system that had a partial workday each Wednesday, but the system was careful to make sure that the schedule met and exceeded the requirements for a school day.
American schools (and some others) receive funding based on “Average Daily Attendance.” While there is clearly no dumber way to fund education, it apparently cannot be changed without ripping the fabric of the space-time continuum.
The practice creates circumstances such as this. It really IS all about time served. You will not move along to the next grade if you have not served your required total number of minutes; not even if you are 5 years above grade level in all subjects and invented a death ray as your science project.
(Note to Superintendents: Might be a good idea to let the child with the death ray go on to the next grade… Just sayin’.)
And really, Chino is not a place where you want to spend July by force or otherwise.
On a separate issue (but about education) , what’s with the high school in Maine denying a student a diploma because he was exuberant and blew a kiss to his mom as well as display his track award? This is one of the biggest moments in a kid’s life and the principal has to play hardball with the family. I know that they signed a behavior pledge, but come on, administrators, let students celebrate their accomplishments.
Dad: Yeah, I read about that and was not impressed with the principal.
Reading backwards again this early morning….this is all so sad to me. My anti-spam word is “shithead”….an appropriate term for the higher ups who control the lives of kids who simply need an education….oh, and of course to just be themselves with their own personal achievements. I so agree with your dad there…what a power play on the principal’s part regarding issue in Maine.