Yes, I do expect educators to be able to decide whether missing 10 days of school was an educational experience or is the same as standing on a street corner doing nothing.

If educators cannot recognize educational opportunities that benefit kids in their lives, maybe we should be looking at the educators making the “decisions” rather than the child or the educational opportunity.

As to “keeping track of assignments,” most schools now track assignments on computer. A parent can sign on to a school website, see the assignments, whether their child has completed them, the grade etc. The information is already there and accessible and requires no more effort than the teacher and system is currently exerting.

It’s an interesting argument that the students performance tour would have more educational value than two weeks in school. And it’s very possibly true. But what if the student wanted two weeks off to work for Greenpeace? To protest abortion clinics? To stump for a political candidate? To fight in the UFC? These all offer educational value, but some people would certainly argue their value is very low, and so you put the school in the uncomfortable position of having to sit in judgement on the merits of these requests. You also put the school in the position of having to keep track of what student missed what assignments. After all, if you give this girl 10 days off, you have to allow the same opportunity to everyone else.

HFB,

Calling someone a “clock puncher” for expecting a certain level of school attendence is unfair. In fact, if you go that route, then those who say the trip is no problem because she has a good GPA could similarly be labeled “bean counters”.

Indeed, all of these things are true. That is why it is immediately obvious that this girl should be allowed to go to those musical performances. Anyone can see that those experiences would be more educational, in terms of being exposed to different viewpoints, different cultures, and different social experiences, than would those few extra days of school.

Where do you draw the line, you ask? Well, that requires some judgment, but it obviously is not at 10 days. The 10 day limit is set assuming that the 10 missed days are filled with little to no educational value (i.e., sick in bed). The only thing on your list she wouldn’t get more of on these trips than at school is “seeing science experiments in action”. It seems like a pretty weak argument.

I see…

It’s too hard to help these kids learn to be anything but clock punchers. Attendance (attendance=knowledge, obviously) is all that matters and we just can’t be troubled with allowing kids to be more than that since that could be difficult. You know, with all the minutes spent thinking that a child with a gift and a valid reason can be out of your sight while she represents the U.S. and all. Extra- curricular should be defined as after school. That she had parents with the forethought to request of the school an exception with a documented learning schedule in advance is no matter. Be here or face the consequences. Papers please.

Due to this and much more, her parents are making the best of this farce that they can: they are home schooling her now. Even though she was succeeding and enjoyed school, they need to get out of the system to allow her to really grow as a person. That, or find one of those wonderful clock-punching jobs for which the school is so equipped to produce bodies.

The line for lobotomies starts on the left.

I’m not conflating attendence with performance. GPA doesn’t tell the whole story. If it did, we would all get GEDs, or go to those SAT-style prep courses, and teach to the test.

Attendence is part of the education experience. School is not just your grades on paper. It is also the exeriences of seeing science experiments in action, hearing other student’s questions/views on things, being exposed to different viewpoints (probably the biggest weakness of home schooling), and of course, it’s a very social experience as well.

Once again, when a college or an employer considers someone with a high school diploma, they have an expectation that the student had these experiences to earn that diploma. 10 days in the overall is probably not critical, but where do you draw the line? Exactly how many days in a row?

Boblipton,

You are distorting what I said quite a bit, and quoting Ben Franklin (who happens to be my direct ancestor!). See the above statement. Also, as someone else pointed out, there is the issue of the unreasonable resource burden on a school if they have to cater to the individual whims of every student.

Likewise, those on the other side of the debate are bogged down in their theoretical constructs of how management works. Management sets policy. Management also changes or varies policies and should do so with thought and wisdom. It is apparent to me and many others here that Avery Gagliano should have been granted a variation.

That, however, would have required accountability and work by management, and the tendency is to reduce every job we perform to its minimum requirements. We seek to have our work reduced to well-paid sinecures. We even have our paychecks deposited to our accounts without the sordid necessity of going to a bank or, indeed, having to undergo the humiliation of saying “Thank you” to whoever hands us our unearned salaries.

In my opinion, the matter of Avery Gagliano should have been referred immediately to the principal and as much higher as necessary to get it approved. After all, it would reflect well on her teachers, school and school district that a pupil of theirs (although possibly through no influence on their parts) had achieved such honors. Having failed to do that in a reasonable and timely fashion, it should have been achieved at her parents’ intervention (although it is quite possible they are not as cogent and compelling as a writer for the Washington Post).

Even after the article had appeared, the situation was still salvageable. Chancellor Henderson might have granted the request and issued a statement that “I regret that this was not as clearly and persuasively brought to my attention earlier. I regret the error of this department and hope this settles the matter.” Henderson makes mistakes. I make mistakes. I dare suggest that even Walter Olson and John Rohan make the occasional mistakes. Some of us try to repair them.

What burns my britches is the arrant nonsense of bureaucratic infallibility and unrepentant blame laying: it’s all the computers’ fault! DEM has jumped on the smoking gun there.

The necessity for claiming that errors are beyond the control of the Man in Charge are twofold: the perception that the Man in Charge makes mistakes opens up the possibility that he can be replaced; and the insistence by the powers that be, like Pooh-Bah, that all is right as right can be.

It is a large, complicated world out there and no simple set of rules will cover every situation. It requires a lot of judgment, some of which will be wrong. Let us not fear to admit to errors, for how else can we correct them?

Bob

Boloney!

She’ll thrive without them, and I’m sure she and her parents will gladly send signed copies of every article, itinerary, award, achievement and commendation she gets to the local school board. In triplicate. Certified mail. It would be worth the extra $4 to know they got it.

BTW, my daughter sings absolutely beautifully. I am a single mom , her father passed away and left nothing, not eligible for SS benefits and I make less than $30,000/year. We both work hard, we’ve gotten creative, and she gets the private lessons, is in 2 choirs at school and a world class children’s choir in our home city of Cincinnati. None of this is free, some of it is downright expensive. A lot of the kids in the children’s choir come from homes with ample financial resources. We don’t have the $$, but we have the drive to make it happen, so it happens.

We have one shared flip phone, internet (for communication, school and work and netflix) but no cable tv (The tv itsself cost $5 at a yard sale, works fine.), we buy few clothes, most of them used, we rarely eat meat, we have a restaurant meal or pizza delivery every 2 weeks on pay day, our last vacation outside of a 100 mile radius was in 2010, but she is getting experiences that will last her whole life. Easy.