Grade changing scandal threatens school supt's job

[RebLem]

A major scandal has broken out in APS (Albuquerque Public Schools). Here's the basic story: a high school senior gets a failing grade in an English class. He cannot graduate. His parents, both important politicians, intercede with the principal to get the grade changed. The principal refuses, but another administrator, one level up from the principal, changes the grade to a D so the kid can graduate. The teacher objects, and files a grievance through the union. The case goes to APS Spuerintendant Beth Everitt, who decides in favor of the grade change. Holy hell breaks out. Teachers, and those opposed to unwarranted influence by the powerful, take it up as a local cause celebre. Everitt institutes a new procedure in which all such challenges are handled as a negotiation between the Superintendant and the Union. Many are infuriated, and call for Everitt's head.

Actually, as in so many cases, this is not the real issue. Lots of crazy things have been simmering beneath the surface, but this has caught on because it is easy for people to understand, and to become outraged about. It has come to symbolize and stand in, essentially, for lots of other issues that various portions of the community have been concerned about for some time, one of which is anger on the part of residents of the West Side (meaning west of the Rio Grande), the fastest growing part of the city, that APS procedures for building new schools are intolerably cumbersome and involve unacceptably long lead times. And then, of course, there is the complaint heard in nearly all American urban, and many other, school systems, that curricula are too soft and not producing enough graduates capable of making a good account of themselves in the economic marketplace. Read on.... RebLem

Posted at: 05/21/2007 03:48:44 PM

Everitt proposes changes to grade-change policy

The superintendent's office and a representative from the Albuquerque Teachers Federation would have to approve all grade changes under proposed changes to Albuquerque Public Schools policy.
APS Superintendent Beth Everitt announced the changes Monday.

Last week, former school board member Carlos Acosta and his wife, Bernalillo County Commissioner Teresa Cordova, had their son's failing grade in English raised to a D, allowing him to graduate with his classmates.

They claimed they weren't notified that their son was in danger of failing.

The union accused the district of raising his grade because of his parents' prominence.

Everitt said she'll meet with union officials to address the situation.

http://kob.com/article/stories/S91139.shtml?cat=500

The D that Broke the Camel's Back

by Johnny_Mango |Posted on: 05/16/07

NOB HILL--Finally I have had enough! It is time for a new APS Superintendent. Dr. Beth Everitt has to go. Why? Because the humiliation never stops.

Humiliated Students and Parents

It is bad enough to be one of the 40 students who didn't graduate on time because of failing or incomplete classwork...and by the way, that is almost 15% of the senior class. But to know that the biggest lesson to be learned from this situation is not that there are indeed Consequences, but rather (to quote a student from Tuesday night's graduation ceremony) "It's not what you know, it's whom you know."

A Humiliated Principal

When the student's parents, former School Board member Miguel Acosta and current County Commissioner Teresa Cordova, couldn't get the teacher to change the grade she had given, they went over the teacher's head to the principal, Al Sanchez. Sanchez also refused to change the grade from an F to a passing D. Then the parents went up the chain of command one more time to Cluster Leader Elsy Fierro. Fierro changed the grade based on the parents' assertion that they were not notified in a timely way that their "child" was failing. Supt. Everitt backed up Fierro and called for a review of notification policy. Supposedly the student had missed class 17 times this semester. One would think that would generate a phone call or two from the attendance office.

But remember that this is an 18-year-old that apparently had lied to his parents about going to class and had not told them about his make-up work. So whose fault is it? The teacher's, of course. In the United States, an 18-year-old is considered mature enough to sign contracts, get a credit card, kill other human beings in the military, vote, go to the adult lock-up, and get married. This particular young man willfully deceived EVERYBODY. But Cluster Leader Fierro and Superintendent Everitt decided that the fault belonged to the teacher and school, and perhaps, warranted a review of APS notification policy. Better that than let the young fella go to summer school to pick up the half credit he was now short.

Parents seem convinced that Everitt has it in for Principal Sanchez. Earlier this year he took a student off-campus and got him a haircut. So he was already in trouble with Central Office. At any rate, Principal Sanchez was publicly humiliated in front of the city one more time. His Rio Grande teachers, however, are proud of the man.

Humiliated Teachers

Let me just throw out a couple of quotations from Dr. Everitt and Board Member Pauline Maes.

"Every parent has the right to get in the faces of teachers, of counselors..." --Pauline Maes. Well, Ms. Maes seems to think a little confrontation is good in school...show the teacher who the REAL boss is.

"The gutsy, experienced principals won't let bad instruction happen." --Beth Everitt. This time teachers seem to be blamed for those low test scores. But "gutsy, experienced principals" are over-ruled when the failing scores belong to the children of VIP's.

But the biggest humilation teachers feel is their own powerless situation. And make no mistake, they are totally powerless in today's educational environment. Every bit of power has floated up to Central Office. And Central Office feels powerless at the hands of the federal government. It is hard to overestimate how much No Child Left Behind has damaged local systems. It used to be that administrative shake-ups pretty much stayed out of the classroom. Now teachers and principals are constantly being jerked around by politicians and bureaucrats. Scot Key discusses aspects of this in last night's Tribune. [Scot Key is a local rank and file public school teacher who writes a popular local bloc, "Burque Babble," and is a regular now on a local Friday night public affairs program on KNME, the ABQ PBS channel. RebLem]

And a Humiliated City

This sort of mistaken ideas demeans us all. I shouldn't have to write about this. I LOVE Albuquerque's public schools, and I have defended Supt. Everitt in the past. But Beth Everitt has very few strong points, and she just lost her best one. She had a reputation as an educator, even if she wasn't much at public speaking or "the vision thing." People assumed she must be too busy in her ivory tower to deal with the mayor, the legislature, the teachers, and all us citizens. Her head was too full of concern for our kids. Well, how to explain her deference to Acosta and Cordova without being cynical. Impossible.

Many times appearance IS reality. Acosta and Cordova should not have milked the system...knowing how it would look to the rest of the city. And APS Superintendent Beth Everitt should never have sold what scant credibility she has left to get so little in return...a lousy D for a scamming student. And letting him get off on a 'notification' issue. My God! Remember last week when she herself wouldn't even 'notify' principals they were being transfered until they were all sitting at a table. She had all of them turn over a sheet of paper simultaneously. The sheet had the name of their new school on it. How adult. Just another humiliating episode for the working stiffs at APS.

She needs to go.

http://www.dukecityfix.com/index.php?itemid=2852
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[hornteacher]

Speaking as a teacher in his 12th year, I can say this is not unique to APS.

[hornteacher]

But the biggest humilation teachers feel is their own powerless situation. And make no mistake, they are totally powerless in today's educational environment. Every bit of power has floated up to Central Office. And Central Office feels powerless at the hands of the federal government. It is hard to overestimate how much No Child Left Behind has damaged local systems. It used to be that administrative shake-ups pretty much stayed out of the classroom. Now teachers and principals are constantly being jerked around by politicians and bureaucrats.

Yep, and here's a big reason behind that: there are a lot fewer teachers than parents, and a politician gets elected a lot easier if he sides with the parents.

[hornteacher]

"Every parent has the right to get in the faces of teachers, of counselors..." --Pauline Maes. Well, Ms. Maes seems to think a little confrontation is good in school...show the teacher who the REAL boss is.


Another part of the problem.  Teachers are the one's with degrees in education.  Why parents are given veto power over the trained professionals is beyond me.  I say this as both a parent and a teacher.

[Iago]

  Teachers are the one's with degrees in education.  Why parents are given veto power over the trained professionals is beyond me.  I say this as both a parent and a teacher.

As a veteran teacher (33 years on the battle line), I can say that without a doubt, a "degree in education" is TOTALLY WORTHLESS.  The ONLY thing I gained from the courses which led to my Masters Degree in Education is the ability to spell "necessary" correctly. The ONLY way to learn how to do things correctly in the classroom is to be thrown into the maelstrom and learn by doing. All the education theories in the world (Dewey, Sartre, Santayana, etc) are just so much BS. They have absolutely NO relevance to a real life in a real classroom. I taught HS Chemistry. And I have a Masters Degree in Chemistry in addition to starting my career as a Registered Pharmacist. Compared to those two disciplines a degree in education isn't worth the paper it's written on.
The reason why parents "think" they should be the boss of teachers is that education funds and other school support (at least in the U.S) comes from the tax rolls. Until THAT changes, nothing else will.

[Shrunk]

But to know that the biggest lesson to be learned from this situation is not that there are indeed Consequences, but rather (to quote a student from Tuesday night's graduation ceremony) "It's not what you know, it's whom you know."

One bright spot in this story:  Note the grammatically correct usage of the word "whom."

[Shrunk]

The reason why parents "think" they should be the boss of teachers is that education funds and other school support (at least in the U.S) comes from the tax rolls. Until THAT changes, nothing else will.

Where do you think the support should come from?

[hornteacher]

The ONLY way to learn how to do things correctly in the classroom is to be thrown into the maelstrom and learn by doing. All the education theories in the world (Dewey, Sartre, Santayana, etc) are just so much BS. They have absolutely NO relevance to a real life in a real classroom.

Good point.

[DavidW]

I think that there is a possibility that the article is misleading.

For instance, are the parents connected simply because they went up the chain of command?  Probably not, they simply made appointments to see them.  It's not as if these people are like the mayor of the city with no time to spare for people like those parents.

There seems to be an implicit assumption that the grade a teacher assigns is sacred.  Teachers are human too, they can be biased and assign grades unfairly.  There has to be a countermeasure for the time that happens.  So I would say that it is a necessity that administrators have the power to change grades.

High school students, especially seniors, skip class, don't complete assignments etc all the time.  Teachers should come to expect that, and be expected to communicate directly with the parents to ensure that they are aware that their child is failing.  I know one would say, but then that's not treating the student as an adult, and he is now.  Well taking attendance everyday also doesn't treat the student as an adult.  Assigning failing grades on the basis of attendance is even worse.  In this case, the teacher has dropped the ball and is thus responsible for the student's poor grade.  That doesn't sound fair, it should be the student's responsibility-- but that's the thing if we're treating the student as a child and not as an adult, we can't just treat the student as an adult when it's convenient.

Why are the parents painted as manipulative, evil bastards for using the system to their advantage?  If one grade stood between your child graduating or not, wouldn't you do everything in your power to see that decision overturned?  It's not as if grades are an absolute, objective measure of performance.

[Iago]

The entire "grading" system is ridiculous. And basing those grades on performance on "tests" is even MORE ridiculous.

Did Socrates or Plato assign "grades" to their students?
I don't believe so.

[Don]

I live in Albuquerque and am very familiar with the cited events.  The parents of the young man are local political hotshots - that's why there's so much complaint about the changing of the grade.  I'm sure that the "cluster leader" had very little insight about the problem and likely changed the grade to pacify two influential political types.

By the way, the boy's mom wrote a letter to the local newspaper that was printed in the editorial page last week.  She stated that she is a GREAT LEADER and that her son is a GREAT PERSON.  With self-serving testimonials like that, you know that something in the mix is rotten.

I agree that teachers and principles have a responsibility to inform the student and parents about an impending non-graduation.  But I also believe that the main responsibility resides with the high school student.  When you skip 17 classes, don't be surprised to find your name off the list of those graduating.

One more thing.  The Albuquerque school system is very inefficient and routinely does a poor job.  There is a move afoot to break it down into smaller independent school systems.  So at this point, the higher-ups in the system are scurrying around, trying to place themselves in good position should the system be changed.  The best aspect of the current system is the teachers; it goes downhill quickly as one advances upward in the hierarchy.

[DavidW]

Thanks for the insight Don, that really help frames the story.  Their editorials in the paper must have been extremely annoying!  I can understand the public outrage now.