CA School District Billing Parents for Children's Missed Schooldays

[Carol]

I agree, I think teacher accountability is a whole 'nother matter.

As far as billing the parents, there is still a database being created that keeps track of who gets billed and whether or not they pay. "Suggested" there is still a clear intent.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't have children of my own...but if I did...I'd be fine if the school sent me a bill for not having the kids in school....as long as they will give me my taxes back if I choose to not educate my children there.

 

[Cryozombie]

I agree with accountability, and I absolutley agree with you that we're all part of the system, but you don't shoot the mailman because stamps just got more expensive.

No, but another solution instead of rasing the cost of stamps would be a pay freeze for postal carriers, right? Everything effects everything else in a system.

And, really, I don't see a problem with teachers "slacking" durring their free periods any more than I have issues with open campus schools so kids can slack off durring "study halls"... I just feel that if you have to hold parents accountable to make sure kids are there to learn, the very real flipside is that you have to make sure teachers are willing to teach.

It sounds like they are doin it right over there by you trad... Maybe its just an issue of this damn system here in Illinois.

 

[Kacey]

No, but another solution instead of rasing the cost of stamps would be a pay freeze for postal carriers, right? Everything effects everything else in a system.

True.

And, really, I don't see a problem with teachers "slacking" durring their free periods any more than I have issues with open campus schools so kids can slack off durring "study halls"... I just feel that if you have to hold parents accountable to make sure kids are there to learn, the very real flipside is that you have to make sure teachers are willing to teach.

Also true. However, as a teacher (and like exile, I only post from school during plans - never when there are kids in my room - but reading and posting on MT is often a much-needed mental break) one of the things that leads to burnout very quickly is kids whose parents excuse their every misbehavior by blaming it on other kids or the teachers - I have a student now who has missed school 40% of the days - but according to his mother, he's flunking because we're not helping him enough... never mind that she excuses him so much that the assistant principal for his grade now requires a doctor's note or proof he was in court; nothing else is excused (his legal troubles - for curfew violation, tagging, and related offenses are all the school's fault too, according to mom, never mind that none of them happened at the school - but when he didn't show up for his community service, she blamed the school for not forcing him to stay or saying he'd been here anyway). It's very frustrating.

It sounds like they are doin it right over there by you trad... Maybe its just an issue of this damn system here in Illinois.

I think it's a problem anywhere - but some schools/districts deal with it better than others, and the level of problem varies from place to place - higher income areas often have less trouble with truancy, but may have more trouble with other things.

 

[Cryozombie]

Also true. However, as a teacher one of the things that leads to burnout very quickly is kids whose parents excuse their every misbehavior by blaming it on other kids or the teachers - It's very frustrating.

I agree 100%, I stated above that I don't think anyone should be able to fault the teachers for not teaching if the kids won't show up. Thats why I think the "No child left behind" thing is, well... silly.

 

[Kacey]

I agree 100%, I stated above that I don't think anyone should be able to fault the teachers for not teaching if the kids won't show up. Thats why I think the "No child left behind" thing is, well... silly.

Not to stray too far off topic - but actually, I disagree. The concept behind the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left Behind) is sound - that all students should achieve as much as possible. It's the method used to determine who has achieved what (annual high stakes testing), and the assumptions that all students are capable of the same level of achievement, regardless of outside influences (or lack thereof) that makes the law such a problem. Absences from school are one of those influences, along with socioeconomic status (which tends to be correlated with both attendance and achievement), culture, aptitude, ability (as measured both by cognitive [IQ] tests and achievement tests), language, and many other factors affect a student's achievement on a given day regardless of the quality of the instruction.

So while I understand the motivation behind this - to increase both attendance and income - I still have to disagree. If the parents are teaching the kids, by their actions, that missing school is okay, there's only so much the school can do - and I don't think fining the parents is really the solution. Funding in Colorado is based on attendance, yes, but it's based on the average attendance at each school during the last 2 weeks of October - not a daily count.

It seems to me that, rather than a stop-gap measure (and fining the parents is, IMHO, a stop-gap at best, especially with a "requested" rather than mandatory fine), they need to band together and convince the legislature that created this law to change it. There are all sorts of reasons kids stay home, some the parents' fault, and some not - where do you draw the line? It can't be a number of consecutive days, because what if the child is seriously ill or injured? And you can't really mandate a doctor's note in all cases, because a child may be sick enough to stay home and still not need a doctor - especially in middle and high school. And then, the way the article is written, there's no fine if the parent tells the school the child is sick - so that just means parents are more likely to lie, and not get their kids' work ahead of time. As much as I would encourage school attendance, I have a problem with the whole concept, the way it is set up here.