@MFJohnston wrote:
The issue is this; He told me last week that his family is going on a vacation and he will miss all of finals week. According to school board policy and state law, this is NOT an excused absence, so I have not legal obligation to allow him to make up the exam and can be completely justified in giving him a "zero" and a "D" for the semester. At the same time, his parents planned the vacation and not him. Making it more difficult, I do not have a two hour block of time before I must turn in first semester grades to allow him to take a final.
Note: Were this an excused absence, the school would give him an "incomplete" for the semester and would provide a time for him to take the missed exams. This is not an option as the absence is not excused.
@dawnhu wrote:
Hmmm..this is tough. Since he is normally an A to B student I think he should be allowed to make up the final. It isnt his fault his parents are selfish idiots.
And I know its unorthodox, is there anyway he can be given the final over skype while he is on vacation?
@MFJohnston wrote:
I am leaning in this direction...Get the parents directly involved with me and in a conversation with the principal. Make it painfully clear that this is not acceptable. Make them suffer a little on vacation while pondering what the outcome would be. Then, after the vacation, let them know that the final would be excused, but that, should it ever happen again, the school would give him "zeros" on all his finals.
@dawnhu wrote:
Yikes the situation sucks..has this particular student been absent before this? I did forget that there is one more semester to go...if this semester ends with a D? Is it possible for him to get an A or B next semester for this same class next semester if he retakes this class and erase the D essentially or does it stay on his transcripts?
And I think my comments were misintrepreted with the troubled kid..I meant troublemaker as in disruptful in class, a cheater, absent all the time.
I didnt mean someone less well off...
Wow. What kind of state doesn't consider that an excused absence? The kid is the PARENTS', not the state's.@MFJohnston wrote:
According to school board policy and state law, this is NOT an excused absence, so I have not legal obligation to allow him to make up the exam and can be completely justified in giving him a "zero" and a "D" for the semester.
@iShop123 wrote:
Wow. What kind of state doesn't consider that an excused absence? The kid is the PARENTS', not the state's.@MFJohnston wrote:
According to school board policy and state law, this is NOT an excused absence, so I have not legal obligation to allow him to make up the exam and can be completely justified in giving him a "zero" and a "D" for the semester.
While you don't have the obligation, can you allow him to take it remotely? A little extra work for you, but sounds like the kid is worth it. If it was me, I'd give him the option to skip the final and just take the B. 9th grade isn't going to count for most colleges anyway.
@JASFLALMT wrote:
It seems to me that the kid did well and retained information easily during the first part of the class but had trouble understanding the most recent information presented. Maybe repeating the class in summer school might not be such a bad thing. Reinforcing information that will be a good foundation for college could only be a positive, in my opinion.