Re: Parent report cards

[kristina.pelletier@maine.edu]

Unbelievable!! I'm blown away by the suggestion that parents be graded by the
system! Now parents are expected to be accountable to the system! This is
complete oppressive and controlling bullshit. 
Report cards... hummm what grade would parents, teachers, and students give to
the educational system, corporations, the Bush Administration, Secretary Paige,
and State Legislatures?  Instead of facing public judgement, they are flipping
it around and demanding that parents, teachers, and students face scrutinzing
judgement, continously. Things are really getting screwed up in education. 

Quoting Susan Allison <sueallison@comcast.net>:

> A little humor from MD -- parent report cards!   This stuff kills me -- you
> have all of these parents practically dedicating their lives to get the
> attention of legislators (most of whom wouldn't co-sponsor bills supported by
> parent groups if their lives depended on it) -- and these same legislators
> sponsor bills to try to get parents involved again.  We're right here in your
> faces!!!   BTW -- our highs takes testing bill is the HB 762 mentioned in
> Zalee's column below....
> 
> 
> My three Delegates are wrong on Parent Involvement
>  
> 
> February 27, 2004
> 
> By Zalee Harris for the Journal Newspapers, Friday
> 
>  
> 
> I am embarrassed and dismayed at the thought that the three state delegates
> that represent me in Annapolis have sponsored HB979 - Parental Involvement
> Plans, a bill that if passed would require every school in the state of
> Maryland to implement processes that would GRADE parents on how involved they
> are in their childâ??s school.
> 
>  
> 
> The bill requires local school districts to create â??family kitsâ?? and set
> policy for grading parents on their participation and for determining what is
> parental involvement. School districts are required to determine the contents
> of the family kits and set policy for how individual schools would grade each
> parent. Each school principal would be required to identify a teacher as the
> parent facilitator and would be responsible for educating and preparing
> parents to be graded under their so called parental involvement masterpiece.
> 
>  
> 
> The bill requires the state board to create and enforce regulations that
> would become mandatory for each parent of a child attending an elementary and
> secondary public school in the state of Maryland. The bill goes so far as to
> require the state board to implement professional development training for
> teachers that will become graders of parental involvement.
> 
>  
> 
> According to the billâ??s definition, the purpose of the bill is to establish
> programs and practices that enhance parental involvement in their children's
> education and reflect the specific needs of the children as students and the
> needs of the students' families.
> 
>  
> 
> The bill goes into great detail in that it does attempt to explain how to
> gain parental involvement and better teacher parent relationships. It
> requires schools to make accessible information about school activities and
> requires parents to volunteer and help the school meet educational goals. The
> bill references establishing a methodology for how grading will be preformed
> and what effects grading will have on the success of the school and their
> child.
> 
>  
> 
> The delegates that sponsored HB979 are: Kelley, Patterson, V. Turner,
> representing the 26th Legislative District my district; Ramirez of the 47th
> Legislative District, and Ross of the 22nd Legislative District all of which
> are in Prince Georgeâ??s County, and Gutierrez of Montgomery County.
> 
>  
> 
> Some people might think a bill like this is necessary. Those that think that
> parenting ought to be legislated might also think PTA still means Parent
> Teachers Association; they have not come to realize that for a while now, PTA
> means Parents Time Alone because parents no longer have power to make a
> difference for their own child, less known as a group for â??the
> childrenâ??.
> 
>  
> 
> What about the single mother that has three or four children attending three
> different schools? What kind of grade will she get when school events take
> place on the same day at one or more of schools her children attend?
> 
>  
> 
> It is obvious to me that not one of these delegates have ever communicated
> with a parent that is truly involved in their childâ??s education because if
> they had, they would know that schools cannot share the kind of data parents
> request requiring assessment scores, IEPâ??s, and other information such as
> â??certainâ?? homework. If these delegates were in touch with these parents,
> they would know that school base management teams forbid true parental
> involvement and is the reason why parents that want to do more are running
> for office to replace you and/or are working two jobs trying to keep their
> child out of public schools. If these delegates were involved in the schools
> within their districts they would know that schools are punished by the state
> when they document too many suspensions and truancy is not being enforced â??
> because in order to keep dropout rates down schools are pushing students out
> of school by the ninth grade. 
> 
>  
> 
> Never mind the fact that these delegates do not have a clue; letâ??s deal
> with the content of the bill. Who is going to pay for the management,
> training, and enforcement of these parent-grading policies? Who is going to
> pay for the hospital bills and jail bond for parents and teachers when this
> system goes too far? Who is going to pay for the court costs and lawsuits
> when a parent declares their rights were violated? Here you are out there
> fighting for Thornton money for a school system that is grappling and trying
> to keep from being taken over by an already intrusive state superintendent
> and state board and you think that this is the means to the end for ensuring
> parental involvement? HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS? You cannot legislate
> relationships and behaviors! By the time teachers spend what little time they
> have meeting the confines of this law when will they have time to educate
> children? Donâ??t you think our teachers have enough on their plate
> implementing touchy-feely social remediation programs that do nothing to help
> a child pass an assessment that the local school system cannot prove even
> belong to their schools than to spend countless hours assessing and grading
> parents.
> 
>  
> 
> You see people, this is who we elected to represent us in Annapolis, and this
> is their idea of parental involvement and education reform. Talk about
> misunderstanding education reform. These delegates obviously do not know how
> MSDE has implemented regulations in COMAR that prevent parental involvement.
> For if they even bothered to read the current regulations and studied the
> effect it has on our school system ability to engage parents, they would be
> writing a bill that would be restructuring the stateâ??s role in local
> educationâ?¦and/or would be supporting HB761, 766, 759, 502, and 762.
> 
>  
> 
> I not only vehemently oppose this legislationâ?¦it should be WITHDRAWN
> immediately! It is a violation of the 13th Amendment. It violates parental
> rights laws. It will unfairly pit parents, teachers, principals, and school
> board members against one another. It will tie up our court system. It will
> scare parents away that already work and volunteer in schools. This is an
> outrageous bill and is not worth the time and tax dollars spent to draft it.
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Zalee Harris lives in Temple Hills. Her reports can be read each Friday in
> this section. She can be reached at educationdoctors@aol.com 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> Editorial comments regarding HB978 and HB979.
>  
> 
> Parental report Journal Editor HB979
> 
> February 23, 2004
> 
>  
> 
> LEGISLATING CAN BE fun, and it looks like they're getting to the fun part in
> Annapolis right about now. 
>     
> 
> Halfway through this year's three-month session, with the time to introduce
> new bills drawing to a close and the load of new bills passing the 1,000
> mark, apparently all the serious subjects have been used up and they're into
> the giddy ones. 
>     
> 
> Or at least so it seems when one reads House Bill 979, ``An act concerning
> Education - Elementary and Secondary Schools - Parental Involvement Plans." 
>     
> 
> Were this unlikely measure to pass, it would give parents report cards on
> class participation. No, not their children's involvement in school, their
> own.  Anybody remember school report cards labeled ``Report to Parents"?
> (Anybody remember the concept of schools reporting to parents, as in doing
> the jobs parents hired them to do?) This isn't like that. 
>     
> 
> This is more like a cross between a report card and a draft notice, as
> parents would be required to report for duty or wind up with bad marks on
> their permanent records.  This bill would empower - nay, require - each
> school district in the state, and each elementary and secondary school, to
> take parental names and kick keister. 
> 
> 
> 
> The school districts and their member schools would be required to: 
>     
> 
> ï?·  Develop and implement a parental involvement plan. 
>     
> 
> ï?·  Prepare parental involvement family kits. 
>     
> 
> ï?·  Hold meetings at the beginning of each school year - to tell the parents
> about the plans and give them the kits. 
>     
> 
> ï?·  Develop and implement a parental involvement grading system. 
>     
> 
> ï?·  Survey parents about their interests in volunteering to work for the
> school and publish a volunteer resource book (available only to the school).
> 
>     
> 
> So - a sort of mandatory PTA with report cards? Conversations at home about
> who's doing how well at school will never be the same, huh, kids? But no new
> educational boondoggle would be complete without a further way to spend time
> and money on something other than teaching students. So the bill requires
> school principals to designate a staff member to serve as ``parent
> facilitator." 
>     
> 
> It also says ``the State Board shall require at least two hours of parental
> involvement staff training as professional development each year."  Ah. There
> we go - at least one plausible objective for this silly bill comes clear:
> Looks like some lucky firm(s) would be getting contracts to provide all that
> useless ``training." 
>     
> 
> Responsible journalism demands that the sponsors of this goofy plan be named:
> Democrats all, they are Prince George's County Dels. Darryl A. Kelley, Obie
> Patterson and Veronica Turner, Dist. 26; Victor R. Ramirez, Dist. 47; and
> Justin Ross, Dist. 22; and Ana Sol Gutierrez, Dist. 18, Montgomery County. 
> 
> 
> 
>  
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