And in Waterbury, they're thinking of holding back some 2,000 schoolkids for truancy. That's not a typo... 2,000 schoolkids. I can't imagine the chaos this will create:
School officials are making no apologies saying that there were warnings and notifications of the new policy. Now schools will have to make room for those that are repeating grades.
"A lot of them are at the high school level and they will be repeating because they are getting incompletes so it will be difficult for us, but we have to do what we have to do," said Chairman of the Board of Education Patrick Hayes.
Channel 30 shows us an even tougher side of Mr. Hayes:
"These kids shouldn't be advancing -- end of discussion, unless I hear otherwise," Board of Education President Patrick J. Hayes Jr. said Monday. "It would make a mockery of the whole system."
Some 2,025 students have missed 18 or more school days -- 10 percent of the total school year. Most of those absences in the 18,200-student district were among high school students.
School officials adopted the tougher policy last year after noting the number of excuses at the end of the year. An average of 1,500 students missed school each day last year and officials were concerned too many absences were being waived by principals.
Those are indeed disturbing numbers and we want to continue to pray for Waterbury's kids and educators.
1 comment:
It's about time that schools made students and parents accountable. Students permitted to be absent at will are not being prepared for life's work.
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