My 9th grader got detention for lending notes..

[lsyorke]

"Is the teacher going to deliver the lecture all over again? "

That was my thought! The focus is not on learning anymore, but on the arbitrary rules. Yes, it would be wonderful if a child never missed a class, but that's not the real world. To punish a child for being absent and punish the child who is trying to help makes me angry beyond words.

Educations focus is screwed up!!

 

[gr8tpanther]

Sounds like a teacher picking on a student to me. I hate teachers who take their authority a tad bit far! I can't wait to hear about the meeting, please let us know how it goes.

 

[snarfer1]

Good Luck!

You're gonna need it!

It seems to be a no win situation. If you and your DS prevail (which I hope you do), the 'teacher' is not gonna forget or forgive. It's gonna be a long semester. If you win, the teacher's lounge gossip will be about that pushy mom and her son!

If you loose, a real injustice may have occurred.

Basically, if a written school policy defines cheating and the punishment for cheating, then it is clear. But the punishment should be 4 weeks right? So why are they changing it to two? (Favoritism, maybe a sports star would get none?, perhaps they realize how weak their case is?)

But if it is not defined as sharing notes, which apparently were done publically, which proves no intent to cheat or hide the activity, what is going on here?

My guess, and I hope I'm wrong, they will offer a compromise punsihment, but will not remove the entire punishment. To win I guess you're gonna need a lawyer, and it will all happen after the detention. It is probably easier to just take it, but it is wrong!

Please keep us posted, and all the best to you and your DS.

-Tony (forever the optimist!)

 

[disney4us2002]

A few thoughts. Perhaps the detention begins in 2 wks because the school is required to give 2 wks notice so that the parents can appeal the punishment or hold a meeting just as you're doing. This is a guess only but it makes sense to me. Think if he'd have gotten this note yesterday and today had the detention; what recourse then would you have?

What about the girl who copied the notes; did she also get detention?

Both you and your son (the student) have a right to know exactly how he is to make up missed lecture notes because it is unlikely that he won't have a single absence all year.

KarenC - I'd be ticked off too. I'm sure the class was a difficult subject to master but if the highest grade was a 13% does that speak to the subject or the professor's ability to teach the subject adequately???

 

[MinnieM21]

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. In college, the only way to get notes if you're gone is to ask another person in your class, not the teacher.

When I was in high school, and if I missed class, you asked someone else for the notes. How does the teacher expect kids to get the notes they missed? I personally think it was nice of your kid to let someone who was sick copy down the notes.

 

[caitycaity]

He's concerned this detention will show on his permanent record.

definitely check with the school on this one. at our school detention did not show on any kind of record that colleges would see.

 

[disneysnowflake]

Well, I just got back from the school.
DS was so embarrassed that his mom showed up. I told him I'd call the school, but I didn't actually get in touch with anyone until after he left for school. I certainly didn't intend for him to feel like mommy was coming into the school. He had no idea I would be there.

The teacher was not thrilled at all to be there. He's an older gentleman. I asked what was going on. The teacher said that DS was sharing his notes with another student, and that the other student had been absent. He said that it was against his classroom policy for students to share notes because he's trying to teach the children responsibility. He also said that there are far too many children missing school and either coming in late or leaving early because they don't feel like being there.

I asked the teacher if there was a policy in writing about this non note sharing rule. He said no, that kids who take his science class are smart enough to remember rules in their heads. He also said that kids need rules, and most parents today don't give their children rules. I hope that wasn't intended at me. We have rules at our house. DS has never been a troublemaker.

The principal asked DS what he knew the rules were. DS said he didn't know that note sharing with an absent student was wrong. He did know that sharing his workbook and sharing your test answers were wrong though.

The principal said that he wouldn't allow him to have detention "this time". I asked both the teacher and the principal if they thought what DS did was cheating. The teacher said yes. The principal said no.

DS won't be home from school for another hour, but he was NOT happy I was there. I think he wanted to handle it himself. I also think he might be worried about what this teacher will say to him or his classmates about my being there.

While DS doesn't have detention, I think my going to the school about the detention is going to cause stress between the teacher and DS.

I also asked the principal why DS would be given detention and not have to serve it until 2 weeks later. The principal says that not very many employees want to stay after school to monitor detention. So, they can only schedule detention on Monday and Thursday. There is a backlog.

Sigh. While I do think speaking to the teacher and principal was the right thing, I wonder if maybe I should have stayed out of it for DS's sake, but it's too late now.

 

[snarfer1]

Originally posted by disneysnowflake
Well, I just got back from the school.
DS was so embarrassed that his mom showed up. I told him I'd call the school, but I didn't actually get in touch with anyone until after he left for school. I certainly didn't intend for him to feel like mommy was coming into the school. He had no idea I would be there.

The teacher was not thrilled at all to be there. He's an older gentleman. I asked what was going on. The teacher said that DS was sharing his notes with another student, and that the other student had been absent. He said that it was against his classroom policy for students to share notes because he's trying to teach the children responsibility. He also said that there are far too many children missing school and either coming in late or leaving early because they don't feel like being there.

I asked the teacher if there was a policy in writing about this non note sharing rule. He said no, that kids who take his science class are smart enough to remember rules in their heads. He also said that kids need rules, and most parents today don't give their children rules. I hope that wasn't intended at me. We have rules at our house. DS has never been a troublemaker.

The principal asked DS what he knew the rules were. DS said he didn't know that note sharing with an absent student was wrong. He did know that sharing his workbook and sharing your test answers were wrong though.

The principal said that he wouldn't allow him to have detention "this time". I asked both the teacher and the principal if they thought what DS did was cheating. The teacher said yes. The principal said no.

DS won't be home from school for another hour, but he was NOT happy I was there. I think he wanted to handle it himself. I also think he might be worried about what this teacher will say to him or his classmates about my being there.

While DS doesn't have detention, I think my going to the school about the detention is going to cause stress between the teacher and DS.

I also asked the principal why DS would be given detention and not have to serve it until 2 weeks later. The principal says that not very many employees want to stay after school to monitor detention. So, they can only schedule detention on Monday and Thursday. There is a backlog.

Sigh. While I do think speaking to the teacher and principal was the right thing, I wonder if maybe I should have stayed out of it for DS's sake, but it's too late now.

Good for you MOM!

I agree, the future relationship with DS and Dictator Science Teacher (DST) will probably be strained. I hope DST doesn't bellyache to other teachers!

What about DS friend, does she still have detention when it is convienent for the teachers to stay after school?

-Tony

 

[decker96]

Originally posted by disneysnowflake
The teacher was not thrilled at all to be there. He's an older gentleman. I asked what was going on. The teacher said that DS was sharing his notes with another student, and that the other student had been absent. He said that it was against his classroom policy for students to share notes because he's trying to teach the children responsibility. He also said that there are far too many children missing school and either coming in late or leaving early because they don't feel like being there.

I still don't get it. So, he's teaching kids responsibility by not letting them get notes from a day that they are sick?!
So, I guess he's thinking something like this. Sorry you got the flu and missed 3 days of lectures, but now you're screwed the next time you have to take a quiz or test on the material because I'm trying to teach you to be responsible. Next time you just drag your puking self to school and be in my class and take notes. I'll even give you a bucket to put by your desk so you don't have to miss one minute of my precious class. You may well infect us all, but darn it, it's worth it to teach you some responsibility!!
Puh-lease!

 

[MerryPoppins]

I'm a teacher and I think this is one of the craziest things I've ever read! Good for you for standing up for your son. I hope the DST will not take this situation out on your son. I firmly believe that he was not cheating.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Got to this late.

First of all, completely agree with you - and obviously the principal as well! Glad he saw the light, and didn't make your DS serve that stupid detention. How ridiculous.

Secondly, I'm sorry that this embarassed and upset your son so much... I hope that things can get smoothed over quickly between the two of you, and that he doesn't catch too much flack from the teacher.

 

[Pete's Mom]

Originally posted by snarfer1
What about DS friend, does she still have detention when it is convienent for the teachers to stay after school?

-Tony

I was wondering the same thing. Will she get detention now?

 

[Lachesis00]

I can NOT believe the principal didn't say something about this non-written policy. I am in awe.

 

[CRB#33]

I'm confused. How does the teacher expect the students who are absent to get notes they missed? Did he explain that? There must be some kind of rule for this too.

That's what's missing from this puzzle.

 

[Keli]

I think you did the right thing in going to the school but not necessarily for your son's benefit. Teachers that are called on the carpet for unfair/unreasonable rules will have pressure on them to change those rules. You can believe that the principal will think twice before allowing this teacher to give detention to any student for cheating. I'll bet he/she will check the details to make sure that cheating has indeed actually occurred. Unfortunately you son may pay a price for this bit of justice because that teacher might be vindictive. Time will tell.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I teach at the HS level too, and I can just picture a couple of our teachers who would fit this description!
I always tell absent kids to "get the notes from someone else", or if they are overhead notes I'll give them to them myself.
I bet absences are this guy's "pet peeve" and this is one of his ways to combat it--punish kids who are absent by having it be almost impossible to make up the work. Yes, some kids are absent too much for no reason, but the ones that suffer by this are the kids who are legitimately absent.
Robin M.

 

[Maleficent13]

Originally posted by CRB#33
I'm confused. How does the teacher expect the students who are absent to get notes they missed? Did he explain that? There must be some kind of rule for this too.

That's what's missing from this puzzle.

From what the OP said about the meeting, I got the impression that the teacher didn't expect the absent student to get the notes. He expected their test grade to suffer because they didn't come to class (and that was his idea of "consequences" for missing school). I could be wrong, but this was my impression.

 

[aprincessmom]

How does the teacher expect the students who are absent to get notes they missed?

Perhaps he wants the person who was absent to get them directly from him.

I had a professor in college who did this. You were not allowed to share notes and if you missed a lecture you had to come directly to him to explain why and then get his class notes. His reason was two-fold. The first was he wanted you to explain to him what was so important or life-threatening that you couldn't spare 90 minutes to attend the lecture. He was quite a drama king

The second was he felt people take notes according to their own learning styles and there could be many holes in individual notes based on their own note taking styles and skills. This way you got everything that was said and it was up to you to determine what you wanted from the notes.

 

[SC Minnie]

Well, at least your son learned if he is ever out sick to get the notes from the missed day after school hours.

 

[disneyatl]

Interesting that the principal didn't think it was cheating but the teacher did think it was cheating!!!