Why bother, when you can sue!
Student gets diploma after threatening lawsuit
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Student gets diploma after threatening lawsuit
What a country. :disgust:By Monica Alonzo-Dunsmoor
The Arizona Republic
June 10, 2002 12:00:00
A threatening letter from her lawyer and an opportunity to retake an exam hours before graduation helped a West Valley high school student get her diploma last month.
The Sunrise Mountain senior failed a required English class but graduated with her class despite her teacher's objections after retaking and passing the test five hours before the ceremony.
The girl received her diploma, but her English teacher, Elizabeth Joice, wasn't there to see it. Joice didn't attend the May 23 ceremony.
On May 22, Stan Massad, a Glendale attorney representing the Peoria family, faxed a letter to Joice asking her to take "whatever action is necessary" for the student to graduate or the family would be forced to sue.
"Of course, all information regarding your background, your employment records, all of your class records, past and present, dealings with this and other students becomes relevant, should litigation be necessary," he wrote to the teacher.
Massad declined to comment.
Joice responded the same day in a two-page letter that she would be remiss in her duties as a teacher if she passed the student. The letter stated the student was given every opportunity to pass the class and that her parents were aware of their daughter's lack of academic progress.
"Caving to your demand, and the demands of (the student's) parents to pass her when she does not deserve to pass, would not be fair to all of my other students," Joice wrote.
Extra opportunity
The student was given an extra opportunity to work on a final paper but did not attend the makeup session. She also received partial credit for a plagiarized assignment, according to Joice's letter.
School officials, citing federal student privacy laws, would not say who made the decision to allow the senior to retest.
The case raises questions about accountability, teacher discretion and teacher support.
"This is symptomatic of a larger issue in education, and it has to do with standards," said Ron Melnick, director of Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy. "There was a standard the teacher and district arguably set. If you start messing with that, you can get into a lot of trouble . . . fulfilling your mission to educate young people at a certain level."
A recent institute survey shows that among the top reasons teachers leave the profession is a perception they don't have the authority to do their job.
"They feel they're micromanaged or not supported," Melnick said.
Acting Peoria Unified School District Superintendent Jack Erb said the district supports its teachers, but he declined to comment on why in this case the teacher's decision was not upheld.
Overturning a teacher's decision to pass or fail a student is rare, said Chris Thomas, director of Arizona School Board Association Legal Services.
The district's policy states that parents can appeal a teacher's decision by requesting a School Board review of the case. That didn't happen.
"As with anything else, we try to handle things at the campus level," district spokesman Jim Cummings said.
The student's stepmother, who The ArizonaRepublic is not identifying to protect the girl's privacy, said it was too late for School Board appeals so the family turned to an attorney.
Retaking test
She said it was not fair that her stepdaughter wasn't initially allowed to retake the test.
"There are a lot of different reasons why kids don't test well on a particular day," she said. "Numerous teachers within the school district allow their students to retest if they get a low test score. As far as I'm concerned, if one allows it, they all should."
Joice, who has taught in the Peoria district for 17 years, would not comment on the details but said students in senior English classes weren't allowed to retake tests.
"What would be unfair would be to allow one student to retake a test and not allow the others the same option," she said.
About five hours before graduation, the girl was called in to retake the 50-question multiple-choice test she failed about three weeks earlier in class. Other seniors in the district who didn't graduate are taking summer school courses to earn their diplomas.
Cummings said the district is not "pressured by attorneys or anyone else to change school policy."
The girl's stepmother thinks getting an attorney may have helped.
"All of the sudden we did get a quick decision," she said. "I asked the principal what they based the decision on, and she didn't have an answer."
Thomas said lawsuits by parents against schools are becoming more common.
"Sometimes it's the threat of litigation," he said. "They hope the school district will just give in because they just don't want to go through litigation. They hope the district won't think it's worth it."
Tom Pickrell, an attorney for Mesa Public Schools, the state's largest school district, said the burden of proof falls on the student to show academic standards were mastered.
"When the administrator has to review a decision to pass or fail the student, it's fair to expect the teacher to show professional guidelines in how the grade was determined," he said. "Once those standards are met, the law expects there to be deference to the teacher."
Beyond that, he said, it's up to the parents to go to the School Board and make their appeal there.
Cummings said situations like this one are commonly handled at school level.
'Stay on track'
"You give them every opportunity from the start of their senior year to five minutes before graduation, if you have to, to help them pass," Cummings said. "You work as hard as you can to make sure that students stay on track, and if they get off track, you work with them."
Greg Donovan, a Peoria Unified School District School Board member, said he was comfortable with the decision made by school officials.
"I have to put faith in the principal and our administration that they look at our situation and decide this is the best way to assess this student, keeping with state and board requirements," he said.
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