Hard to find numbers we both agree on. The Washington DC situation is pretty well known. Here are some numbers I pulled up.BTW, I used "Copernic agent basic" to find both these stories, and it worked much better than google.
" Many urban school districts spend substantially more than the $6,660 national average of per pupil expenditures. For example, Washington DC spends $7,327 per student but the drop out rate exceeds 40%; and 72% of the city?s 4th graders tested below "basic proficiency" in national math and reading tests." http://207.201.191.212/press/980715ap.htm
The biggest bitch I am hearing from my dance partners/school teachers is the "Special Ed" programs. They are drawing off enormous resources for little return, from both what these people tell me and what I read. Here is a classic case happening right now in South Jersey that combines mis-use of the Disabiltiy law, IMO, with a lawsuit. Legal problems are now taking up to 50% of Administration time.
S.J. student sues to be sole valedictorian
Saturday, May 3, 2003
By RICHARD PEARSALL and RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post Staff
A state judge threatened to manipulate rules to ensure his daughter became valedictorian of the graduating class at Moorestown High School, Superintendent of Schools Paul Kadri contends in court papers.
But the judge's daughter claims the district is discriminating against her, and she has sued in an effort to ensure that she remains the high school's top student.
In court papers, Kadri contends Superior Court Judge Louis Hornstine last fall said he would "use any advantage of the laws and regulations to give (his daughter, Blair Hornstine) the best opportunity to be valedictorian.
"I don't care if others get hurt," Kadri also quotes Hornstine as saying in a meeting between the two. "All I'm interested in is what is best for my daughter."
The judge's daughter, 18-year-old Blair Hornstine, has filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the district of trying to deny her the role of sole valedictorian because she is disabled.
Hornstine takes classes at home because she has been diagnosed as having chronic fatigue syndrome.
The girl, who has the highest grade point average in the senior class and has been accepted at Harvard, asked the court to bar the school district from naming a co-valedictorian for the June 19 graduation ceremony.
She also asked the court to award her damages for the stigma she accuses the district of attaching to her accomplishment.
School district policy states that "the senior with the highest seventh semester WGPA (weighted grade point average) will be named the valedictorian and the student with the second highest seventh semester WGPA will be named salutatorian."
Hornstine had the highest WGPA at the end of the seventh semester, in January.
After what he described as an investigation, however, Kadri recommended to the board that it revise its policy to allow for multiple valedictorians and salutatorians "to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to compete for these awards."
Kadri said Hornstine, by taking classes with home tutors, was able to take more advanced placement courses, which are heavily weighted, and to avoid state-mandated physical education classes, which are not.
He also said in court papers that Hornstine's tutors, appointed and paid for by the school board, allowed her to avoid some Moorestown High teachers "known to have very difficult grading standards" for advanced placement students.
Those teachers award A-plus grades "very sparingly," said Kadri, who noted Hornstine earned that grade in six of seven AP classes over the past two school years.
None of the parties involved in the lawsuit was available Friday for comment.
However, several Moorestown High students backed the superintendent's position during interviews.
"I think it's pretty selfish to take it all the way to court," said Dean Allende, a freshman skateboarding with friends on Main Street. "I don't think she has much support among the students or the teachers."
Said Emily Wilson, a sophomore, "I think the school had a pretty good idea (about sharing the valedictorian position)."
"It seems like most people are unhappy about it," said her friend, Bailey Rice, also a sophomore.
Several adult residents also endorsed the district's position during interviews, but Chad Javier, 31, a waiter from Evesham, supported Hornstine.
"Only one person can be the winner," he reasoned. "You don't have 1 and 1A."
U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson on Thursday set a May 8 hearing on Hornstine's request for a temporary restraining order.
School board attorney John Comegno said the district, in the meantime, will take no action to appoint a co-valedictorian.
In court papers, Hornstine's attorney Edwin J. Jacobs Jr. argues that the girl's educational plan "did not result in unfair advantages to her, but rather leveled the playing field so that she could compete on an equal footing with her non-disabled classmates."
He said the school district's proposal would violate legal protections for people with disabilities.
"Not only does the conferral of co-valedictorian status inaccurately suggest that plaintiff Blair Hornstine was not at the top of her class, but . . . it actually raises a derogatory implication that her performance is not what it seems."
The district's lawyers, Comegno and Jennifer McCarthy, contend in their brief that the district is trying "to ensure that the Board's students are treated fairly and equitably."
"This is not a discrimination case," they contend.
Kadri began a push for two valedictorians in January, according to the lawsuit, but refused to discuss his reasons with Blair Hornstine at a meeting with the senior class in February.
Last fall, according to the suit, Kadri ordered an independent medical review of Hornstine. The school physician agreed the student should drop one course in the second semester because of her medical condition. But Kadri said she would have to carry a full semester load and suggested she drop all advanced placement and honors courses.
That action would have dropped Hornstine's weighted grade point average and could have jeopardized her admission to selected colleges, Jacobs said.
The lawsuit describes Kadri's actions as "a malicious and intentional act designed to reduce (her) opportunity for academic success."
The lawsuit also claims that Kadri's action in meeting with individuals, including Comegno, to discuss the student's medical condition violated her privacy.
southjerseynews.com |
