Back to School Drama, Chapter II
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So, picking up where I left off with the first half of this saga…
I was going through the obstacles that we faced in transferring Nick’s credits (two years of public school in Florida, one year of legally registered homeschooling here in Mississippi) to the local public High School.
It occurs to me to mention also the fact that when I called at the end of the last school year, not all the staff was in the office, and I spoke to the Head Guidance Counselor. As we approached the beginning of this year, I began working with Nick’s actual assigned Guidance Counselor.
Both had long conversations with me, and reviewed all the documentation. Both gave me the exact same answers.
Nick’s counselor mentioned that she was new to the district, having worked for quite a few years at the school district “next door,” so perhaps her information was the same because it all came straight from asking the Head Counselor. But this does not change my opinion that either or both of them could have and should have done more to try to find solutions, and to advocate for us.
Anyhow, off soapbox, on with the list:
- Returning to the closing point of my previous post – transfer credits are not necessarily calculated or applied correctly. A final thought, on which I touched on in that original introduction.
- Required coursework for a “typical” student is not necessarily sensible when applied to someone transferring in as an upperclassman.
- And one more issue that these all lead to: There’s no good way to make up credits.
I understand that transferring is going to cause some disruption, and that things don’t always line up…
But almost every High School I have ever heard about or attended has a six class period schedule. Every single one, except Biloxi High, which has seven classes daily.
No big deal, you might think. But consider the implications…
Nick spent two years at a public school, earning 12 credits that were gladly accepted here. The students at Biloxi High, though, during the same time-frame, earned 14. Correspondingly, the Biloxi graduation requirements are based on having a possible 28 classes before graduation, as opposed to the other schools’ 24.
Thus even a student who has completed every requirement and carried a solid class load at his former school will find himself “behind” in his requirements upon arrival!
Really, each credit from a six-period day ought to count as 1 1/6 credits transferring in to a school with a seven-period day. Or… something! You can’t fix the fact that there will be unmet required classes, perhaps, but this would at least address the issue of the “total credits required for graduation,” and could be applied to the generic “electives” credit area.
1. They said the he could not be tested for U.S. History, since that was a State Tested subject.
This simply makes no sense to me, still.
Had he taken U.S. History in the Florida public school, they would gladly have accepted it. He still (as now) would not necessarily have covered every line item on their state-approved agenda, and he still (as now) would not have taken the State of Mississippi standardized exam. But they would have accepted it. Without retaking the course; without testing for competence in the course; without taking the state test.
Why, again, are we as homeschoolers being discriminated against?
He is not only not given credit for the course outright (not expected, since they “don’t do that” across the board), but there is no option to take the subject tests to be awarded the credit for his work, to take the State Test in the Spring when it is administered, or any other reasonable solution.
2. There is a two credit Technology requirement, which assumes the student receives credit for an introductory course taken in the 8th Grade.
Yep, that’s right. Middle School courses are now being counted against my son’s High School graduation. I was stunned.
Once again we would have benefitted from more active help and support from our school counterparts. In the back of their own Student Handbook, I found some intersting information from the Mississippi Department of Education.
Evidence of proficiency in Keyboarding and Computer Applications is accepted in lieu of the required courses if the student earns one unit in any of the courses listed in the Business and Technology Framework (academic and vocational).
Meaning that if Nick takes one Technology course, he should be granted a second Technology credit if he can demonstrate proficiency in some basic skills.
3. MS History and the Social Studies requirement
Students at Biloxi High have specific required Social Studies courses all four years:
- Freshmen take World History, which Nick took in Florida as an Advanced Placement class (passing the class and the AP test with flying colors).
- Sophomores take one semester of Mississippi History and one semester of World Geography; Nick took Advanced Placement Psychology (again easily passing both class and AP test).
- Juniors take U.S. History, which Nick also took last year in homeschool.
- Seniors take one semester of U.S. Government and one semester of Economics.
So Nick was already required to retake U.S. History, for the perplexing reason of “State Testing.”
The counselor then informed us that he would also have to take Mississippi History / World Geography, since Mississippi History was absolutely a required course.
I hoped that someone else had some common sense about that, and the Mississippi Department of Education documentation came through for me again. They had a long paragraph about how this requirement didn’t apply or could be changed for students transferring in under various condition, concluding with
An out-of-state student who transfers after the junior year may substitute any other ½ unit social studies course.
Whew!
But why didn’t the Counselor find that?
Summer school is only for students to retake classes that they took and failed. So neither the summer before nor the summer after could Nick take one or more classes to finish up.
There is apparently a program where you can concurrently enroll, and take a correspondence course through Mississippi State (I believe that’s where it was). But this is only allowed to be done for a single class.
Virtual School exists, but is little used, and apparently limited and costly. Vaguely, we were told that in the past they have, if they had room, allowed Seniors who were in danger of not having enough credits to graduate to take their required course(s) free… But no word on if or when that might be offered, and what classes would be available.
So, really, someone with a 1 1/2 credit deficit could be in serious danger of having to attend another full year of school!
I wrote all my concerns up in a lengthy letter.
Since I had specific concerns for Nick’s credits, I addressed it to the Biloxi High School Principal.
But I truly feel that there are bigger issues here – some issues that should be addressed by the School District, as well as some that have implications for the entire State of Mississippi. Thus I also sent a copy of the letter to the Biloxi Superintendent of Schools, and our U.S. Congressman, Steven Palazzo.
The Guidance Counselor called me back later the day I dropped the principal’s letter off, to set up a meeting.
In said meeting, the principal proved to have that rare and precious quality – common sense.
Quite a competent and caring individual. I was impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever held such an opinion of someone in a public school administration roll.
Anyhow, without further ado, she walked through the adjustments I had suggested.
U.S. History was untouchable. State Testing is a strange, big deal.
But she readily concurred that Personal Fitness was the equivalent of Health, Psychology fulfilled the credit normally requiring Mississippi History and World Geography, and that a second Technology credit would be awarded by proficiency demonstration (to be performed by the teacher of the Technology class he would take).
Yeah, just like that.
Now, rather than not being able to graduate on time, Nick had six required courses, and was able to pick an elective for his final class!
Yeah, I’m still holding my breath just a little. The Technology credit still has to be written up, and I would like to see all the rest of it in an official transcript, as well…
But, truly… Thank God for keeping things under control!
And I did get a call from Congressman Palazzo’s office. I spoke at some length with a young lady there, explaining that while my son’s situation had been resolved in a way we found satisfactory, there were still underlying policy issues that I hoped the Congressman would seek to address.
For now? Off to Back-to-School night!
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