2/3 of Grand Rapids Public School freshmen failing

WOODTV ^ | Kristi Anderson

[SunkenCiv]

"some of these schools are SO bad that you can't blame the children for not wanting to attend"

There aren't any schools in Grand Rapids that fit that description, unless one counts the thugs that attend there.

[ryan125]

I truly wish it was a joke...

[blu]

Ryan, I thought about my post to you last night and decided it was kinda mean. So sorry!

[Tigercap]

From my understanding, the GR public schools have a healthy budget. So throwing money at it is not the solution.


I wonder if they compared the Christian schools in GR data vs. the GR public schools. My money is on there being a big difference!

I went to a Christian school in Kalamazoo. Struggled to get B's and C's, but when I went to University I had a MUCH easier time than my friends who were getting A's at Public schools!

[ryan125]

no problem :) it's hard for me to tell meanness over the Internet anyways

[ryan125]

And I'm assuming that you thought me and my mom where one of those crazy families that sue everyone lol so i understand i HATE those types of people. We actually are not, I didn't even mention a lawsuit to them they just over reacted when we wanted them to pay a medical bill. What happened was they put out false medical information saying that black widow bites where cured by Tylenol, and they wouldn't do anything except give me that when I had an allergic reaction to one being bit on campus.

[blu]

No,I didn't think you and your mom were lawsuit happy, I just thought the story was too outlandish to be true. We don't have black widow spiders around here...so I think of them as being rare. And dude, c'mon, in my mind, having to go to Math class is bad enough, but for a spider to be part of the lesson just seems like overkill to me! Wasn't there a slasher movie about the teachers at a school who go crazy and try to kill all the kids??

[Ol' Sox]

Here in one of Connecticut's cities, a similar story is about to unfold. The failure has got nothing to do with the intelligence of the kids, but rather with a new schedule that is killing everyone.

In order to accomodate additional class offerings, a new rolling 8 period schedule was introduced this year. Each day has a letter designation, ie: "A-day, B-day...", and each designated day begins with a different period and the 8th period drops off. So on A-day, we begin with 1st period, end with 7th, and the class scheduled in 8th period does not meet that day. On B-day, we begin with 2nd period, end with 8th, and the class scheduled in 1st period does not meet, and so on.

To do this, time between classes was reduced to 4 minutes. This is a large school, with close to 2,500 students housed in 4 separate houses on four floors. Classes are NOT confined to the "home" house.

Failure to arrive at class on time results in a "unexcused late". 2 "lates" equals an unexcused absence. 3 unexcused absences results in a full grade reduction.

I had the unpleasant opportunity to be in the hallway when the inter-period bell rang. Kids flew out the doors, all but sprinting to their classes. Kids were knocked into walls and lockers...I hate to think of the stairwells. They had no time to get to their lockers, or hit the bathrooms. When the bell sounded again, fully a third of the student body was still in the hallway, and therefore, penalized.

I've written to the school, and to the superintendent, and the rest of the school board about this ludicrous attempt to pack more into the existing schoolday. An extra minute between classes (as was the case last year) would do a lot to normalize things. I guess the teachers just don't want to stay those extra 8 minutes though, because so far, they won't budge.

[em2ss]

Sorry, it's just the way I read it, I guess. But, somehow I still get the impression that you still want to blame the wrong people. I think that you will probably find that the ones who have moved their children to private education have indeed voted for change. They were, however, overridden by those that are not motivated by anything other than trying to make us, via the liberal establishment, pay for more failed socialized government programs. When the ballot box fails, the wallet must be used to protect our most valuable resource, our children.

[VanDeKoik]

GRPS is a total joke.

When my family moved to GR from the burbs in the late 80s, I saw quickly how low the standards were compared to where I came from.


Im glad I was finished with the place before it really went into the toilet.

[television is just wrong]

wow, and we are lead to believe that only white people are racist and hateful. (sarc) as if I didn't know.