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Calif. Student Sues Teacher, District Over C+ Grade
yahoonews.com/abcnews ^ | 7-26-12 | Katie Kindelan

Posted on 07/28/2012 7:16:18 AM PDT by rawhide

Bowen Bethards, 17, was a sophomore in Peggy Carlock's chemistry class at Albany High School in Albany,Calif., outside of San Francisco, in the 2010-11 school year when she gave him the C+ grade at the center of the suit, according to court records first reported by the Albany Patch.

Bethards, in a lawsuit filed with his mother, Laureen, in Contra Costa County Superior Court last month, claims that he has suffered severe physical and emotional suffering, damage to his academic reputation, and diminished chances of getting into his college of choice because of the grade.

The Bethards claim that Carlock, who no longer teaches at the school, punished Bowen for missing class on a day that his fellow students performed a lab. Bethards, according to the suit, had to miss class to attend the adoption hearing for his younger sister and so informed Carlock of his absence ahead of time. The two agreed upon a make-up date but when Bethards showed up on the agreed-upon date, he says, Carlock said he could not make up the lab and was instead, "going to fail him," according to court documents.

"My son was denied his rights and they stole his grade from him,"Laureen Bethards told ABCNews.com. "He had a 106 percent and he always went to class and he missed that one class and he was entitled to make up that missed lab and they didn't let him."

The suit says Carlock's refusal to allow the teen to make up the lab violated California Education Code Section 88205. The missed lab, according to Bethards, dropped his overall grade from an A+ to a C+.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: c; education; grade; publicschool; teachers
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My solution: the school district should let the kid perform the make-up lab today and give him the ptoper grade.

By the way, he had a lousy excuse for missing an important lab the day it was first scheduled, imo.

1 posted on 07/28/2012 7:16:22 AM PDT by rawhide
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To: rawhide
It's not the grade, it's the knowledge of facts and process that count in the long run.

Remember that the last few POTUS/TOTUS have been C students or worse.

2 posted on 07/28/2012 7:23:42 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: rawhide
...17, was a sophomore...

A 17 yr old sophomore? That age is normally a late junior, senior year. Apparently, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Whiner, too!

3 posted on 07/28/2012 7:26:06 AM PDT by Road Warrior ‘04 (I miss President Bush! 2012 - The End Of An Error! (Oathkeeper))
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To: rawhide

>> and diminished chances of getting into his college of choice because of the grade.

Judge Smails: Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too.


4 posted on 07/28/2012 7:27:01 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: Bushbacker1

To self, you probably just read it wrong.


5 posted on 07/28/2012 7:27:44 AM PDT by Road Warrior ‘04 (I miss President Bush! 2012 - The End Of An Error! (Oathkeeper))
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To: rawhide

Yes, but, according to the article, the teacher agreed to it before the date in question.


6 posted on 07/28/2012 7:27:59 AM PDT by impimp
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To: rawhide

We had to see this coming.

Litigation aimed at teachers may well have a silver lining. If they get held personally responsible for punitive damages, they may stop encouraging this kind of entitlement behavior.


7 posted on 07/28/2012 7:29:20 AM PDT by Steamburg (The contents of your wallet is the only language Politicians understand.)
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To: rawhide
I don't get what you are saying. This was no slacker of a student. He was an excellent student who had notified his teacher ahead of time of the need for his to attend the adoption hearing for his sister. The teacher agreed to let him make up the test and then reneged on the agreement. Instead of keeping his promise this teacher tells the student he is going to fail him. Sounds like a lousy teacher to me who loves throwing his weight around. More like a wannabee college instructor.
8 posted on 07/28/2012 7:32:41 AM PDT by Nevadan
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To: rawhide
He had an A in the class at that point in time, it was the only class he missed and he made arrangements with the teacher ahead of time to makeup the lab.

The teacher sounds like a bitch.

9 posted on 07/28/2012 7:34:08 AM PDT by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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To: Nevadan

I know he got the excused absence approved prior, but his reason for missing lab that day, as least to me, was not very important, especially since this was an important lab assignment.

The teacher was wrong in not letting him do the make-up as promised though.

Like I said, let him do the make-up lab today and give him the proper grade.


10 posted on 07/28/2012 7:38:49 AM PDT by rawhide
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To: rawhide

This was a Doonesbury sequence decades ago. Somebody sued over a B+ and was awarded something like $4 million in damages.


11 posted on 07/28/2012 7:39:23 AM PDT by jimfree (In Nov 2012 my 12 y/o granddaughter will have more relevant executive experience than Barack Obama)
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To: rawhide

“Lousy excuse?”

Perhaps he was required at the adoption hearing so the judge could evaluate the entire family. Maybe he wanted to voluntarily to welcome his new sister to the family — in such case, he is very family oriented. Either way, it is a great reason to be excused from school for the day.


12 posted on 07/28/2012 7:40:52 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Paladin2
If the kid did, indeed have a 106% average, (an A+ if there ever was one) and the "teacher" busted him back to C+ for missing a single day's activities, then the teacher rated that single day's activity absurdly high as a fraction of the overall class.

Dropping the student from an A+ to an A or A- might have been appropriate, if the lab was truly significant -- but not two whole grade levels for a single day!

Even skipping the most overrated final exam I ever took would not have that huge effect!

Looks like the teacher is an @$$...

13 posted on 07/28/2012 7:45:09 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: rawhide
You know, the quality of Freepers seems to have declined over the years. While on one hand they decry the bias and incompetence of the news media, on the other they believe every word in a story that contains only information from a plaintiff and his attorney!

Considering how cowardly the average administrator or bureaucrat is, and considering that the parents went all the way to the school board, if there was any question or leeway here, the grade would have been changed. The fact that it wasn't by the powers-that-be is a relatively good indication that there is more to this story than was printed. But, of course, let's believe Yahoo news blindly!

14 posted on 07/28/2012 7:46:22 AM PDT by Charles H. (The_r0nin) (Hwaet! Lar bith maest hord, sothlice!)
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To: rawhide

“Bethards, according to the suit, had to miss class to attend the adoption hearing for his younger sister and so informed Carlock of his absence ahead of time. “

Horrible excuse for sure...


15 posted on 07/28/2012 7:46:35 AM PDT by Walkingfeather
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To: rawhide

His attendance at the hearing may well have been ordered by the court...


16 posted on 07/28/2012 7:47:33 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: Bushbacker1

I believe it means he’s 17 now, but received the grade in the 2010-2011 school year when he was a sophomore.


17 posted on 07/28/2012 7:51:33 AM PDT by ShasheMac
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To: rawhide
but his reason for missing lab that day, as least to me, was not very important, especially since this was an important lab assignment.

Since he was attending an adoption hearing for his sister, he should have been excused. Perhaps he was ordered to be present at the hearing. We don't know the circumstances of the adoption, that required his attendance. He sounds like a kid who enjoyed learning and didn't miss school.

18 posted on 07/28/2012 7:51:35 AM PDT by Jaidyn
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To: rawhide

Where’s the teachers union? All they have to do is send some goonion brothers over to adjust the family attitude—hey no more problem.


19 posted on 07/28/2012 7:54:22 AM PDT by Harley (O M G ! Obama Must Go!)
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To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)

Yahoo has more credibility then the average public school teacher


20 posted on 07/28/2012 7:57:19 AM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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