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 ...
“...his reason for missing lab that day, as least to me, was not very important...”
Rawhide, take it somewhere else...you have no knowledge that his reason for missing was ‘not very important’.
That was a VERY important reason for missing a class...adoption of his sister. Occasions like that only happen once in a lifetime. Guess everything should have been in writing. Too bad the teacher couldn’t be trusted.
Almost the exact same thing happened to me in college. I had to attend a funeral for a family member. Prof said I was excused for a makeup the following week. Went to schedule the makeup and the prof said my grade average was so high that he would just average my grade separately when it came time to do final course grades. He didn’t do that and I found out a few weeks after finals that my course grade went from an A to a B-. The prof had left for Costa Rica and without anything in writing, I couldn’t get my grade changed or do some kind of makeup work to raise my grade. I should have made a formal complaint to the dean, but I figured I was screwed no matter what since our agreement was never in writing. I heard years later that the prof died a miserable death at a relatively early age, so maybe karma took care of things.
Huh? As a 17 year old wouldn't you want to be there for the hearing over your new sister? Are you really that cold-hearted?
Okay, okay, on second thought, you guys may be right, maybe he was required to be there, or since it was an important event in the family. (red-face)
At first glance it seemed to me to be a lousy excuse, since the lousy teacher gave it such importance, as far as his grade was concerned. And the kid did approval before hand.
I was not thinking clearly this AM.
Sorry.
“... he had a lousy excuse for missing an important lab...”
I don’t understand why it was a lousy excuse? An adoption hearing may require that all potential siblings attend so they may answer questions. For our foreign adoption, our two children had scheduled meetings with our case worker/social worker. The information obtained was that the addition of a child wouldn’t cause issues with siblings. The teacher accepted the absence beforehand and then decided later she wouldn’t accept it. I see the fault lying completely on the teacher. IMHO.
You posted seconds before I did. Smooch... all is forgiven. LOL!
Sounds like a legit excuse, and if they have an order from a court or judge to appear....this school district will lose...pre-absence agreement or not
If the school was smart, they would settle this out of court, with the proper amended grade
Also, would like to know why this teacher is no longer at this school. You can bet her work history and background will be checked out
There is something wrong with the chemistry of this story. I believe we have here an improper mix of fact, and fiction.
I'd already been exempted from the first three semesters so I could go right into third year courses if i wanted ~ and this idiot hands me a pen to fill out the form ~ and tells me only little kids use pencils here.
That was the very last English class I ever tried to sign up for. IDIOTS. Not surprising they eventually went after Bobby Knight.
So, must be his cousin ended up as a chemistry instructor in a high school ~
I’m not from California, so I may be looking in the wrong section, but I can not see that California Education Code Section 88205 has anything to do with this case. ABC News isn’t exactly above making up a story. http://www.lawserver.com/law/state/california/codes/california_education_code_88205
If this is accurate the whining wimp might just have a case.
FWIW, only Divine intervention would have gotten me a C+ in chemistry
People should wait to hear the teacher’s side of this.
All that yahoo published was the student’s side.
I'm beginning to see a picture of a Christian kid being persecuted by a liberal teacher.
Not important? The judge usually wants all the family to be at the hearing. I’m sure he learned more at the courthouse than he would have in school.
Or it could mean he was born after September and thus started school late.
From a 106 average down to a C+ for one lab? Man, that’s a tough high school!
Honestly, though, if the kid alerted the teacher to the pending absence, the teacher agreed, they had a make-up date set, then why not let him do the make-up?
Weird story.
I missed a lab report in high school and went from a B to an F.
Still got into the college of my choice.
Fred’s Matchbook Kollij of High Nollij. Before subscribing to that school, I couldn’t spell “graduate.”
Now I are one.
At the end of the article, we learn that the school changed his grade to a B in the next semester after the parents complained.
So, the C+ appears NO WHERE on his transcript - and the article is very, very misleading.
What it SHOULD say is that they are suing over a B to get it changed to an A+ as he feels this B on his transcript diminishes his chances to go to a top CA school.
I do not agree. It was an important family event that does not occur everyday. Such events are more important than some idiotic indoctrination center mandated by the government.
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