Today I received a letter from the Assistant Superintendent of Schools informing me that my granddaughter is "not graduation ready", because she failed the NJ State Proficiency Assessement in Math. Not long ago, this same Administrator gave a presentation to the Board of Education detailing the state of the 2024 Senior class. I remember that the Assistant Superintendent stated that there were over 80 seniors who had failed the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment 4 times.
The letter that I received today was the exact same one we got in Spring. Word for Word. It does not acknowledge that many children have taken advantage of the 3 different pathways to graduation. The timelyness of this communication is appalling. The message "not" changing was "not" impressive either.
This old grandma and retired Teacher wants to know why our new 6 figure Administrators have not taken the time to review the data in order to learn which students have successfully chosen a Pathway. My granddaughter has a diploma signed by the President of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools. At the DMHS graduation on June 20th, in the blistering heat, she shook the hand of the HS Principal, the School Board President and the Superintendent of Schools.
Why then, did no one take the time to check to see how many and whom had satisfied graduation requirements? At least give the parents and other taxpayers the respect of updating the darned letter. Another thing, there was a category left out of the Assistant Superintendent's report. She did not include the children who dropped out of School, because they could not pass the test. So how did they pass the GED and not the NJGPA? I would like to know how many children chose to drop out rather than deal with this test again? I will say again, that perhaps the problem is with the test, and not our children.
I assume that letter was sent out to all 80 of the students who failed the assessement 4 times. Surely that 6 figure salary requires you to at least update the darn letter while covering your behind. Did you do anything else to help these children graduate other than send out this letter? Color this Old Lady not impressed.
Suggestion: Update Genesis so parents may upload Doctor and Hospital letters excusing student absences. It is extremely disconcerting to notice that a child has earned unexcused absences while in the hospital. I generally send these letters to the Principal and the Nurse, because I have not gotten an answer as to whether there is a human monitoring the Genesis Attendance Office. AI seems to be our Attendance Officer and it is not a Smart Hub. I have been told more than once that these proofs of excused absences must be submitted to the Attendance Office. Please fix that.
