Here’s a good one (“good” in the sense of fucking evil bastardy):
Madison Bratcher, the mother of a girl who was enrolled in the Bridgeport Independent School District (BISD), received an odd reaction from her daughter’s school after withdrawing her.
“Her daughter was bullied, exposed to inappropriate sexual talk by other students, and mistreated in classes and on the bus. Bratcher said she raised these issues with her daughter’s school, but they were not addressed,” according to a report from The Texan.
“All of these incidents show that Bridgeport doesn’t have the best interest of students at heart,” Bratcher told the news outlet.
Bratcher and her husband made the decision to homeschool McKinley, their daughter, who is in the sixth grade. They sent an email to the school notifying them that they were removing her from the school.
Which, according to Texas state law, is all you need to do if you want to homeschool your kid. The response from the school?
The parents did not receive a reply to their email. Later, Bratcher received a phone call from the school informing her that registration was now open. She told the individual that she would not be enrolling her daughter and would be homeschooling her instead. School officials called twice more even after being told that Bratcher was educating her daughter at home.
On the third phone call, an official told her that she needed to fill out some forms indicating her intent to withdraw her daughter. This person also asked probing questions about what program Bratcher would be using to educate McKinley. “At this point, Bratcher said she became very uncomfortable and asked the school to send her the forms via email.”
And as for the content of the “forms”:
The forms required her to acknowledge “dangers, concerns, and disadvantages” of homeschooling. One of the forms also said the district could investigate a family if it has “reasonable cause … to believe that the assurance” given that the child would pursue a bona fide program of homeschooling is not true.
All of which is total bullshit, of course — the “investigation” procedure does not exist, is not backed by any Texas law or regulation, and is pure intimidation.
This all happened at the school level, apparently, because when Our Intrepid Mom got hold of the school district brass, she got a groveling apology, and an assurance that the “forms” were not authorized by the district. (One hopes that this would result in someone getting fired for cause, but I wouldn’t put money on it.)
Why would the school stoop to this level? Ah… follow the money. Each student pulled from a state school means reduced state funding.
Texas residents, take note. Other states’ residents: find out the steps required by the state before you pull your kid.
In her place my response to that last phone call would have been, “I withdrew my daughter because she was being bullied and you idiots didn’t do anything about it. I was going to just homeschool her, but if you keep bothering me we can go the lawsuit route. Want to spend a lot of time in court? I can make humiliating you drones my hobby if you like.”
“On the third phone call, an official told her that she needed to…”
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Find out the details of who that motherfucker is.
Slit that motherfucker from asshole to appetite to serve as a warning to other potential petty tyrants.
50 years ago my ol’ gray haired Mammy would have said that petty tyrant was “Getting too big for their britches.”, and needed taken down a peg.
If no one ever gets fired, nothing will ever change. At least, until the rifles come out.
Why would the school stoop to this level? Ah… follow the money.
Yup. Here in Wyoming it’s around $15,000 a year.
I ran into this petty bastardy here in my town when my youngins were starting elementary school. The Principal gathered us all in a room and was explicit that if your kid was going to be late to school (e.g. for a dental appt) then keep them home the whole day and take the absence.
Why? Because periodically the State people showed up to do a headcount. If you’re little turd was late they basically had to teach them for free, instead of show them the absence list. Nevermind the fact that enough absences put you in the Truancy category, but better the kid suffer, than the system.
That along with the naked political pandering, “We cant tell you how to vote but if you love us teachers and want an educated kid, then you’ll support whatever House/Senate/Bond legislation we tell you too.”
I no longer believe that a drone trained as a teacher is capable of educating a child to become a self-actualizing, free- will adult. We said fifty years ago that those who can , do, and those who can’t, teach. That was also when it became apparent that those who can’t teach, administrate.
John Taylor Gatto, of “Dumbing us Down” fame, is a little vague on what a proper education should be, but he is correct on the idea that what is happening now isn’t that.
Our school system used to (and may still have for all I know) have a grade level called “transition” It was positioned between kindergarten and first grade and was supposed to help students who weren’t quite ready to move from the half days of kindergarten to the full more structured days in first grade. After a few years of this nonsense parents started to notice that no boys were “ready” for first grade without that extra year because they were too active, aggressive, playful or independent. In short they were being boys. The parents also noted that the local schoo0l district got another year of funding for that grade and more money because the boys trapped in that environment were considered to be “special needs”.
“Each student pulled from a state school means reduced state funding.”
That is why I have always pointed out that a school district is blowing smoke up the rectum of the public about being underfunded. If they were educating students at a funding loss than they should be relieved that the burden is taken from them by a student withdrawing. It is not like a decrease in student population lowers their budget, just federal grant funds. It is just one less expense from the localities’ property tax pot. The fact they have box ticking bureaucrats and and administrators eating up the budget instead of student-facing educators is a policy decision. Because personnel IS policy.