Student with 0.13 GPA ranked 62nd out of 120 graduating students

| September 22, 2021

A student in a Baltimore high school only passed three classes in high school, was late or absent 272 days in three years, achieved a 0.13 GPA, and ranked close to the top half of his class. However, the school returned him to the 9th grade. His mother pulled him out of that school, and placed him in another one that she hopes would be a better fit.

From Fox News:

France expressed frustration with the school, asking why her son would have to complete three more years of high school after “the school failed him.”

France’s son failed 22 classes and was late or absent 272 days over his first three years of high school. Only one teacher requested a parent-teacher conference, but France said that didn’t happen. Despite this, her son still ranked 62nd in his class out of 120 total students.

“The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that’s the problem here. They failed. They failed. He didn’t deserve that,” she said.

FOX 45 found that hundreds of students are flunking classes at the Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in west Baltimore.

France says she has three children and works three jobs, and didn’t realize her son was failing until February. Even though he was failing classes, the school continued to promote him; after failing Spanish I and Algebra I, for example, the school still allowed him to take Spanish II and Algebra II.

“I’m just assuming that if you are passing, that you have the proper things to go to the next grade and the right grades, you have the right credits,” France told FOX 45.

She continued: “I feel like they never gave my son an opportunity, like if there was an issue with him, not advancing or not progressing, that they should have contacted me first, three years ago.”

Two of the three classes were passed with a “D”. You could read the story and watch the video segment here. The video offers potential hints, not specified, to why this happened.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Society

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Mason

Sounds like the parent failed as much as the school. Education is only as good as what you put into it. She didn’t raise her kid to put any effort into it. For God’s sake, the kid couldn’t even be bothered to show up half the time. That’s a parenting issue.

Anonymous

Exactly. “Dear School, I paid muh taxes– why ain’t you razed muh kid 4 me, you suck!”

Mason

Nowadays it’s all online. I get text messages from my kids’ teachers almost daily. You’d have to work to be intentionally ignorant about what’s going on with your kids at school now.

If he missed that much school, with or without an excuse, he’d be listed as an habitual truant. In a normal city (Bawlmore ain’t normal though) that gets reported to CPS and the police (habitual truancy is a crime for the parent).

She shares as much blame (if not more) than the school, IMO. Though what the schools are doing if they’re not setting up parent-teacher conferences, I don’t know. In what school are the parents not speaking face-to-face with teachers at least once during each semester?

Fyrfighter

Thass Rayyyccisss…Truancy being a crime, school, math, and almost anything else that requires effort and personal responsibility. Just ask the Smithsonian…

Green Thumb

Three jobs is a touch one.

I get the socioeconomic demographic as well.

Agreed on the parenting comment, but sometimes life is hard.

Just putting it out here.

Green Thumb

“tough”

Fyrfighter

Piss poor choices make it harder (like having three kids, with no father in the picture, and likely multiple sperm donors… to quote John Wayne- “Life is hard.. It’s harder if you’re stupid”
And yes, it’s possible that her situation changed after having kids, divorce, etc, but given that it’s baltimore, that’s highly unlikely..

MI Ranger

My question is how long is she working each of those jobs…or is it like internet entrepreneur type jobs that only require a few minutes each day or every other day totaling eight hours worked!? Usually people who work multiple jobs, because they can’t get enough hours to make 40 hours per week, or are very minimal wages. A mother of 3 should not be working jobs that keep her away from the house for more than 12 hours a day! She needs some assistance in finding a job that matches her skills and capabilities.

I would say the school failed her, but she failed her son!

5JC

Baltimore has the worst school system in Maryland. It has been in complete free fall failure for decades. They even beat out PG County which was no small feat. They are actually one of the ten worst in the US.

As much as they would like to they can’t blame it on poverty. They spend $16,000 per student annually. This is more than the state average and enough to pay tuition at a decent 4 year college. They would be better off just closing the schools and giving the parents the money to go to private schools, of which there is a good system of some of the best private schools in the country in the area.

Mustng Major

Private school costs at lest $26,000 a year, all in, in Baltimore. Most of the private schools place three or four “scholarship” students in each class.

My idealistic step-daughter taught in the Baltimore City school system. She lasted one year before she came to her senses.

Forest Bondurant

Yesterday, I heard on the radio that public schools in Washington, DC have been rated the 2D WORST public school system in the country.

Pathetic.

5JC

Remember when Obama made the campaign promise that his kids would go to public school in DC? That promise aged well.

Jay

She has three children (probably with three different last names), works three jobs….and nary a father to be found. Gee, and the SCHOOL failed him? Nah, booboo….that kid was destined for failure from jump. You just enabled him by not holding him accountable and allowing him to pass the blame for his failure onto others other than himself.

Thunderstixx

Sounds like Milwaukee;
They have a 57% dropout rate.
Think about that, 6 out of 10 students drop out. Oh, and as a reward Wisconsin elected the education secretary governor.
It’s our fault for not holding the schools to account for the crap they are foisting on our kids.
Now we have the dreaded snowflakes whom I might add are some of the dumbest kids ever.

I swear, if they were told to go stand in a line for extermination, we need to lessen the population, because of global warming, they would go stand in line for 5 days making sure that they were in the right line and say something like “If it’s for the planet, then I will make sure that I am in the right line” !!!

5JC

Milwaukee is claiming a 69% four year graduation rate that they are quite proud of. Mostly they are so happy because it is a huge improvement over the 2015 58% rate.

https://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/News/MPS-graduation-rate-continues-upward-trend.htm

Fyrfighter

That’s because it’s been decades since they actually attempted to educate kids. As evidenced by the stuff parents have been seeing while their kids are remote “learning” the current system is all about indoctrinating ignorant peasants, as they’re much easier to rule over. Teach people NOT to think for themselves, and just do as they’re told, then they’ll be compliant when communists take power. The caliber of invaders crossing our southern border right now are more evidence of the lefts overall plan, to replace thinking, independent Americans with low intelligence, uneducated willing serfs.. This is a feature of the system, NOT a bug

Devtun

What’s the problem? Another future democrat voter is being molded.

26Limabeans

Missed it by “that” much…

My, My, My

Wake up and smell the coffee Mrs. France!! LOL.

https://youtu.be/Hh_vLKlz2Mc

A Proud Infidel®™

SOwmnds liek the publik edjukaishun in many a D-rat run inner city hellhole.

KoB

^THIS^ Little Johnny and Suzy (Jamal & Shaqueela) can’t read because the baby mama is a sorry excuse for a human being.

Saddest part is our tax dollars paid for all of this. Thanks, LBJ.

A Proud Infidel®™

An’ da Baby Momma keep a-havin’ kids bekuuz she get mo’money from da-man!

RGR 4-78

“Welcome to McF@#Kits, may I take your order?”

Hack Stone

“Welcome to McF@#Kits, may I take your order, bitch?!”

Fixed it for you.

Poetrooper

“Even though he was failing classes, the school continued to promote him; after failing Spanish I and Algebra I, for example, the school still allowed him to take Spanish II and Algebra II.”

While I agree that the mom bears a great deal of the responsibility, promoting failing students is system failure not parent failure. What is the system’s expected level of performance in Spanish II and Algebra II for students who failed Spanish I and Algebra I. That’s not just system failure, that’s system collapse.

Why does ol’ Poe suspect that the “educators” who operate this system are, themselves, products of ones just like it?

However, the true culprits in this huge mess are the white, unionized liberals who control the American education system, the people who have allowed that system to deteriorate to this point.

And yet the urban ghettoes where this is commonplace continue electing the crooked Democrats who perpetuate it bringing us full circle to the entire thin being a parent failure.

Poetrooper

“entire thing” being a parent failure.

timactual

When I lived in Florida in the mid ’70sI came across a newspaper article about a criminal trial involving a high school senior. Turns out this 18 yr.old senior couldn’t even write his own name; his attorney had to do it for him.

Some things never seem to change.

UpNorth

Saw that more than once while I was waiting with an arrest at arraignments for the people arrested the previous 24 hours. And, sometimes the attorneys were just as dumb. So, one wonders how they got through law school (cough AA cough).

Forest Bondurant

IIRC, education has become less about getting an education and more about being “inclusive” and whatever other social justice nonsense, just so students don’t feel bad, and get rewarded for nothing.

This kid will probably get into an excellent college, while some other kid who actually did the work and brought home good grades will end up twisting in the breeze on a waiting list for admission.

gitarcarver

Come now. Y’all are behind the curve on this one. The problems discovered at Agusta Fells was discovered in March of this year. (Last school year.) In June 2021, the City announced a plan that would promote kids who had failed because the City blamed the pandemic. The system also will adjust student grades. Elementary students who have an “unsatisfactory” grade in a course and middle school students with a failing grade will get a “not completed.” High school students with a failing grade will get a “no credit.” About 65% of secondary students and 50% of elementary students in the system are failing at least one class, according to the school system. To hold everyone back would go against current education research that indicates students have better long-term academic success when they are given support. “The challenge of virtual learning cannot be understated,” Dabrowski said. “As a system this is why we have to approach post COVID in a very different frame.” In 2001, there were 30,000 kids that were held back because of failing grades. Faced with that failure, the City abandoned the practice of holding kids back and promoted them. https://raisedonhoecakes.com/ROH/in-baltimore-city-students-fail-and-move-on-to-the-next-level/ But the latest trend is not just promoting kids that fail, it is having “students” on the rolls that don’t exist. They are called “ghost students.” — Over the three-year period, about 100 students remained on the rolls but didn’t attend the school. School staff corrected the enrollment for the 2019-2020 school year, but about 70 instances remain when “suspicious actions” by staff resulted in the school getting funding for 52 students that “could not be documented or validated.” Funding for schools is based on a per-pupil model, so when the enrollment is inflated more money is dispersed to the school than should be. The report notes that the Maryland State Department of Education audited city enrollment in 2017 and 2019, including records at Augusta Fells Savage, and found no problems. — Administrators pressured staff and teachers to change student grades. In some instances, teachers were ordered to grade exams on a curve to ensure students… Read more »

timactual

“Finally, the school themselves are in horrible shape.”

Sounds like the DC schools not very long ago, when at least one school was condemned and a couple shut down temporarily.

Fyrfighter

And it should be no surprise at all which party has ruled over the city for decades…

gitarcarver

The “behind the curve” comment was meant in jest. Sarcasm as it were.

Hack Stone

They are doing a heck of a job preparing these children to be successful adults. As in previous education stories posted on TAH, some school districts are doing away with academic standards altogether will only doom these children to a life of abject poverty from which they will never be able to escape. The Democrats built that.

timactual

And of course we all know what the ethnic makeup of these urban kids is, don’t we? It’s okay, though. It’s just vocational training for future Democratic voters.

Fyrfighter

Exactly! For the democrats, this entire situation is not a failure, it’s the plan.

Sparks

1. Parenting

2. Crap teachers

3. Teacher’s Union

The Stranger

Hey, he’s still up on Senator John Blutarsky, he of the 0.0 GPA from Faber College!🙃

Odie

I wonder if baby’s mama was convinced her child was destined for college. You know, cause he was such a good boy.

SFC D

He was headed for Yale. What’s that? Ohh, my bad. He was headed for JAIL.

Prior Service

I guess we now know how so many “dindoonuffing”s are college-bound at the time of their untimely deaths.

rgr769

The beauty of being a dindoonuffing is that “occupation” doesn’t require the ability to read, write, and do basic math. It only requires the ability to operate a “nine.”

Hack Stone

When this story first broke earlier this year, one of the many news articles about this example of academic excellence also noted that only two students of the graduating class met the minimum level of mastering English and math. That was two students, not two percent.

Commissar

Not graduating.

The students with 0.13 GPAs are not graduating.

SFC D

Reading comprehension is a wonderful thing, you should try it sometime. Hack Stone did not say that. “only two students of the graduating class met the minimum level of mastering English and math’. No mention of a GPA there.

5JC

Commissar:

Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts; Valedictorian, Class of 1984.

Ret_25X

Poor Dummissar…a true moron.

Not only did Hack say nothing about GPA, his post does not even mention “not graduating”.

Now, I realize that you approve of gulags for inner city people, and I understand that you have no actual knowledge of–well–anything, but really. Your knee jerk racism is showing, Kumrade

QMC

There was no way in the h-e-double-l I was ever going to put my kids in any of the Bodymore, Murderland schools.

Hence, reason #1 out of 3,457 that I got the heck out of there five years ago.

26Limabeans

Be interesting to have them all take the AFQT so we can get
a good idea how we’re doing on that front.

Commissar

He wasn’t ranked 62 of “graduating students”.

You can’t graduate with a 0.13.

He was sent back to the 9th grade.

Which is working as intended.

And those other students were not graduating either.

The fact that students are failing for not showing up and not passing classes is working as intended.

I would be more alarmed if they were actually graduating students with GPAs like that.

Which they are not.

There is clearly a failure in educating, encouraging, reforming, assisting, and enabling students…and there is clearly a problem with keeping parents informed.

But they are not graduating kids with a 0.13 GPA so stop posting nonsense claiming they are.

SFC D

I saw nothing in the post that mentioned the “student” graduation. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that he was #62 in the class he SHOULD have graduated with, your milage may vary. Sending him back to the 9th grade shouldn’t even be considered as “working as intended”. If the system had worked as intended, he wouldn’t have to go back, he would’ve been held back instead of being promoted. No amount of your progressive/liberal spin can defend this school system. Why, you may ask? I’ll tell you. Because you are a fraud.

gitarcarver

According to the data from Agusta Fells, the kid ranked 62nd out of 120 kids in that class.

That means the kid was in the upper half of the grade level.

Project Baltimore pulled the data for Augusta Fells. We found many students are struggling. The school’s attendance rate is 61 percent. That’s 27 points below the district average. Of the 434 students enrolled in 2019, two tested proficient in math and two in English. Yet, 48 percent, nearly half the students, manage to graduate in four years.

That 48 percent is 58 kids which means the kid in question or the one just above him in ranking were set to graduate.

As for “sending him back to 9th grade” you seem to think that demotion occurred spontaneously. It did not.

The kid passed only three classes in four years yet was continually promoted to the next grade level. Somehow you think that is the system is “working as intended.”

Finally, it wasn’t the school district or the school that noted the problem. An investigative group called “Project Baltimore” was contacted by the mother and they made public records requests. It was they – not the school district or the school – who verified the problem.

Outside pressure was what brought this to light.

This is one of many systemic failures in the Baltimore School system and you are willing to dismiss it, wrongfully claiming the “system worked.”

I have no idea why anyone would think that the system in this kid’s case “worked.” To do so means that you believe that promoting him from 9th to 12th grade with only passing 3 classes in that time frame is appropriate.

Not only did the kid and BCPS fail, you failed in your post as well.

Stop posting nonsense that the system worked.

Ret_25X

IF the purpose of the “education” system is learning, then no, the system did not work as intended.

However, the purpose of the “education” system is NOT education. It is jobs. It is all a vast jobs program for those not able to succeed outside the closed economy of government.

Therefore, it is likely that passing kids along right on time IS “working as intended”.

A Proud Infidel®™

Even a University Education is a total waste in some cases. Look at yourself, you went to UC Berzerkely and ended up a babbling brainwashed 24K idiot!

SFC D

We can’t fault Berkely 100%, the raw material they had to work with wasn’t exactly top-notch.

A Proud Infidel®™

Very true SFC D, I’m absolutely convinced that Major Moonbat was a head case even before his time at UC Berzerkely and he hasn’t had a real job since!