Enrolling in School

Dear Dad,

G3 is going back to school tomorrow. I wanted to keep him home another semester, but he doesn’t want to be home anymore. Middlesex school district has an awful rating. I didn’t want him going to a bad school, one that would negate all the time I invested in him during the last year and a half. We don’t want to stay in this house and have been looking to move to a town with a better school. There just aren’t many houses out there to rent. And the ones that are available we can’t afford. G3 lost patience waiting. He wants a real science teacher and other kids to talk to. I understand that, but school is supposed to be about getting an education. What’s the point of going if he isn’t going to learn.

We requested that they put him in seventh grade ELA. The guidance counselor said the principal would not allow it because it has never been done before. That made me roll my eyes. The last year and a half teachers have been forced to do things they have never done before. The counselor also said the principal was concerned that G3 wouldn’t be mature enough since he hasn’t been in school for a two years. I laughed out loud at that one, asking which kid in the school has had an uninterrupted education. We may have played it safe with the virus. But I didn’t live under a rock. All kids were virtual for part of last year. The counselor suggested I reach out to the principal to explain why my son should be in a higher level class. So, I did what I do best. I wrote her a letter in which I addressed every point I could think of as to why G3 should be in seventh grade ELA instead of sixth.

Dear Dr. —-,

Ms. C said she spoke with you about allowing our son Gary Jaeger to take 7th grade English. She said you would not allow it because it had never been done before. However, these are extenuating circumstances in the wake of a challenging two years. While education across the nation has been disrupted due to COVID, my son has had consistent and excelerated instruction. While most schools were on a hybrid or remote schedule where education was not as rigorous as in normal years, my son had a double period of ELA every day — one period of reading and one of writing. Current, statics indicate that most students lost up to a half a year of instruction and are therefore behind their peers from prior years. So I fear a sixth grade English class, will not challenge my son.

During the last year and a half, Gary has delved into works written by J.R.R. Tolkein, H. G. Wells, George Orwell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Trevor Noah, Edgar Allan Poe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Leo Tolstoy and many others. He has shown great skill in his ability to comprehend and analyze these works. He can respond to open ended questions with insightful proficiency. He also has demonstrated a knack for the written word. He has written multiple book reviews, short stories, persuasive essays, research papers, comparative papers, and analytical papers. He took an IXL assessment that clearly shows he is working well above grade level. 

Gary’s birthday is in January so he would not be much younger than the students in seventh grade. And yes, he hasn’t been in school for nearly two years, but what students have? Even the students who remained enrolled in public school spent a good percentage of last year at home working remotely. Also, we did not keep Gary in a complete bubble. He has been an active member of a local Boy Scout Troop where he works closely with older boys in a setting that is scout centered and the boys are encouraged to run meeting and camping trips with little adult interaction. If he can plan meals, tell jokes, and discuss movies with high school students, I see no reason why he can’t discuss literature and write essays along side students who are only a few months older than him.

My spouse [the letter ended up being sent by Kati], a certified English teacher, quit her job as an adjunct writing professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in order to home school our son during the pandemic. His education was that important to us that we made extreme financial sacrifices to make sure that the pandemic did not in any way interfere with his education. We are sending him back to school because it’s time he reintegrates with peers, but in sending him back to school we also want to ensure that he continues to learn, that he continues to be challenged, and that he doesn’t lose anything he has gained in the last eighteen months.

We would like to make an appointment to meet with you to further discuss any concerns you have. We can also bring Gary so that you can assess his maturity level along with his ability to discuss literature and the ways in which it intersects with culture, diversity, and history.

Best Regards,

K&E

Kati made a few modifications, testifying that as a teacher she has seen that students are not where they should be. She also sent the letter from her email address at work, hoping that her being a teacher might carry a bit more weight.

The principal refused to respond to the points I presented. She refused to even bring G3 in to assess him. It is apparent that she has no interest in educating him. When she failed to meet with us, we sent her the scores from a diagnostic test that Kati insisted G3 take back in September. The scores clearly indicate that he is functioning at a high school level. So seventh grade would even been too easy for him. But it’s not just his test scores. Anyone who has read his papers, the countless essays he wrote in the last year and a half, or anyone who has had a conversation with him regarding literature, can easily tell that he is not working at a delayed sixth grade level.

This afternoon, the principal called Kati. She was too much of a coward to put anything in writing. In the conversation, she told Kati that she flat out refused to even consider our request. It wasn’t an option. But she promised Kati that the teacher he has will differentiate his instruction. She guaranteed that the teacher will meet him where he is and adapt her plans for him accordingly. Did the principal not even look at his diagnostic scores? Does she not realize how much differentiation G3 will require? Teachers are running ragged. They are all burning out because too much is being asked of them. Does this principal really have such little respect or regard for her teachers that she wants them to put in even more time? Because now that the principal has said the teacher will meet G3 where he is, I want to know exactly how she is going to do that. The principal promised that the lessons would be modified in a way that G3 will continue to grow and learn. And I intend to hold her to it. In her conversation, Kati made it clear that busy work is not the same as differentiated instruction, nor is simply giving additional work. She also was vehement about G3 not being asked to “help” his peers. One way teachers allegedly differentiate instruction is making the advanced kids work with the slower kids. If they want G3 to be a teacher’s aid, they better damn well pay him for it. I am not sending him to school so he can help someone else’s kid succeed. I’m sending him to school so he can learn. 

The thing that really galls me is that I know teachers are already putting in more time and not getting paid for it. They are on the verge of quitting. I wanted G3 in seventh grade because that’s where he belongs. He did not lose any instruction last year. And if they had put him in seventh grade, I’d have left it at that. But if they want to differentiate instead, if they want to promise that this is better because they can meet him exactly where he is, then we aren’t talking seventh grade any longer. 

At the end of the conversation, Kati requested a meeting with the teacher so that we can discuss our concerns with her. I’m sure she doesn’t really have time to meet with us. But the principal made promises on her behalf, and we want to see how she is going to make good on those promises.

Of course, what really makes me laugh is I could have kept G3 home for the last year and half and done absolutely nothing with him and because of his age they would have stuck him in sixth grade. How can they enroll him without any records, no assessment, no real idea if he even belongs with kids his own age? 

Oh Dad, I wish I could have called you up and discussed this with you because I’m sure you’d have said something to make me feel better. You always knew how to calm me down. I’m just so tired of getting shit on by the world. I can’t afford a private school. My only option is a public school that is demonstrating they have no real interest in doing what is best for G3? How will he ever be able to compete against rich kids?

I miss you!