Baltimore student passes 3 classes in 4 years, ranks near top half of class with 0.13 GPA (See Staff Post)

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BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A shocking discovery came out of a Baltimore high school, where hundreds of students are failing. It's a school where a student who passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0.13 grade point average.

Tiffany France thought her son would receive his diploma this coming June. But after four years of high school, France just learned, her 17-year-old must start over. He's been moved back to ninth grade.

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"He's stressed and I am too. I told him I'm probably going to start crying. I don't know what to do for him," France said. "Why would he do three more years in school? He didn't fail, the school failed him. The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that's the problem here. They failed. They failed. He didn't deserve that."

France's son attends Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in west Baltimore. His transcripts show he's passed just three classes in four years, earning 2.5 credits, placing him in ninth grade. But France says she didn't know that until February.

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Her son's records show in his first three years at Augusta Fells, he failed 22 classes and was late or absent 272 days. But in those three years, only one teacher requested a parent conference, which France says never happened. No one from the school told France her son was failing and not going to class.

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In his four years at Augusta Fells, France's son earned a GPA of 0.13. He only passed three classes, but his transcripts show his class rank is 62 out of 120. This means, nearly half his classmates, 58 of them, have a 0.13 grade point average or lower.

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Baltimore student passes 3 classes in 4 years, ranks near top half of class with 0.13 GPA

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A shocking discovery came out of a Baltimore high school, where hundreds of students are failing. It’s a school where a student who passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0. 13 grade point average. Tiffany France thought her son would...

13wham.com

Skip grades if old.

 

[neon/drifter]

Holy FUCK

 

[kmfdmpig]

Based on what's in the article:
Should the school have been more proactive about reaching out to the parents? Yes
Given that he missed over 270 days of school in 4 years (a very large percentage) it's a bit frustrating to see the mother claim that " He didn't fail, the school failed him. The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that's the problem here. They failed. They failed. He didn't deserve that."

The kid did fail and coddling him isn't going to help the situation any.

With that said, it's heartbreaking that the entire school is so fundamentally broken that what should be an extreme case is right in the middle of all students at the school. That's a completely broken school that needs to be overhauled.

 

[Ensorcell]

So they promoted him and then said "No wait you have to start over now"? What kind of idiots are running things there?

 

[Jarmel]

Everything about this story is both amazing and sad. The school definitely failed though in not informing the mother and letting the kid progress to the next grade. That said, if nearly half the class is failing, that 9th grade class gonna be uh pretty big.

 

[Deleted member 4874]

G.E.D.

 

[Damaniel]

The school has some blame there, but how do you, as the parent, not know that your kid is missing 75%+ of school days and not doing any school work? The school can only do so much if the family doesn't care to pay attention.

 

[mbpm]

That's a brutal failure by the system. Everyone really.

 

[Ensorcell]

The school has some blame there, but how do you, as the parent, not know that your kid is missing 75%+ of school days and not doing any school work? The school can only do so much if the family doesn't care to pay attention.

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The school wasn't doing anything. They were literally sending him to the next grade.

 

[Absoludacrous]

The school has some blame there, but how do you, as the parent, not know that your kid is missing 75%+ of school days and not doing any school work? The school can only do so much if the family doesn't care to pay attention.

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Normally, sure, but if he's doing better than half the school, then the school has more than "some" blame.

 

[GK86]

In his four years at Augusta Fells, France's son earned a GPA of 0.13. He only passed three classes, but his transcripts show his class rank is 62 out of 120. This means, nearly half his classmates, 58 of them, have a 0.13 grade point average or lower.

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What in the world.

 

[Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy]

The whole scenario is chaos from the top down. Baltimore seems fun.

 

[Rex Dart: Eskimo Spy]

What in the world.

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I feel like I'm reading about an alien planet.

 

[rpm]

This is so sad, on all fronts.

 

[Jarmel]

The school has some blame there, but how do you, as the parent, not know that your kid is missing 75%+ of school days and not doing any school work? The school can only do so much if the family doesn't care to pay attention.

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It should be noted that he could just be late most of the time, which wouldn't be that horrific. If he was absent then that 100% falls on the parent for not knowing where the hell her son is.

 

[jediyoshi]

Obviously the school should have reached out more and they should've completely stepped in by the end of the first year, but what was the parent/child relationship that 22 failed classes and 272 late/absent classes didn't eventually come up naturally between them in conversation?

 

[colorblindmode]

The school wasn't doing anything. They were literally sending him to the next grade.

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thats not how high schools work. You're not "sent to the next grade". You're only in the grade that the amount of credits you have qualifies you for. In this case, he was always classified as a freshman.

 

[DieH@rd]

We need the return of The Wire to show the current Baltimore.

 

[Sectorseven]

Surprised some aggressive parent hasn't transferred their kid there to get the valedictorian spot.

 

[Ensorcell]

thats not how high schools work. You're not "sent to the next grade". You're only in the grade that the amount of credits you have qualifies you for. In this case, he was always classified as a freshman.

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That's how mine worked, I don't about about your school but you were absolutely either promoted or failed each year.

 

[colorblindmode]

I'm not really sure how he had that many absences and tardies and doesn't qualify for truancy intervention.

 

[Pikachu]

this is so incredibly unbelievable in every respect i don't know what to say

 

[colorblindmode]

That's how mine worked, I don't about about your school but you were absolutely either promoted or failed each year.

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That's strange. I literally teach in a high school and this isn't how it works. In North or South Carolina, at least.

 

[mbpm]

Now of course, the question is, how many other schools are like this in America, and where are those schools located?

 

[kmfdmpig]

The school wasn't doing anything. They were literally sending him to the next grade.

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Surely there are report cards at least a few times per year. It certainly sounds like the school should have/could have done more, but I don't see how a parent can claim to be utterly oblivious about how their child is doing over an almost 4 year span in school. If you care you can know.

 

[Tehbestest]

thats not how high schools work. You're not "sent to the next grade". You're only in the grade that the amount of credits you have qualifies you for. In this case, he was always classified as a freshman.

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I'm pretty sure there are a lot of states/counties that just pass kids despite failing or lacking the skills for promotion because:

1) It looks bad for performance metrics
2) Parents, who don't involve themselves in their child's education, throw a bitchfit at the school
3) Teachers don't want to have to deal with the kid anymore

Once you do that through primary school and the kid hits upper grade levels without a solid reading, writing, or math foundation they're fucked anyway without a mass of resources they won't have access to

 

[Ensorcell]

That's strange. I literally teach in a high school and this isn't how it works. In North or South Carolina, at least.

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Yeah I don't know, I didn't go to school in the South though so maybe it's just different.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Obviously the school should have reached out more and they should've completely stepped in by the end of the first year, but what was the parent/child relationship that 22 failed classes and 272 late/absent classes didn't eventually come up naturally between them in conversation?

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The mom has three kids and three jobs. Doesn't sound like a good home situation. Sad story all around.

 

[Jarmel]

She has three children and works three jobs. She thought her oldest son was doing well because even though he failed most of his classes, he was being promoted. His transcripts show he failed Spanish I and Algebra I but was promoted to Spanish II and Algebra II. He also failed English II but was passed on to English III.

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i mean i get that you're busy but...

 

[Blah]

That's strange. I literally teach in a high school and this isn't how it works. In North or South Carolina, at least.

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It absolutely could have changed in the past 17 years since I've been in high school in Texas but we were also on a pass/fail by grade level. If you failed a class, you either had to make it up the next semester or go to summer school but you proceeded by your grade level (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) on a pass or fail basis regardless. You could be in whatever the 9th grade Math class was considered but you're still a Junior, etc.

 

[It’s Time To Go]

Missing nearly a year of classes? What was he doing?

 

[Ensorcell]

Surely there are report cards at least a few times per year. It certainly sounds like the school should have/could have done more, but I don't see how a parent can claim to be utterly oblivious about how their child is doing over an almost 4 year span in school. If you care you can know.

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I don't think she is free from responsibility of what happened at all but the school is obviously utter shit.

 

[Vector]

God this story is just sad. It's clear the kid doesn't have anyone checking on him with his mom having 3 jobs and looking after 3 kids.

Having your HS graduation be delayed by 3 years (assuming he still intends to finish) will be pretty hard to overcome.

 

[Pein]

Man some of these kids are just douche bags who don't take school seriously. Or for whatever reason just don't like it, tell him good luck and get a ged.

like me, I'm a high school drop out and I was like fuck school, imma get a ged. The counselor even supported the idea, he was like you hate being here and your absent all the time, if you don't wanna be here and don't wanna learn it's your life to ruin. I aced that ged.

Could the school be more proactive, yeah but it's hard teaching the kids who do wanna be there already and chasing down and wrangling kids is tough too. Besides the kid could've taken the letters they sent home or blocked the calls the school sent, which is all easy enough because I did all that.

 

[CSX]

I think the alarming part is that he's still in the middle among his peers in terms of class rank....

 

[colorblindmode]

It absolutely could have changed in the past 17 years since I've been in high school in Texas but we were on a pass/fail by grade level. If you failed a class, you either had to make it up the next semester or go to summer school but you proceeded by your grade level (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th). You could be in whatever the 9th grade Math class was considered but you're still a Junior, etc.

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Yeah, so, it's the same where I teach but you still need x amount of credits to qualify for the next grade. So, freshmen need at least 6 credits (6 passed classes out of 8 in a school year) to be classified as a sophomore.

When it comes to sports, though, you are classified by amount of years at the high school level. So that, for example, the kid in OP is 17 and a qualified freshman, but wouldn't have another year of high school sports eligibility.

 

[Soda]

This is a failure of the teachers, parents, and administration (given how widespread the failing grades are at this school).

With that said, I suspect this school is underfunded/understaffed and teachers are underpaid/overworked. The families are likely low income. The students may lack a stable home environment. There's no way this level of systemic failure of a school occurs in a middle- or high-income community.

Inequality destroys generationally, and unfortunately, this is likely going to be the case for many students at this school.

 

[Tom Penny]

Not sure if I'm more surprised by his good ranking in the school or his mom saying he's trying after missing nearly 300 days of school. The school sucks and the parent was also oblivious and never followed up despite knowing he was failing classes.

 

[kmfdmpig]

I don't think she is free from responsibility of what happened at all but the school is obviously utter shit.

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I agree 100%. It's a mess and another reminder that linking school funding to property taxes is the wrong way to go. Rich kids, who already have all the advantages in the world continue to flourish while students whose parents are poor will flounder. It's a broken system that exacerbates rather than helps students overcome income inequality.

 

[THErest]

As a teacher: schools are definitely passing kids that should be held back because funding is tied to graduation rates.

This school, in particular, seems absolutely fucked.

That said...did this mother just not look at 3.5 years of report cards and interim reports?

Just fucked all around, really.

 

[Cenauru]

I'm gonna wager that the GPA average is reason enough why this student skipped that much school, it was probably a horrible environment. Mother working 3 jobs doesn't even sound like she has time for her kids, it's probably miserable for her kids too, this absolutely seems more of a poverty issue than a parenting one, even though the mother could have been alot more proactive. I cannot imagine the exhaustion from having to work 3 jobs to survive AND take care of kids.

 

[colorblindmode]

As a teacher: schools are definitely passing kids that should be held back because funding is tied to graduation rates.

This school, in particular, seems absolutely fucked.

That said...did this mother just not look at 3.5 years of report cards and interim reports?

Just fucked all around, really.

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I posted up a little bit, I'm not sure how he had that many absences and a truancy officer didn't come knocking.

 

[THIJJ]

I had to read the title a few times to make sure I wasn't buggin.

Jesus fucking christ

 

[Kyrios]

I honestly don't even know what to say, holy shit.

 

[mbpm]

Wonder how much something like this comes from anything that would have happened with education the past 4 years, what comes from factors before it, and what the next Sec of Education can do about it

 

[Kromis]

We need the return of The Wire to show the current Baltimore.

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Hell yeah! Even years after Season 4 aired, that shit is still relevant. My God.

 

[THErest]

I posted up a little bit, I'm not sure how he had that many absences and a truancy officer didn't come knocking.

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That's not a thing in every district. For instance, where I work, teachers are expected to chase after truant students (online, on the phone, not in person). (And it's bullshit, not my job, like in the contract specifically not my job, but still expected). Then maybe mention it to admins and counselors and maybe they'll lift a finger. Students of driving age can have their license taken away as a punishment for truancy, but we don't necessarily get anyone knocking on doors. And a student that straight up gives no fucks may not give a fuck about a license. Just drive without, fuck it.

 

[Clay]

I posted up a little bit, I'm not sure how he had that many absences and a truancy officer didn't come knocking.

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Do truancy officers hand out report cards?

It's likely that it doesn't matter. A lot of families have trouble helping their kids, whether it's because they struggle with the material themselves, because they're exhausted from work, or whatever. But it is a little odd to me that this was surprising, the mom should have had some idea of his grades.

 

[Regiruler]

Good lord those GPA statistics...

 

[big_z]

Sounds like the kids realized the school system would still pass them if they showed up for the minimum number of days no matter what marks they got. (Schools need to go back to failing students)
However they discovered a flaw in the system the hard way when it came to needing a certain number of credits for a diploma and got fucked thinking it be an easy handout.

This is definitely on the kids more so than the school. I do find it odd that the school doesn't have an autodialer for kids who miss classes and somehow report cards don't seem to reach parents.