Today, our school’s dance teacher asked me if I knew a student named “Ami”. I told her that I did know her, but she dropped my class earlier in the year after she missed quite a few days. I was upset at the counselor because he dropped her from my roll at the end of the quarter, and she never got the “F” that she deserved. As far as the transcipt is concerned, she never took my class. I talked to the counselor regarding this at the end of the quarter when I didn’t have her on my grade list, and he told me that it was his fault; he told the student earlier in the quarter that he would drop her from my class. I was pissed, but there wasn’t anything I could do at that point.
Anyhow, it seems Ami had been skipping dance class all quarter long (and probably most of her other courses as well) and wasn’t going to graduate. The teacher said that the parent was constantly calling and asking the teacher what could be done all semester (quarter 3 and 4) long. The teacher basically let the student off the third quarter. However, the teacher told Ami’s mother that the fourth quarter was quite different, and Ami would have to begin coming to class regularly.
Well, the teacher has too big of a heart (because Ami is suffering from depression) and as Ami still didn’t come to class, the teacher decided to tell Ami to write a journal throughout the week and then come in on Fridays (only three left) to class. Well, Ami didn’t come last Friday for the first of three appointments. Today, the teacher found a note in her box alongside a (cheap) gift from Ami’s parent. The note thanked the teacher for being so understanding and helpful, and how the parent would be so proud to see Ami walk across the stage at graduation.
I’m not sure what will happen to this child on graduation day. I told the dance teacher that the right thing to do is to talk to the principal immediately about the gift, and then call the parent and explain that Ami hasn’t lived up to the expectations of the class and wouldn’t get her credit for the course, thus making graduation an impossibility. However, this same teacher had her credit card stolen a few weeks ago by a student, who racked up charges to a clothing website right from the teachers desk when a shared office door was left open. The teacher felt sorry for that girl, and nothing ever came of it despite many of us telling her to press charges, just so that she would have to go through the court system to teach her a lesson.
