SANTA BARBARA, CA– With sudden school closures last school year, and many students currently learning either remotely, or in some type of hybrid model, the fact of the matter is, education, and the expectations that go along with it, are being held to a far lower standard.
One district in California has now proposed the idea of just doing away with lower grades instead of actually addressing the root of the problem that is causing the students to achieve the lower grades.
California School District Mulls Eliminating D, F Grades ‘to Address Student Inequities’ https://t.co/aq2I6GDsPx
— KyleOlson4 on P.arle.r 🇺🇸 (@kyleolson4) January 6, 2021
The Santa Barbara, California, school district is considering a proposal to ban D and F grades “to address student inequities.”
On Tuesday, January 5th, the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education heard the plan that would affect secondary students, not elementary level students.
According to NoozHawk, School Board president Kate Ford said:
“Most teachers I know, they are already adjusting their practices, they are encouraging revision, they are stretching deadlines, they are providing extra tutoring and they are focusing on competency-based grading,”
She continued:
“I think changing board policy only acknowledged these changes, and gave them strength, and maybe provide a way forward.”
Over a quarter of junior high and high school students in Santa Barbara Unified received at least one D or F on their most recent report cards this year, putting more pressure on the district to reopen as soon as the state allows.https://t.co/FSBGiqqzK7
— Joseph Rodota (@josephrodota) December 16, 2020
According to the paper, about one-third of students are earning a D or F in at least one class and the number of students earning a D or F in three or more classes has also jumped in the face of these new learning models. These failures and drop in grades is being blamed on remote learning, and the fact that these students do not have “enough time” to complete the tasks.
The proposal states that if a student would have normally received a D or and F, they would now receive an “incomplete” or “no credit”. It seems as though the student will have the option to choose which they would like to take. If a student chooses to take an “incomplete”, they would have until June 2 to perform “specific learning task,” which if completed, would allow their grade to be converted into a letter grade of A, B, or C.
When a mark of no credit is issued, there must be documentation of consultation between the teacher and parent, to determine a plan for “recovering learning,” by Jan. 29, NoozHawk reported.
The president of the Santa Barbara teachers union, Karen McBride, acknowledged that simply changing the grade structuring at a district level will not get to the root of the problem, and questioned how students will be expected to learn the content all of a sudden.
McBride said:
“I understand the need to respond in this situation where we have a lot of kids with Ds and Fs,”
She went on to say:
“The grading policy, as it stands, and what was presented tonight, while it is well-intended, it is missing that piece where we look at what is behind a child who is getting a D or F and what are we going to do about it besides just giving them more time. That doesn’t address the root causes. I haven’t heard any discussion about that.”
The teachers, who are the individuals actually in the “classroom” educating these students, and the ones who would have to suddenly change course and alter their grading system mid-year, were not very pleased with the proposal.
Kim Tilton, a chemistry teacher at San Marcos High School said:
“To change grading policies on students and teachers last-minute, we have to be really thoughtful about it and make sure all options are on the table so they can do what’s best for them.”
Tilton went on to point out the bigger problem, saying:
“The reasons they didn’t pass my class this semester, they are not related to time,”
She continued:
“It’s not like if I gave them two more months, they would suddenly pass. And without my direct supervision and support, it is very unlikely that many of them will.”
Santa Barbara School Board Says Teachers Will Be Given a Voice on Grade-Change Policyhttps://t.co/V0PW0PN4LQ
— Editorial Staff (@NoozhawkNews) January 6, 2021
According to NoozHawk:
“The board members all agreed that there needs to be a change to the grading policy to acknowledge the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on Latinx students, students with disabilities, socio-economically disadvantaged students and emergent multilingual learners. The actual details of the proposal, however, still need to be worked out.”
Although all of the board members agree that something needs to happen, at least one member, Virginia Alvarez, has acknowledge the burden this will cause to the teachers, saying:
“Is there a third choice we are not thinking about?”
She went on to say:
“Perhaps it could be that we do give students that additional time, but take this burden away from the teachers because they are already moving forward to their new classes.”
The board is set to vote on the proposal on January 12th.
San Francisco wants to rename Abraham Lincoln High School: says it’s ‘stained by racism’ from President Lincoln
December 16, 2020
This editorial is brought to you by a staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA– Just when you think the nonsense from the liberal left could not get any more extreme, they always seem to kick it up a notch to cause a ‘shake my head’ response.
In San Francisco, a self proclaimed renaming committee has chosen to erase the name the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, from a local High School because he lived a life “stained by racism.”
The racism they are referring to however, is not against African American people, as it is well known Lincoln is credited with freeing the slaves, but rather racism against Native Americans.
This won’t stop untill real American values are only a distant memory
San Francisco committee wants to remove Abraham Lincoln’s name from high schoolhttps://t.co/ZQ9BuwzFHB
— Dean L Mitchell (@DeanLMitchell1) December 16, 2020
Jeremiah Jeffries, chairman of the committee and a first grade teacher in that California city, said:
“Uprooting the problematic names and symbols that currently clutter buildings, streets, throughout the city is a worthy endeavor,”
Jeffries continued:
“Only good can come from the public being reflective and intentional about the power of our words, names and rhetoric within our public institutions.”
San Francisco Chronicle reported that Lincoln High School was one of many that the San Francisco School Names Advisory Committee found to have a problematic title. Some of the other names that they found issue with included George Washington High School, Herbert Hoover Middle School and Paul Revere K-8.
Since all of this madness of the “snowflakes” raging a war on every historical landmark they feel offends them in this country began, a criteria has been set of what is, and is not, offensive.
There are a variety of things that would cause historical figures to be listed on the “unacceptable” list, including being slave owners, known racists or white supremacists. Additionally, anyone directly involved in colonization and people connected to human rights or environmental abuses would make the list.
Abraham Lincoln’s Name To Be Removed From San Francisco School As He Did Not Show That Black Lives Mattered To Himhttps://t.co/rIbJQpklLU
— Swarajya (@SwarajyaMag) December 16, 2020
Committee chairman, Jeremiah Jeffries, told the Chronicle in the article published on Monday, December 14th:
“The discussion for Lincoln centered around his treatment of First Nation peoples because that was offered first,”
Jeffries continued:
“Once he met criteria in that way, we did not belabor the point.”
Despite the fact that Lincoln famously led the Union’s defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War, and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves in rebellious states to be free, Jeffries still had a problem with the former President, stating:
“[t]he history of Lincoln and Native Americans is complicated, not nearly as well known as that of the Civil War and slavery.”
He told the Chronicle that:
“Lincoln, like the presidents before him and most after, did not show through policy or rhetoric that Black lives ever mattered to them outside of human capital and as casualties of wealth building.”
Lincoln has come under fire for constructing the transcontinental railroad, which affected indigenous lands. He also declined to commute the sentences of 39 Native Americans who were sentenced to hanging. Thirty-eight were ultimately hanged in a mass execution after one was granted a last-minute reprieve, Fox News reported.
The group has even attacked their own liberal kind, when they went after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. The committee sought to remove her name from an elementary school, based on the fact that she allegedly flew a Confederate flag at City Hall when she was mayor.
Jeffries reportedly said:
“On a local level Dianne Feinstein chose to fly a flag that is the iconography of domestic terrorism, racism, white avarice and inhumanity towards Black and Indigenous people at the City Hall,”
He went on to say:
“She is one of the few living examples on our list, so she still has time to dedicate the rest of her life to the upliftment of Black, First Nations and other people of color. She hasn’t thus far.”
As expected, the decision to remove Lincoln was not going to sit well with many, and received backlash online.
Senator Ted Cruz, (R-TX) took to Twitter to say:
“Abraham Lincoln…George Washington…even Diane friggin’ Feinstein: NONE are woke enough for the America-hating radical Left,”
He continued:
“This will never stop, until Americans say ‘ENOUGH!!’ and call it out for the ignorant nonsense that it is.”
Abraham Lincoln…George Washington…even Diane friggin’ Feinstein: NONE are woke enough for the America-hating radical Left.
This will never stop, until Americans say “ENOUGH!!” and call it out for the ignorant nonsense that it is. https://t.co/UyqsTj4GBZ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 15, 2020
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