Though the school year ends on June 28th this year, probably not a single student is mentally there by this point. So what's the diff that officials at The School for International Studies told teachers to let their students skip the last week of classes?
"I told our eighth-graders that they completed their instructional program and they should remain home until June 28, when they will receive report cards," Assistant Principal Jeanette Smith told staff Tuesday in an e-mail. The staff were also told to mark students present. Teachers railed against the oppressive liberation—said one eighth-grade teacher at the school, "The administration tried to deny our students a week of class and told us to lie to cover it up. They clearly have no respect for our kids or [their] teachers"—and seven students even showed their loyalty—teacher's pets—by returning to school, where they were promptly and humiliatingly stuck in sixth and seventh grade classrooms. Perhaps they were practicing for an unpleasant summer reality.
And the summer-vacation carelessness doesn't stop there; Daily News reporters discovered that school principal Fred Walsh was not even aware that the students were gone until the reporters contacted the Department of Education about the issue. At least the DOE cares—in fact, the school, which only has a 20% passing rate on state reading exams, is going to get such a pinch. "Although eighth-graders have continued to attend school, this message was sent without approval of the principal and could result in disciplinary action," department spokesman Matt Mittenthal said. Jeanette Smith is SO busted.
