My youngest, Cody, is dyslexic. Because he’s dyslexic I have a meeting at least twice a year to go over his areas of concern, where he’s excelling or slipping, testing results, and if necessary modifications are provided to help him stay on a more equal playing field. He functions at a very high level, but we have a few provisions in place. One of the main ones is an extra day for daily assignments and two days for major assignments to be turned in. We don’t use these very often, but they are there just in case. I was looking through his work and noticed that in his journal the teacher had written this:"leadership? Chinese new year? 80 -25 late 55%
(the first two items are basically saying that the two prompts she had given the class to write about were not in his journal for which she counted off 10 points each – leaving an 80%. She then counted off 25 points as is school policy for major assignments turned in late – essentially starting the student out with a 75% - this deduction gave him a 55% giving him a high C in the class on his report card).So I sent an email. I sent it to all the teachers so that no one felt singled out. What follows is my dealings with the English teacher.

From me to all teachers: Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 6:06 PM
It has come to my attention that modifications put into place following our annual ARD meeting are being disregarded. Cody is allowed an extra day for ALL assignments. I realize that it is difficult to keep up with individual student's special provisions, but there's not much point in having these adaptations if no one is going to bother to apply them. Please check your grade books and adjust for this modification accordingly. It would also be helpful if you could remind him that an assignment is late, if it's not too much trouble. Thank you.

From me to English teacher who did not respond: Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 6:19 PM
Could you please respond?Thanks

From teacher to me: Sent:Friday, February 24, 2006 3:21 PM
I’m sorry…I didn’t realize you needed a response. I checked my grade book and I am not aware of any late grades I have given Cody.

From me to teacher: Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 6:55 AM
You didn't count off 25 points for his journal being late?

From teacher to me: Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 10:13 AM
His journal grade from last Friday was a 90% 4th 6 weeks he scored a 90% 118% (he had extra credit pages) and then a 55%....he didn’t have the required topics (a prompt from Chinese New Year, and one from our MLK unit about leadership

From me to teacher: Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 11:27 AM
Now that I have the journal in front of me I can reference it.

"....and then a 55%....he didn’t have the required topics (a prompt from Chinese New Year, and one from our MLK unit about leadership"

He said that he put "don't read" above the entry for "Monkey: for the Chinese New Year prompt which he marked out in front of you so that you could read that he had done the assignment. For the "leadership" prompt he wrote "Role Model". On the page where it indicates the grade, it clearly says:"leadership?"Chinese new year?" 80 -25 late 55%
Now. Can you tell me? Did you count Cody off 25 points for being late? If so, he has modifications in place which allow for one day for daily work and two days for major grades.Thank you.

From teacher to me: Sent:Wednesday, March 01, 2006 1:39 PM
Please ask Cody to share his journal with me tomorrow so I can take a look

From teacher to me: Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 10:41 AM

The -25 were points taken off for his late journal pages. His pages were over a week late. According to the school’s late work policy and his mods, the pages were past due. Because it was a major grade and I wanted him to receive partial credit, I graded them just taking off 25 points. His journal can be confusing because he doesn’t always date and title his entries. When the students have a required topic, they cannot X the page; I have to read it to be able to assign the grade.He has 6 journal pages graded this Friday …we do 3 a week and I alternate weeks to grade them. Hope this clears up your questions

From me to teacher: Sent:Tuesday, March 07, 2006 8:22 AM Importance:High

Ok. Let me get this straight:
Initially you didn't even respond to me. I had to ask for a response.
Then it was a categorical denial that you had counted anything off for being late after checking your grade book.
Then you send a summary basically indicating that assigned work had been absent thus the reductions in his grade, refusing to indicate that any late related deduction had been assessed.
Now it was a week late and out of some generous benevolent act, counter to school policy, you counted off 25 points?
This makes no sense. Countering policy would seem like a significant act in most people's jobs. One that would stand out as being unusual. But when asked, you didn't even remember it. You told me to have Cody show you. This request came immediately after you had possession of the journal over the weekend.
Cody says that he turned it in on Monday, when it was due on Friday, making it a day late. There is nothing to indicate that it was "over a week late".
If you will not correct his grade, we need to meet to figure out what to do next. I have indicated to you that Cody had put a "don't read" on the top of his journal entry but had erased it so that you could read it. He said that he erased it in front of you so that you could document that he had indeed done the assignment. It was clearly titled "Monkey" fulfilling the Chinese New year prompt. Additionally, the entry titled "Role Model" - based on the MLK prompt - was clearly titled.
I will want to meet with you before the end of the week.

I have not received a response...yet.To me this is beyond comprehension. I wonder how many excuses/reasons she would have allowed my son to give for one incident. This is a syrupy sweet teacher that to me screams Open House fake – the kind of teacher that’s all gushy and smiley with the parents but is a bitch to the kids. I cannot fathom how awful it must be to sit through a class with someone who is incapable of admitting errors or holds others to an expectation she cannot attain. How difficult is this? Seriously? I have responses from other teachers who checked through and caught not late assignment mistakes but other mistakes, ones they didn’t even have to admit, but they did. I catch this woman's mistake and I am offered four different reasons for her actions.
In…sane.

And now for the first and possibly the last time…I address South Dakota

I believe that if you don’t want an abortion, don’t get one; if you can’t have one, you can’t determine if other can. AND. If you are pro-life, you should be pro-LIFE. Not just until the baby is born but afterwards as well. You cannot be pro-death penalty. You cannot be pro-war. It is the height of hypocrisy to wail and moan about the plight of all those bebes, and then screech fry’em! when it comes to the death penalty. Either you’re pro-life or you aren’t…which is it? Flip flop flip flop.

And no abortion in the case of rape or incest? Whoa. This country just got a whole lot scarier.