This is an incredible story and it shows the societal failures within the United States. This is a lesson on what needs to happen within society but, also, no one reads the tea leaves and makes any effort to solve the problems.
It is a parable about the circle of failure that has been going on for generations and, reading the blame game of the article, will be with us for generations after.
I hope this story scares you. I hope this story depresses you. I hope this story, which could easily have been avoided, shocks you into doing something about it.
The Story
I like covering the news. Sometimes, the news comes wild and wooly and I can’t keep up. I do have limited resources.
I had three stories ready to go for today but there was an unrelated story I just couldn’t ignore. It is a real life social commentary on what the Left is trying to do to our society and has been for generations.
This is an extremely disturbing story that is happening more often that not. And it is the reason were, as a country, are in the position we are in right now.
This story is from Fox Baltimore and is titled, City student passes three classes in four years, tanks near the top of his class with a 0.13 GPA by Chris Papst.
It’s as bad as you think.
A shocking discovery out of a Baltimore City high school, where Project Baltimore has found 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.
“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 told Project Baltimore. “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.”
I want to point out the self-centeredness of France’s comment here. She’s going to cry. “They” failed him. This is a set up for her not taking any responsibility for her son’s education.
There were a lot of failures here. Not just Tiffany’s failure. But placing 100% blame and not acknowledging blame elsewhere does not solve the problem.
Hint: Tiffany is partially to blame.
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. 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.
“I’m just assuming that if you are passing, that you have the proper things to go to the next grade and the right grades, you have the right credits,” said France.
She assumed? Really? She thought he was doing well even if she knew he was failing all his classes, so she knew? She didn’t bother to inquire? It is her son, right?
I also don’t care if she is working three jobs. There’s no sympathy for an absent parent from me. Why? Because I was a single parent too and I had to make changes to my life to deal with my kids. More on that one later.
As we dig deeper into her son’s records, we can see 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.
“I feel like they never gave my son an opportunity, like if there was an issue with him, not advancing or not progressing, that they should have contacted me first, three years ago,” said France.
There are two things to question here:
One – He was absent for 272 days and the parent didn’t know? She was asked to have a parent/teacher conference but it never happened? She didn’t follow up?
Two – Where were the authorities? Absent for 272 days and minimal effort to contact the parent? The school, child services and police should have all been involved. Where were they?
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.
“He’s a good kid. He didn’t deserve that. Where’s the mentors? Where is the help for him? I hate that this is happening to my child,” said an emotional France.
Project Baltimore talked with a City Schools administrator, who works inside North Avenue, but asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. That administrator says the school system absolutely failed France’s son.
Tiffany France is completely correct. Where was everyone? Where were the mentors, the authorities and the teachers?
But she did forget one person. Where was the parent, Tiffany France? Where was the kid’s father (more on that later)?
The administrator told FOX45 News, City Schools failed because it has protocols and interventions set up to help students who are falling behind or have low attendance. In France’s son’s case, they didn’t happen.
“I get angry. There’s nothing but frustration. We see on the news the crime that occurs, the murders, the shootings, we know that there are high levels of poverty in Baltimore. Things like this are adding to that. His transcript is not unusual to me. I’ve seen many transcripts, many report cards, like this particular student,” said the City Schools administrator.
Hmm. So what the administrator is saying is the system failed. Have we heard this before?
Dr. Sonja Santelises was the City Schools CEO four years ago when France’s son was a freshman. But she will not interview with FOX45 News. Instead, we received a two-page statement, which explains what should happen when a student is chronically absent or failing.
The district says students received a letter about their academic status this past summer, and records can be accessed through the campus portal. When a student is absent, an automated call is placed to the number on file. The statement also said the school conducted recent home visits and the student’s parent visited the school. France says none of that happened.
What the statement does not address, is why France’s son was promoted despite failing classes. It doesn’t discuss his class rank, or the 58 other students with a GPA of 0.13 or lower. But it does say North Avenue is “reviewing actions that impacted student outcomes” at the school prior to this year.
What does this tell us? The system doesn’t care. The system will not be held accountable and they do not have to answer for their failures. This child is not a victim, he’s the problem. Hey, they sent several automated messages and gave him a letter.
By the way, just a reminder. The system is the government.
“It took a lot for me to just build the courage to do this,” France told Project Baltimore.
I want to point something out: Tiffany France is not a hero. She’s not a whistleblower and she shouldn’t be celebrated as such. She neglected her child. That is a heavy statement and it is not all France’s fault. But her child is her responsibility. She also failed. We’ll get into that later.
Project Baltimore asked the City Schools administrator what they would say to France. The administrator replied, “I didn’t have a hand on this student, but I worked for City Schools. So, he is one of my kids. I would hug her, and I would apologize profusely.”
This is the problem with a bureaucracy. There is nobody who is directly responsible. That’s bureaucracy is a machine and not people. It is processed paper and moving student numbers through the system so they can be “promoted” and be the problem of the next bureaucracy. There are no human beings in a bureaucracy, just numbers.
“He feels embarrassed, he feels like a failure,” France said of her son. “I’m like, you can’t feel like that. And you have to be strong and you got to keep fighting. Life is about fighting. Things happen, but you got to keep fighting. And he’s willing, he’s trying, but who would he turn to when the people that’s supposed to help him is not? Who do he turn to?”
France has pulled her son out of Augusta Fells. He’s now enrolled in an accelerated school program at Francis M. Wood in west Baltimore. If her son works hard, he could graduate by 2023.
Too little, too late. This child may not be able to break the cycle he and his mother and probably his grandmother is in. That might seem cynical and I’m sorry for that, but we have heard this story a thousand times before.
But how can this happen and how do we break this cycle.
This is a Societal Problem
Death of the Nuclear Family
Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty (1965) destroyed the nuclear family. Men were no longer necessary in the family because of welfare and food stamps. Women could receive more government assistance with no husband and a bunch of kids. I am oversimplifying this but not by much.
Feminism made sure every woman realized they did not need a man in their lives even with children.
The erosion of the importance of religion decayed the need for a family to stay together. It used to be that one only divorces if there is no other option. Today’s generations don’t even bother getting married.
Studies have shown the effects of a family made up of a father and mother has on children. It’s not even close. Today, over 50% of children are born out of wedlock (75% in the black community).
https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/city-student-passes-3-classes-in-four-years-ranks-near-top-half-of-class-with-013-gpa