Cops Shot Far Rockaway Teen 11 Times
Video: New School Students, Comrades Toss Trash Pre-Arrest
NYC Wants Death Penalty In Terror Trials, Germany Doesn't
Schumer: "Real Momentum" For Health Care Reform Now
Prosecutor: D Train Murderer Was Unprovoked
If you thought your mom was tough, wait till you read about Deanna Hassell. Staten Island resident Hassell is trying to get the Department of Education to flunk her son. She is upset and angry that her son Anthony, whose average grade for seventh grade was 60.53, was promoted to the eighth grade!
The Post spoke to both mother and son about the report card, Anthony's promotion to eighth grade and Deanna's horror. Hassell said, "Are you kidding me? Is the Board of Education kidding? How does a kid with a 60.53 average pass? He should be held back! If children are not getting the education they need now, when they get to high school, they are going to drop out." From the Post, some more details:
In a fortuitous twist for Anthony, the new criteria to end "social promotion," which went into full effect this year, actually worked to his benefit. For the first time, seventh-graders were promoted on the basis of just two end-of-the-year tests - not their year's worth of schoolwork.According to the Post, Anthony "never did homework" and "missed 55 days of school" at Graniteville's IS 51 "simply because he refused to go." Say what? Now, Deanna Hassell seemed like a hero until we read the part about missing 55 days of school. How did Anthony get away with that? Was he awesome at playing sick? And while it's nice that Hassell wants Anthony to learn his lesson, why not make him shape up his act during the school year? Anyway, if you look at his report card, chorus and gym class are totally inflating his grade!He scored a 2 out of 4 on tests in both math and reading. Out of a maximum of 800 points, he got a 608 in reading - 599 was passing. In math, he got a 643 - 610 was passing.
"Ha, ha, I passed. I told you so," Anthony recalled telling his mom.
Hassell really wants Anthony to repeat the seventh grade, but former DOE "director of assessment and accountability," Robert Tobias, who currently teaches at NYU, warned the Post that Anthony sounds "bored" and that "holding him back could be the worst thing to do because it would exacerbate the problem." IS 51's principal had no comment.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
lol wow. What a mother. God Bless that woman.
i kinda wanna give a high five to the mother, but the truancy part is unacceptable. Public school systems in big cities just don't have a vested interest in education; they really just want to get rid of the kids, and don't care if they sink or float. i'm glad this woman is trying to hold NYPS accountable, but she as a parent should take some responsibility as well.
Is this a joke? This is why people like this mother are commonly referred to as "breeders" as opposed to "parents."
Flunk the mother!!
hold the phone, He missed almost two Months of school?
Summer school just started, get cracking.
he's bored @ school? I wonder if his mother is bored of motherhood? (also, did smoke some crack before taking that picture?? good lord!)
OMFG! this lady should be investigated by acs 4 not sending her kid 2 school. she is what's wrong with the public school system. this kid could accomplish so much if he had a good mom. i agree with tobias because he's obviously smart enough 2 learn the material even though he missed 55 days of instructional time, imagine how well he would have done if his mother had done her job & monitored his schoolwork over the course of the year & sent him 2 school instead of letting the little fat brat stay at home & play Wii. this "mom" is the one who should b punished. she has the nerve 2 ask "How does a kid with a 60.53 average pass?"
i ask "how could u let your son get a 60.53 average?
Well, if the kid is bored in seventh grade, why won't he be bored in the eighth? And the ninth? It just sounds like he's on the fast track to a permanent job at McDonald's, and I don't mean in management. As for anybody giving the mother a hard time about the truancy, we really don't know the details of that. Was he staying home? Or was he leaving the house on the pretense of going and just hanging out?
On a snarky note, it doesn't look to me like he deserves a 70 in gym class. More exercise, fewer Twinkies, kid.
Here is her report card:
Grooming: C-
Nutrition: D
Phys Ed: C
Mothering: F
Please abort your child and re-take your 20's
the details of the 55 days absent from school was, he's too lazy to get up. simple answer,
No details needed.
how can a student be absent for 55 days?
55 days, not 7, not 8, not even 14
but 55 days.
Obviously this train wreck of a woman just wants to see her own fat face in the paper. Why else would you contact a tabloid newspaper about such a "story" thereby subjecting the poor little retard you raised to even more embarrassment?
A school system with over 1 million kids needs a clear and simple way to determine if a kid passes. It's not always perfect, but it's objective and workable.
hey, with his english skills he could write for gothamist!
This is precisely the kind of parent who expects the school to raise their child. Pure laziness and lack of discipline on everyones part. If she had two brain cells of her own, she'd be too embarrassed to address this in public bc the fault clearly lays on her. I used to fake sick or show up late, but I got shaken out of bed and my parents hired me a tutor when I struggled and got my ass to school. Take an interest in the creature you birthed and he might turn out just barely ok! I can't stand whiners...
Don't worry, he'll flunk out soon enough.
he no need edjumacafation
he go into kunstruckshun
too bad when i went to IS 51 i wasn't aware that i could get away with that many absences.
Commenter #12 is the reason why "guest" entries should be as visible as user comments.
Well done.
If you have your kids in the public school system in NYC you have be super vigilant and work with your kids and the school to make sure they are all doing the right thing. Its a tough row to hoe, but its absolutely necessary. I don't know all the details, (maybe she's working 2 jobs...) but it sounds like she was absent more days than he was.
RE: guest graying...
Do I have to invent a clever handle so I can have my comments appear in black? Does that really tell you who I am? I can change me handle anytime I want. What makes psydonymity any more accountable than annonymity?
posting as a guest because signup seems to be broken (specifically, confirmation link didnt work)
Anyway, i'm sure we've all been through it, so my opinion is no more or less valuable than anyone elses, but, the school system in NY *is* boring. It's just not interesting. It gets interesting, sometimes, but the problem is those times are so far between, that kids zone out between them.
Leaving the kid back won't help him get more interested in the topics, and promoting him will leave him unprepared for future work.
The idea of school, as a place where you learn theory completely separate from practice, is bad. It's bad because kids apply what they learn or they forget it. All people do actually. If you're not applying it, and it isn't really relevant to your life, it's impossible to pay attention to it all. It becomes abstract. Or if you can pay attention to it, it moves so slowly that sitting through it is a waste of time.
In college I could learn in 20 minutes from a friend the entire week's lessons. However, sitting in that class for the week, I'd learn *nothing*. Nothing at all. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Not even a little. I'd zone out. I'd play with calculators. I'd fold paper. I'd do anything but the lesson. Because it moved too damn slow.
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/john_gatto.html
Just read that speech by the teacher of the year in NYC 1990. You'll see why kids get bored, zone out, and don't pay attention. They're not invested in the material. They're not connected to it.
"Fat dumb and lazy is no way to go through life, son"
Dean Wormer, Animal House
you know this is in Staten Island, right?
nuff said.
As an NYC teacher, an native Staten Islander, and a parent, let me say just about everyone here is wrong. The mother, for expecting the school to set a good example when clearly, something is wrong at home. Students do the best in school when they have supportive parents--allowing this kid's BS is ridiculous, especially as a stay-at-home mother. This is your JOB lady, do it right.
The school (or school system as it may be) is wrong for overemphasizing these tests as a benchmark of learning. OK, he passed the tests (barely), but clearly, the kid doesn't know shit.
And NYU man, if the kid scored off the charts on his tests, I'd agree that perhaps he's a bored, brilliant student, but he just scraped by. Sounds like repeating the year will be a good lesson for him indeed.
Sadly, the boy is probably least to blame and has the most to lose.
Whatis wrong with that woman's HAIR?
Good to see that the teacher (3:21) agrees that school is a punishment.
HAhahahSNARKhahah
#23 if you think that "the boy is probably least to blame" then u r not really a nyc school teacher.
#20 needs to realize that school isn't a cineplex, kids go 2 learn not 2 b entertained.
#9 has the best post here.
If I was that kid, and my mom was being that big a bitch, there is no way I'd pose with her for a photo.
very few people do well in school or get passing grades because they enjoy school - very few.
people do well in school or get passing grades mainly because of pressure from their parents and/or society to do well in school or else.
it's competition too.
in order to have a functioning society you need the majority of people pretty much learn the same things and be "socialized" in order to become a productive member of society. school helps to do this.
i really don't believe that doing well is a measure of how smart one is. it's more a measure of how programed and/or pressured/scared one is. with a few exceptions of course.
While I don't defend social promotion policies, this article is also an example of the other side of why schools are hurting: parents who expect the schools to be a surrogate parent and take absolutely no responsibility for their child's education. Sure, blame the school for promoting a kid who didn't seem to learn much, but Jesus Christ, blame yourself #1 for not whipping the kid into shape when he brought home bad grades and #2 letting him miss so much school.
Someone should tell this woman that sending your kid to school does not absolve you from being a parent.
If your're going to flame Gothamist for bad grammar and writing, you could at least take the time to capitalize and punctuate your comments.
Don't go jumping to conclusions here folks . This sound eerily like someone I knew . I'm not sure, but this kid seems to lack the interest in learning what's being placed before him . I don't think this is a simple "Lack of Interest" (As far as learning as a whole is concerned) . The child is not being motivated by the palate placed before him . It's like taking Ur kid to the Zoo when there really interested in Astronomy . "The link has been placed, but the path is inaccessible to the traveller" His Mother needs to invest in some counselling for both her and her child . Thus, Revealing what this Educator is trying to warn her of . I say this because I used to be the same way when I was in the Fourth grade . My issue wasn't that of understanding, It had to do with interest . I came to an epiphany early in life and formulated my thoughts accordingly . I came to an understanding that this was what I had to do to get ahead in life and made the decision to "Just do the work and get out of that class & on to the next level" . Fortunately I found some interest in the higher grades and things went smoothly . If this kid is as bright has this Educator's staking him to be, Then that's what has to happen ! Posted by; "Still Not Amused"
Hey, don't put the blame on the mother so much, but more so on the kid. This sounds exactly like my brother and my mother. He's never been promoted past the 9th grade but got his GED (barely passing !) just recently. He was continually absent, but what are you going to do when you can't contact the school because you're working during their school hours and can't speak English? Not to mention that their translator (me!) was in school.
My brother was a violent, selfish little prick who failed to realize what school could bring him. What do you do when your kid hits you and breaks shit at home and refuses to go ANYWHERE? It wasn't entirely my mother's fault. I am *just* one year older than him, and got decent grades, graduated from Stuyvesant High School, and I am currently in a top 50 college.
I hope that boy gets left behind and gets a taste of the real world and that you can't just get by by being lazy.
Given the fact that we are dealing with educrats, don't expect them to fail the kid because he passed, even just by the skin of his teeth, and the paperwork to change things would actually mean they would have to do some work.
The kid is going to grow up to be a punk,
we've all had classmates like him. some turn around before it's too late and some don't.
there is no simple answer.
[#23] states: "As an NYC teacher, an native Staten Islander, and a parent, let me say just about everyone here is wrong. The mother, for expecting the school to set a good example when clearly, something is wrong at home."
Look at the grammatical errors in the above. "an NYC?" "an native Staten Islander?" Geez, the second sentence isn't even a sentence. Where is the verb?
It looks like the home is not the only place where something is wrong.
@30
It's not really flaming if it's a few readers pointing out frustrating mistakes that, as a part of a larger problem, go unfixed, is it? I'm not saying that to be snarky, I really mean it.
The only reason I ever harp on it is because this site has so much potential, interesting insights, and acumen that gets squashed (in my opinion) due to some occasional--yet atrocious--slipshod writing.
At any rate, I think that the 'mist might want to take a look at this kid's resume in a few years, unless they get their act together as a whole.
uh. Where was the mother during the school year? If she was a caring parent like the Post makes her seem to be she would've known her son was failing and struggling in school way before the school year ended.
talk about a joke of a story.
That Dean Wormer quote is classic.
The mother of this kid has major problems, but promoting the kid solves neither hers nor his.
I'd love to have that professor at NYU cuz I could just slack off the whole class and he wouldn't fail me if I said it was because I was bored.
Why do people take these ultralibs seriously?
Another topic but equally as dumb. California ultralibs banning bottled water? Come on!!! It's called increasing the bottle deposit to a point where it actually makes sense to return the bottle.
50 cent deposit on small bottles, $1 deposit on large bottles. Then we'll see how many people just toss their bottles in the trash, and who won't reuse and recycle the bottles.
I am the mother of the child that you are writing about and until you know the whole story, you really should not be saying things that you dont know. He was absent for mental reasons and I did know that he had problens in school. I was always up on his schooling and even put him on a daily. For the people who say to hit him to get him to go to school, in this day of age you can not hit your children they have more rights than any adult out there.