I learned about it years ago, when I was in the trenches as a parent of a special ed kid that was in the local public school system. Paperwork was the trump card against truth and reality. Over the years, I learned the importance of fabrication, alteration, obfuscation and simply "lost" paperwork.
Someone who purports to be a remedial teacher restates what I bitch and moan about. What really sucks is that there are plenty of naive parents who still deal with the system from a trusting position. And there are still plenty of school employees that don't blow the whistle or ring the bell.
Florida & Tampa Bay schools blog - The Gradebook:
"If it looks good on paper, then all is well. Doesn't matter that children are never given direct services that actually meet their needs. Heck, just make it look good on paper so we don't get sanctioned and lose funding."
Even an elephant knows this.
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2 comments:
I believe what you are referring to is "pencil whipping".
It would be nice if it was just the pencil that was whipped.
Real compliance costs real money. Paper compliance costs much less. Parents are ignorant of the game, and school districts maintain this ignorance by design, even within their own ranks.
However, parents know when there is a rotten fish in Denmark, even though it is carefully wrapped and disguised in ever changing fish wrap. These parents are the ones who become increasingly frustrated with the system and are taught not to trust the system.
While school personnel have clever scripts to obfuscate parental concerns and use rehearsed strategies to discount the raised concerns, the end result only leaves the school system as being seen as inept.
School systems blame outside forces for encouraging parents and students to seek alternative educational settings, such as vouchers and charter schools, but they never seem to grasp that they may be the cause of this exodus.
There is such a supply of students that the demand for the continuance of the public education system will continue to be enough to maintain it's existence. This may be why there is such a cavalier attitude towards those who have legitimate concerns. Frankly my dear, they don't give a damn.
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