Would You Like A Passing Grade With That Zero?

A certain high school principal in Santa Ana, California, probably wasn't paying attention in one or more of her educational leadership classes. If she had, she probably would have avoided this little end-of-the-year controversy:

Saddleback High School Principal Esther Jones sent teachers a memo on Thursday asking them to reconsider the grades of 98 students, saying "please review your records for these students and determine if they would merit a grade of 'D' instead of a failure."

Jones added that the school needed 95 percent of its seniors to graduate to meet federal requirements. In fact, the school needs a graduation rate of 82.8 percent and will graduate nearly 84 percent of its 500 seniors on Wednesday, school officials said.

Al Mijares, superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District, has instructed teachers to ignore the memo.

Principal Jones should consider taking several refresher courses this summer: Avoiding Public Relations Disasters 101, Educational Leadership 101, Math For School Administrators, The ABCs of NCLB, and last, but not least, Common Sense: A Remedial Course.

Mortarboard Tip: Darren, at Right on the Left Coast (Who has much more on this matter.) ---------------------------To view the latest edition of The Carnival of Education (as well as entry guidelines) click here.

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