www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/education/01education.html
SAMUEL G FREEDMAN Published: August 1, 2007 Several weeks into his first year of teaching math at the High School of Arts and Technology in Manhattan, Austin Lampros received a copy of the schools grading policy. He took particular note of the stipulation that a student who attended class even once during a semester, who did absolutely nothing else, was to be given 45 points on the 100-point scale, just 20 short of a passing mark.
Skip to next paragraph Tom Pidgeon for The New York Times Austin Lampros quit after a student he had failed was passed. Mr Lampross introduction to the high schools academic standards proved a fitting preamble to a disastrous year. It reached its low point in late June, when Arts and Technologys principal, Anne Geiger, overruled Mr Lampros and passed a senior whom he had failed in a required math course. That student, Indira Fernandez, had missed dozens of class sessions and failed to turn in numerous homework assignments, according to Mr Lampross meticulous records, which he provided to The New York Times. Through the intercession of Ms Geiger, Miss Fernandez was permitted to retake the final after receiving two days of personal tutoring from another math teacher. Even though her score of 66 still left her with a failing grade for the course as a whole by Mr Lampross calculations, Ms Geiger gave the student a passing mark, which allowed her to graduate. Ms Geiger declined to be interviewed for this column and said that federal law forbade her to speak about a specific students performance. But in a written reply to questions, she characterized her actions as part of a standard procedure of encouraging teachers to support students efforts to achieve academic success. The issue here is not a violation of rules or regulations. Ms Geiger acted within the bounds of the teachers unions contract with the city, by providing written notice to Mr Lampros of her decision. No, the issue is more what this episode may say about the Department of Educations vaunted increase in graduation rates. It is possible, of course, that the confrontation over Miss Fernandez was an aberration. It is possible, too, that Mr Lampros is the rare teacher willing to speak on the record about the pressures from administrators to pass marginal students, pressures that countless colleagues throughout the city privately grumble about but ultimately cave in to, fearful of losing their jobs if they object. Mr Lampros has resigned and returned to his home state, Michigan. The principal and officials in the Department of Education say that he missed 24 school days during the last year for illness and personal reasons. He missed two of the three sets of parent-teacher conferences. He also had conflicts with an assistant principal, Antonio Arocho, over teaching styles. Still, Mr Lampros received a satisfactory rating five of the six times administrators formally observed him. He has masters degrees in both statistics and math education and has won awards for his teaching at the college level. Its almost as if you stick to your morals and your ethics, youll end up without a job, Mr Lampros said in an interview. The written record, in the form of the minutely detailed charts Mr Lampros maintained to determine student grades, supports his account. Colleagues of his from the school a counselor, a programmer, several fellow teachers corroborated key elements of his version of events. After having failed to graduate with her class in June 2006, Miss Fernandez, who, through her mother, declined to be interviewed, returned to Arts and Technology last September for a fifth year. She was enrolled in Mr Lampross class in intermediate algebra. Absent for more than two-thirds of the days, she failed, and that grade was left intact by administrators.
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