Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Did Not Attend



Monday morning I got an email from the school's secretary. Massey's mom wanted to know why her son had been marked absent the prior Thursday. 

That was easy. Because he hadn't attended. 

Massey had been attending every class meeting, so the instructional aide and I both noted his absence. We wondered what had happened. 

The secretary replied that the mom insisted that he had been in class, so the secretary referred her to me. 

Basically, the ensuing emails were a back and forth of the mom saying, "Massey was in class," and me replying, "No, he was not". Only relatively polite. She insisted that Massey had to have been in class as she gave him her tablet so he could log in. (Massey currently has no electronics privileges.) 

I double checked with the aide. Was I crazy? Nope, she also remembered him not being there. 

We left it at me discussing it with Massey on Tuesday. 

Massey was in class. I asked him about his attendance on Thursday (after the other students had logged off). He was pretty sure he had been there. 

I asked what we had discussed in class. At that point, he admitted that he must have missed class. His certainty had been shaky at best. 

I mean, it's not like he's on a school campus. He has to log in to different Google Hangouts. He could have gone to the one earlier in the day and missed mine. 

So, in the end, he said he'd tell his mom that he hadn't been there. 

Mistakes do happen. I have been known to mark the student under or above present and the present student absent. So, I don't mind the question, and I will double check. But this time I had it right.

14 comments:

  1. That interaction sounds as if it could have been quite stressful. -good that the student fessed up to his mother.

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    1. As I had had another adult "in the room", I knew I'd "win" this argument. So, it wasn't as stressful as it could have been.

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  2. He may have just wanted to use his mom's tablet and lied and said he logged in. But hopefully he just logged into the wrong class.

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  3. Good he finally admitted he wasn't in class and was willing to tell that to his mom.

    Betty

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  4. Oh but don't you hate it that MOM wanted to more or less that you were WRONG? On the student's behalf, he is a kid and he is not always going to own up to being out....but MOM? Crap.

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    1. She can argue as much as she wants, if I know I'm right, I'll take that to the school. And the staff will back me up. So, in the end, I win. I think that's why I wasn't overly concerned.

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  5. I'll just say "What Pam said!" because she said it better than I would have just now.

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    1. Considering the whole distance learning thing, I can see how this can happen.

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  6. Ugh, those situations can be nasty. Glad this one worked out easily for you. And that the kid was honest when pushed. At least he has a supportive parent which I'd imagine a lot at that school don't.

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  7. Good you asked him that question regarding what was discussed in that class. That kind of settled the issue.

    By the way, did the kid's mom come back to you or to the secretary with an apology?

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  8. Replies
    1. I'm just waiting on the complaints on his grade ;)

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  9. Glad to hear that one got settled easily. I wonder how the kid spun missing the class to his mom.

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