From the NY Post:

NYC DOE school ordered abuse probe, issued report cards for boy who wasn’t a student there

The city Department of Education turned John Tomasi into a phantom student — and not only gave him fake report cards, but wrongly put his family under investigation for child abuse.

The 14-year-old never enrolled in Cobble Hill School of American Studies in Brooklyn. He never attended a single class, in person or remotely.

Yet this fall, the public school created two report cards for John, both including teacher comments.

His physical-education teacher twice gave John the highest grade: “ME” for “exceeds standards.”

His algebra teacher cited “progress toward … understanding the connection between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations,” among other skills.

Then the school called the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and altered them for  “suspected child abuse or maltreatment.”

After a short but invasive investigation, ACS was alerted to the fact that John was a student at a private Catholic school, Xaverian HS.

Then it got worse.

Margaret was ready to forget the whole fiasco until the family received not one but two Cobble Hill report cards for John.

A report card for the first marking period, which arrived in mid-November, gave John grades of “NX,” which means “incomplete,” or “NL,” which means “recent admit,” in listed classes: English, Algebra, Principals (sic) of Biomed, Living Environment, Mindfulness and Global Studies.

The algebra teacher cited progress in three areas: “using properties of rational and irrational numbers,” “understanding solving equations as a process of reasoning and explaining the reasoning,” and “solving systems of equations.”

Cobble Hill gym teacher George Kaliampos gave John the highest mark: “ME,” for “exceeds standards.”

A report card for the second marking period arrived Dec. 19. The same grades — including “exceeds standards” in phys-ed — were repeated, but with more teacher comments.

His Mindfulness teacher noted, “Frequently does not submit course work.”

The Algebra teacher cited two additional areas of “progress” by John: “understanding the connection between proportional relationships, lines, and linear equations,” and “representing and solving equations and inequalities graphically.”

But she added: “Insufficient work is available to determine the student’s grades despite multiple attempts to contact the student and family.”

Those are very specific notes for a teacher to make about a student who wasn’t there.

A Cobble Hill teacher blamed the school’s “general incompetence and inability to function properly,” saying administrators gave the faculty a bad contact list: “There were countless students with wrong phone numbers.” Administrators also refused to make home visits to look for kids who could not be reached, the teacher told The Post, asking to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation.

As for the report cards, administrators instructed teachers to choose from a list of canned comments. Citing “progress” is a gentle way to indicate failure, the teacher said.

So NYC public school teachers are creating report cards like Mad Libs for students they never met to look like they are doing their job, and when they get caught, blame the administration for bad record-keeping.

If they are just making up report cards for kids who aren’t there, you know they are making up report cards for the kids who are there too.

The entire NYC public school system is just one failed house of cards, with entrenched bureaucrats and unionized teachers bullshitting everyone rather than doing their jobs.

The COVID lockdowns and the response of parents have proven that.

I’m getting the distinct impression that 99.99% of other school districts in America are about the same.

 

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By J. Kb

8 thoughts on “Public schools are dead and teachers are phoning it in”
  1. Citing “progress” is a gentle way to indicate failure, the teacher said.

    Newspeak is alive and well in the NYC DOE.

    Like having the Don’s idiot nephew on the payroll for a job he never shows up for, the NYC DOE has phantom students, bringing taxpayer’s money into schools that don’t actually have to teach them. Wanna bet that Cobble Hill School got Federal and State money for school lunches, and every other social service on behalf of Mr Tomasi.

    1. And if we had an honest and competent Federal Bureau of Investigation, dozens of NY DOE bureaucrats would be in jail for stealing US taxpayer money.

      Maybe the heavily armed and expensively trained US Department of Education SWAT Team could earn their money on rooting out this corruption.

      1. I have complained to my administration for years that one of the largest reasons for poor student performance is lack of attendance.
        When too many of my students got D and F grades, I was called to the carpet to explain myself. I pointed out that 40% of my students had missed more than a third of school days. I was told by my principal that this is the teachers’ fault for failing to make our classes interesting. I replied that I could be showing porn in class while handing out free beer and pizza, and half of my students would still be absent. She then asked me “Do you like your job here?” I got the message. I don’t complain about that any more, and my students have improved their grades significantly.

Only one rule: Don't be a dick.

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