Maggie Galehouse
The Arizona Republic
June 12, 2002 12:00:00
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0612teacher12.html
A decision to allow a Peoria high school student to graduate after failing an English class has educators wondering whether threats from parents and lawyers carry more clout than a student's performance.
Sondra Cherinko, an art teacher at Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee,
said the decision last month brought "terror to my heart."
"I was pretty shocked," said Cherinko, who failed two students this year. "They (school district administrators) need to support their teachers."
The Sunrise Mountain High School student was allowed to retake a test five hours before graduation after her teacher, Elizabeth Joice, failed her. On the day before graduation, Joice received a letter from a lawyer representing the student asking her to take "whatever action is necessary" for the student to graduate or the family would sue.
Joice responded to Glendale attorney Stan Massad the same day saying caving in to his demands would not be fair to other students.
But in the end, Joice said she was forced to give the student a retest after a conversation with Assistant Superintendent Dudley Butts of the Peoria Unified School District.
"I was told that the student was going to walk (in the graduation ceremony)," Joice said, "and that I needed to figure out a way to get her to that point."
After conversations with Principal Andrea Strack, who supported Joice, the teacher said she understood the district would not accept anything other than an agreement to retest the student.
Butts could not be reached for comment. Acting Superintendent Jack Erb referred questions to a spokesman.
The student graduated May 23, hours after she retook the test on a novel about the Holocaust and passed.
The school district board didn't discuss the case at a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night. Several teachers declined to comment as outrage over the case spread across the state.
"I am incensed that this would happen," said Bill Stuart, head of the state's superintendents association. "It's an insult to my profession."
Some said the incident could prompt a slew of threats from unhappy parents hoping to put pressure on teachers.
"It's the old 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' adage," said Chandler resident Melinda Cooke, whose daughter attends Chandler High School. "If your parents scream loud enough, then allowances will be made."
Joice, 47, said that she has seen many angry parents and tearful students in her 17-year teaching career.
"But I've never had a decision overturned before," she said, "and I've never had a letter from a lawyer."
Joice did not attend graduation, and when she heard district spokesman Jim Cummings on KTAR radio on Monday afternoon discussing the incident, she called in with her side of the story.
"The district said they didn't have the letter from the lawyer before they made their decision," Joice said, "but I think they did."
Cummings declined to say Tuesday whether Joice signed off on the retest or if someone above her made that decision. But he did say her job was not in jeopardy.
"We're not going to fire her," Cummings said. "She's an excellent teacher."
Stuart said he cannot count the number of times school board presidents, prominent citizens and angry parents have beseeched him to change a decision about grades or discipline.
"It's more common than you know," said Stuart, who is superintendent of the Antelope Union High School district near Yuma. "But what is uncommon is caving in."
Teachers are concerned about the precedent the incident sets.
One former West Valley teacher said that her refusal to submit to district demands cost her a job.
Glendale resident Wendy Perkins taught in a southwest Valley school for six weeks starting in January. A former stockbroker and adjunct community college professor, Perkins had gone back to school to get teaching certification and landed the job after substitute teaching in the area.
But she says that when she refused to sign grade contracts, which acknowledged that some seniors were failing midyear but could graduate if they completed extra work, she was pulled out of the classroom and ultimately terminated after about 30 days.
"I called two union reps and a lawyer and they advised me not to sign the grade contracts," Perkins said.
In February, Christine Pelton, a high school teacher in Kansas, made headlines when she failed a group of students who plagiarized from the Internet. After parents complained, the board asked Pelton to lighten the punishment. She refused and resigned.
Penny Kotterman, president of the Arizona Education Association, said the Peoria decision sends a bad message.
"It makes me angry that, on the one hand, we'll talk about grades and diplomas having meaning and then, on the other hand, when a lawyer decides to send a letter we'll cave in," Kotterman said. "The message it sends to teachers is that they don't really have control over the grades of their students."
Republic reporters Mel Melendez, Marty Sauerzopf and Cadonna Peyton contributed
to this article.