Girl who battled cancer is dismissed for missing school

[i.b.nora]

Father Fleckenstein released the following statement:

"After much consideration and prayer, and in consultation with Mrs. Marcy Arnson, principal of Saint Joseph’s, we have decided to invite seventh grader Rose McGrath to return to our school as soon as possible. We will continue to work with her and continue to provide as many accommodations that will help her during the remainder of the school year.

"We remain convinced that the accommodations provided over the past months were extensive, appropriate, and compassionate. It is unfortunate that the coverage of this issue has been greatly distorted both in the media and on social networks. We hope and pray that moving forward we can do so with mutual respect while providing continued privacy for our student.

"It is due to those privacy issues that we are not able to give a full account of the many hours of dedicated thought and loving efforts that the teachers, staff, and principal did in order to try and ensure Rose was able to progress in her studies so she would be able to succeed while managing her remission. We remain very happy that Rose’s health has improved.

"As we did before, we will continue to work closely with the McGrath family and invite them to take advantage of the accommodations throughout the remainder of the school year. Our focus has been, and remains on the well-being and academic success of Rose."

http://www.wwmt.com/news/features/t...er-battle-dismissal-119463.shtml#.VT1MC3BHarU

 

[SophieRose]

From an article in Jan 2015
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/.../rose-mcgrath-wants-make-difference/21302417/

Rose, a seventh-grader at St. Joseph Middle School who was home-schooled until recently because of her illness, said she looks forward to being able to go back to school full time.

 

[KaaBoom]

I thought in most states, children who have illnesses requiring hospitalization and long stays at home were able to have tutors come to the home. Is this not the case?

I know a child in my daughter's class in third grade had kidney failure and between dialysis and transplant she missed all but maybe a month of school and was still promoted. I do not know if she had a tutor or was just "excused".

Why do people with sick kids worry so damn much about their education? Yes, education is one of the most important things in life, but health is more important. Without health an education is pretty worthless. First get the kid healthy again, then get them back in school. No matter how long it takes.

I feel so sorry for kids who are fighting serious diseases, and the parents and schools are pushing tutors and getting back to classes on them. Who in the middle of chemotherapy would be ably to concentrate on studying? You wouldn't expect that from an adult, why expect a child to be able to do it.

It's just not going to work, and pushing them like that, might hurt their chances for recovery.

 

[sonjay]

Why do people with sick kids worry so damn much about their education? Yes, education is one of the most important things in life, but health is more important. Without health an education is pretty worthless. First get the kid healthy again, then get them back in school. No matter how long it takes.

I feel so sorry for kids who are fighting serious diseases, and the parents and schools are pushing tutors and getting back to classes on them. Who in the middle of chemotherapy would be ably to concentrate on studying? You wouldn't expect that from an adult, why expect a child to be able to do it.

It's just not going to work, and pushing them like that, might hurt their chances for recovery.

I think, especially with kids, the more normalcy they can have in their life, the better it is for them psychologically. And the more healthy they are psychologically, the better it is for their recovery.

Although I do see your point, and I definitely agree that it can be overdone.

 

[KaaBoom]

I think, especially with kids, the more normalcy they can have in their life, the better it is for them psychologically. And the more healthy they are psychologically, the better it is for their recovery.

Although I do see your point, and I definitely agree that it can be overdone.

Thanks, I can understand that, but tutored in a hospital bed is not normalcy. Normalcy in a hospital is getting lots of rest, sleep, physical therapy, talking to Doctors and Nurses, etc. It just seems to me that mixing school lessons into that, is too much, but I guess that's just my opinion. Most children's hospitals provide educational services to their patients. So I guess thats what they think is best.

 

[jjenny]

Why do people with sick kids worry so damn much about their education? Yes, education is one of the most important things in life, but health is more important. Without health an education is pretty worthless. First get the kid healthy again, then get them back in school. No matter how long it takes.

I feel so sorry for kids who are fighting serious diseases, and the parents and schools are pushing tutors and getting back to classes on them. Who in the middle of chemotherapy would be ably to concentrate on studying? You wouldn't expect that from an adult, why expect a child to be able to do it.

It's just not going to work, and pushing them like that, might hurt their chances for recovery.

This child got the diagnosis back in 2012. Right now she is in remission.
You suggesting that parents ignore education for years?

 

[KaaBoom]

This child got the diagnosis back in 2012. Right now she is in remission.
You suggesting that parents ignore education for years?

If she was my daughter, my only concern would be that she get her health back. Everything else would be way down my list of priorities.

 

[K_Z]

I think, especially with kids, the more normalcy they can have in their life, the better it is for them psychologically. And the more healthy they are psychologically, the better it is for their recovery.

Although I do see your point, and I definitely agree that it can be overdone.

Thanks, I can understand that, but tutored in a hospital bed is not normalcy. Normalcy in a hospital is getting lots of rest, sleep, physical therapy, talking to Doctors and Nurses, etc. It just seems to me that mixing school lessons into that, is too much, but I guess that's just my opinion. Most children's hospitals provide educational services to their patients. So I guess thats what they think is best.

I worked pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplant in the 80s at the beginning of my career. I remember thinking tutoring was kind of cruel and useless, too, at the beginning. But as I grew in my role, I understood better what was being accomplished by the tutoring process.

School and learning is the "work" of children, just as recreation and playing; it's a normal and expected part of their existence. Kids had tutors during hospitalizations regularly-- even our Amish population continued their academic work. Of course, there are days and times of care that they can't participate, and everyone is alert to that. It's also helpful to understand that tutoring isn't for hours and hours on end. Most days, able kids had no more than an hour of tutoring. The kids were not hammered with academics, and keeping up at grade level was not the goal. It was just continuing the process of doing something academic-- reading, doing some science or spelling, etc. Often parents took the opportunity to go shower or eat while the tutor was there. No tests. No grades.

Many kids remarked to me that when they didn't have tutoring/ "school", they thought it meant they were close to dying. The kids observed everything. They understood that when a child was very, very ill, or near death, routines changed. Parents stopped leaving to eat and take showers, tutors stopped coming, etc.

 

[nrdsb4]

My daughters attended a private school with a very very rigorous curriculum. One of their friends was injured in an accident. She had emotional as well as physical trauma that took lots of time to address properly. I know she received a lot of support, academic support, and concessions from the school to help her. At one point, she was in danger of not being able to complete the requirements necessary to pass her classes.

What was discussed was not expulsion, but repeating a grade. I thought this was a very good solution for her in that she would be expected to master the material, but would be given an extra year to accomplish it. As it turned out, she didn't want to repeat and somehow found the wherewithal to go ahead and finish the year and catch up completely over the summer. I was impressed with how hard the school worked with the family. However, they were not going to simply pass her on to the next grade as though she had completed the year, when she certainly had missed most of it. That would not have worked out well for her in the future, where most classes are building on prior knowledge and mastery of the material taught the year before.

I'm glad the school which is the subject of the thread has decided to continue to work with the child. Also, I remind myself that we heard exactly ONE side of this story, that of the upset parents and child.

 

[Caitlin]

This may not be a very popular opinion, but this is probably for the best. Private schools rarely have the resources to help kids who are "different", unless the school specializes in whatever the child is going through. If the child were part of a public school, those schools must, by law, provide some sort of alternate education for the child. Additionally, if the child is in remission but still not well enough to go to school, then at least now she is hopefully well enough for a tutor. From what I gathered in the interview in above link, the Father at the school doesn't feel like the school can provide the best education for Rose. I understand that the parents are very upset/ emotional about this because it has always been their daughter's school, but if the school cannot provide what Rose needs then it is time to move on.