Texas Parents' Educational Rights Forum

Sorry to bother you
Schindewolf Intermedate in Klein ISD has refused to take my son out of his prep classes since before this school year started.
I went through a level one grievance and didn’t met the deadline for the level two grievance. Now I am starting over but have no idea what to say to make them remove him... this is my next email please over look it and lmk if it sounds ok or if I should add or take out anything.. THANK YOU SO MUCH



.………
The board of trustees of each school district shall adopt and strictly enforce a policy limiting the removal of students from class for remedial tutoring or test preparation. A district may not remove a student from a regularly scheduled class for remedial tutoring or test preparation if, as a result of the removal, the student would miss more than 10 percent of the school days on which the class is offered, unless the student’s parent or another person standing in parental relation to the student provides to the district written consent for removal from class for such purpose.
Tex. Educ. Code sec. 25.083(b).

This does not mean, however, that a school district has the unrestricted ability to deprive a student of 10% of their elective class periods.
A parent can decline or opt out of accelerated and remedial STAAR instruction under section 26.010.

If you deny my right and don’t remove Kurt from his staar reading and star math class AS I HAVE BEEN DEMANDING SINCE BEFORE THIS SCHOOL YEAR STARTED, as I am refusing remedial instruction;
I will be filing an incident report with the TEA.

I AM REQUIRING MY SON TO BE REMOVED FROM HIS STAAR READING PREP CLASS AND STAAR READING MATH CLASS AND PLACED IN A REGULAR PACK TIME CLASS AND OFFICE AIDE IMMEDIATELY

So a few questions

Did your kid take STAAR last year? If so how did he do?

Have they stated why he is in the class and why they can’t remove him?

What grade is he in?

Are the classes on his schedule as full class periods?

He referred to page 30 of the ssi manual and this was part of his response ....
Based on the information provided, and the recommendation of the campus, I believe that the campus has provided the best possible solution to not only provide support academically but also accommodate the electives needed for your child to pursue future academic pathways and have a successful school year. As always, if I can be of any further assistance please let me know.

My son took it last year in six grade for the very first time and barely filled both sections.


He is in seventh grade one of the power classes is considered a full Class and the other one is during his pack time which I would refer to as a full period class as well

What electives does he have and what electives did he lose?

He has Spanish and lost office aide or theater arts. So he only has one elective plus his pack time (home room) is gone and replaced w a prep class

Last question: what grade is he is?

Seventh grade

OK, so your situation is your child took the 6th grade assessments and barely failed. This puts you in a slightly different situation than a parent whose kid passed them. The school is required by law to provide accelerated instruction and it does fall under the compulsory attendance law. What the law does not require is that it has any particular form and it certainly does not require a loss of electives. However, in this situation, I encourage the parent to assist the school in meeting TEA requirements, usually by offering to do a limited amount of AI in a non-full period setting.

Thus, I might say “We understand that you are asking him to take full period test prep classes in math and reading as his accelerated instruction. Under 26.010 we are declining full period AI because we have a moral objection to a system that deprives the most vulnerable students of curriculum broadening coursework based on STAAR scores. We understand you need to document delivery of AI, so we will agree to 3 weeks of Reading STAAR prep on Mondays and Wednesdays in PAK and 3 weeks of Math on Tuesdays and Thursdays in PAK. Since there is no required length, content of format of accelerated instruction, this will meet your SSI requirements. This offer also serves as evidence that we are not attempting to avoid a subject for a full semester (even though we clearly aren’t doing that since he already has math and language arts as part of his regular schedule). However, we absolutely assert our 26.010 rights as to any full period AI that results in a loss of electives. If you have an alternative proposal that does not involve loss of electives, then please present it for our consideration. Otherwise, please confirm that you will abide by our statutory right to refuse this instruction in the format proposed.”