Board of Education to hand out meaningless diplomas during the next several weeks

Note:  The following article is based largely on information that an internal MCPS source leaked to the Washington Post without authorization.

Washington Post: Can you skip 47 days of English class and still graduate? At this Montgomery County high school, yes.

As graduation approached last year, the list of often-absent students at Albert Einstein High School in suburban Maryland was long. More than 175 seniors repeatedly missed classes, many in courses required for their diplomas.

Most students at the Montgomery County school graduated anyway.

Entire article at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html

Excerpts from article:

Longtime Einstein Principal James G. Fernandez, who recently announced his retirement, declined to speak about absences or related issues, school system officials said.

At Magruder High School in Derwood, 43 percent of high school students were chronically absent, the county’s highest.

The documents obtained by The Post show that 115 Einstein seniors were frequently absent in math courses and that at least 88 missed senior-year English classes required for a diploma. Others were often out during science, social studies, art, physical education or Advanced Placement classes that may — or may not — have been required for graduation.

Some teachers see the fallout in the Montgomery County graduates who arrive at Montgomery College unprepared every year. Nearly 70 percent of those students in 2018 needed to take remedial classes in math and 37 percent in English, college officials said.