Dear YWN. Two manila envelopes arrive in the mail yesterday unexpectedly, so I opened them up – and to my surprise and bewilderment, they were REPORT CARDS! Yes, You read correctly. REPORT CARDS. Perhaps the wonderful readership of YWN can explain to me and the rest of the outraged parents what was the point of sending reports cards to “grade” the students who were all in quarantine? What exactly did they base these grades on? Who do these Mosdos Hatorah consult with? No one apparently. I have dug around and learned that many schools were in touch with leading Gedolim along with professionals and were advised NOT to issue report cards based on the student’s performance during COVID-19. The children (and parents) were under tremendous stress the past few months, and now this unnecessary added stress. On what basis exactly could they possibly “grade” them on? The phone-conference participation? The Zoom-conference participation? How can schools gives grades on student performance given the state of the world and the unknown conditions at home? Students were never meant to learn on the phone or Zoom, nor were teachers to teach using these methods without training or preparation. Do these schools have any idea what kind of mental health fallout there already is, with therapist dealing right now with a huge number of new cases of young students suffering from anxiety, behavioral issues and many other destructive behaviors? Is this what the children needed now? Or was this done to “show” that the school is still “functioning perfectly” and in the minds of some school-owners this was warranted to be able to collect tuition? Just wondering where the children’s best interests are in any of this? Disgusted in Flatbush. NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN. DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE POSTED ON YWN? SEND IT TO US FOR REVIEW.
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