A former student, Aleysha Ortiz, is suing the city of Hartford and the local board of education. Ortiz alleges she graduated without learning how to read or write. She claims it was due to negligence and lack of proper support for her developmental disabilities.
The lawsuit claims Ortiz was denied necessary testing for dyslexia. It also claims she was removed from special education curriculum and only tested for developmental disabilities on her last day of school, revealing significant unmet educational needs.
I remember the full-length report on this some months ago. Shit’s legit.
People dismissing this really don’t understand how terrible the attitudes by administrators are towards special education and disability education. It’s entirety believable that the district would dismiss her needs in order to up their graduating numbers.
(Special education teachers are great, this is not aimed at them)
I’m also not familiar with “Straight Arrow News”, though, that’s the only thing that gives me pause
You can read this one from CNN. I posted the SAN article only because of the headline.
Thanks! I wasn’t trying to be negative, I just hadn’t heard of it before!
Holy shit I wish I could have done that. Fuck LAUSD
Well, the picture is showing German words, I suppose many US students would find it hard to read those correctly… Did they not have enough time to actually look at the stock photo they chose?
She was the one who chose the stock photo
yes, because she was unable to read and write in German
But knows how to litigate? Only in the US.
Sometimes I read certain comments that get me thinking. Are you really this dense? Or are you trying to get a rise out of people?
OBVIOUSLY they didn’t file for litigation themselves my lord
If you think she is filing this herself then you might want to sue your school as well!
Almost always the parents
Sue a school? You must be from the US.
Love it.
I hope she wins.
I was pigeonholed holed into the remedial track and stonewalled whenever I tried to get out of it. They graduated me without the basic state requirements.
I recently called them just asking for a piece of paper saying that I did not fulfill the requirements and did not properly graduate. They refused me and insisted that I was fine. I did get them to admit that I tested Advance Proficient for science even though I was placed in remedial science.
I just want this piece of (legal)paper so I have one less brainworm while I fix my education for real.
You’re better off. Just getting a GED
I have one. It’s exactly the same as a HS diploma. Just a path to community college.
Honestly, I wish I’d just dropped at 16 and gotten my associates. I could’ve gotten into a city where there are jobs and education opportunities by the time I was 20 and have been positioned a lot better.
I wouldn’t actually recommend anyone reading this to drop out, but hindsight is 20/20 and I think it would’ve worked for me.
If it’s just about employability, sure. You can also just get your GED without dropping out of high school. You can probably just start CC as a summer student with the GED without dropping out of HS. There’s no national database of student transcripts and colleges don’t have the resources to call every HS to see if you may have been a student. A lot of this shit runs off of assumptions and the honor system.
My issue is that this has nothing to do with employability for me.
At one point, I was so desperate to get out of the remedial track, I told the guidance counselors I would drop out and enroll the next year if the classes were “filled up”. They thought I was bluffing and stuck me back in the shit classes. They gave me the shit classes, so I dropped out and before I went back, I got a GED and tried CC. It was terrible. The exact same “Cs get degrees” mentality that made remedial classes so depressing. I went back to HS and got one year of the more advanced classes and got exactly the same grades. Turns out that when you’re not getting bullied by kids with probationary officers, you can handle the more advanced material just fine.
POur cc had UC level courses so students are extra screwed for stem and paper writing at least 10% are guaranteed to not pass the class every semester doesn’t mention how many are getting D and Cs. Math not so much, but people are graduating hs being ill prepared for algebra even. In a blue area, people are graduating with barely a arithmetic skill level of math, let alone algebra is too advanced for these people . I know people had made fun of people with algebra in college, but it’s becoming a growing problem, also goes same for writing
And if you try to backup, the CCs block you. I got sick of dealing with my local CC, so I tried applying to one a bit further away. The made me take a placement test and refused to let me take a class because I apparently tested out of it. I do not respect placement tests.
I recently tried the local CC again after being assured that I could retake any class at the 4-year that I took at the CC. This time, they required that I declare a major as a freshmen. I did my own research and know which classes I would need for various majors. I was going to select ones that were requirements for a broad selection of majors so I wouldn’t feel like I was putting myself on a rail so early, but they weren’t going to let me do anything without declaring something. It’s such a stupid requirement when you can just switch later anyway, but it feels like it’s designed to cause a sunk-cost fallacy. There’s at least one much better school that refuses to let their incoming students declare a major until after their first semester because they want their students to try various things before deciding on a path.
They need to stop trying to be my life coach and just sell me the classes I want to buy.
they just wanted you “good grades” on paper, when in reality you were failing courses, they only need you for the funding.
its underfunded for sure, even in blue areas, or its being mismanged. even in my blue area the hs just passes people with a failing or D grade in thier classes to graduate hs. not enough funding goes into struggling students that is not in the SP.ED group, often times these students get dumped into “remedial classes that are not part of the normal curriculum of a HS”, just filler classes. the problem is they are willing to sacrifice students education just to maintain funding,(hence the participation grades) which sets up students for failure, and is a disservice that they cant even pass community college courses, even more disadvantaged when it comes to community colleges that has to have "certified courses with universities(typified by the increased difficulty of the course when compared to other nearby schools). when i was hs in 2000s, there were only a handful of really successful students, how did we know the administration thought it was a good idea to rub in the faces of the rest of the student body, they framed the meeting in a way that “look at these bright people, and look at you in the audience”, everyone just sighed out of annoyance.
While there are many problems with standardized testing, I think this is where people say we need standardized testing.
If a school is pulling that shit, there needs to be a way to catch it and do something about it
Standard republican play book: Break shit and when called out wonder why it’s broken.
The school to prison pipeline is malfunctioning because Ortiz was smart enough to sue.
“Republican play book” dude it’s Connecticut. And none the less Hartford. That city hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1971.
The issue is that educational funding is predominantly on the municipal level, rather than the state level.
The only mention in the article about Republicans is the CT Republicans being outraged about how the schools have failed this child. Which is entirely justifiable.
But rather than look at the underlying system issues lets resort to flinging mud at people who had zero impact in the current situation.
so you’re saying it’s not republicans that are predominately concerned with defunding education?
or that republicans are not routinely “surprised” when their policies cause problems- exactly like this?
interesting. You’re right. I’m just flinging mud. I couldn’t possibly have a valid point (like maybe don’t get rid of the fucking department of education.)
By the way. Your stats on funding sources is wrong. (PDF warning, but here’s the budget break down as of April '24
a screen grab of the overall breakdown:
I was stating the CT Republicans had little to no impact on the outcome of this student’s education because they have little impact on local politics in such a blue area. And resulting should have no reason to presume that any policy stances of their have an impact on the people of Hartford.
If Trump stripped the Dept of Education on day one that still would be irrelevant here as this student is the victim of over a decade of the school system failing them.
On your BTW, my point wasn’t about Hartford’s education costs but more on broader educational costs. In suburban CT well funded schools get nearly 70% of their expenses paid for by local property taxes. The failure of the city of Hartford to raise funds on the municipal level vs other municipalities is relevant here. Which of course stems from the difference in economics status between their citizens. Hence my critique of local funding playing such a big role.
CT has some of the finest public schools in the nation. But they sure as hell are not the ones in Hartford.
On your BTW, my point wasn’t about Hartford’s education costs but more on broader educational costs. In suburban CT well funded schools get nearly 70% of their expenses paid for by local property taxes. The failure of the city of Hartford to raise funds on the municipal level vs other municipalities is relevant here. Which of course stems from the difference in economics status between their citizens. Hence my critique of local funding playing such a big role.
CT has some of the finest public schools in the nation. But they sure as hell are not the ones in Hartford.
“well funded schools” in what I’m guessing are… rich, white, suburbs.
hartford is lowest in terms of per-capita income. So blaming the city for their residents not being wealthy is… rather a dick move.
I was stating the CT Republicans had little to no impact on the outcome of this student’s education because they have little impact on local politics in such a blue area. And resulting should have no reason to presume that any policy stances of their have an impact on the people of Hartford.
If CT republicans are more eager to dump money on education int heir state than CT dems are, then they’re an entirely different breed of republicans than anywhere else in this country. Which is why education funding in red states is vastly exceeded by education funding in blue states.
which brings me back to my original point: It’s patently disingenuous, hypocritical and totally on brand, for a republican to call out failures as being related to funding when they’re predominately the ones who predominately called for the funding to be cut. Reduced education spending is a core part of the republican agenda. And it has been for as long as I can remember.
Personally, I rather expect the issue has more to do with school administration rather than funding. Of course, the school district would blame a lack of funding- that’s somebody else’s fault. They’re certainly not going to admit to systemic failures.
You somehow manage to willfully misread or miss the entire point. Yes of course Hartford can’t match the per student municipal funding of suburban Connecticut. That is why I said that the issue is the school funding is being done on the municipal level.
Municipal property taxes paying for schools reduces the equalizing effect that state funding should have.
Yes, New England Republicans do tend to be much different than other states. No educational spending is not solely tied to party platform that ignores that blue states on average have higher house hold incomes and GDP due to historical & socioeconomic factors.
This is just yelling at clouds rather than seeking meaningful solutions to resolve issue. You are complaining that senators are upset about the failure of the educational system. Btw one of those senators introduced legislation to prevent this from happening again. Link.
They’re certainly not going to admit to systemic failures.
Did you read the article? What do you think “State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding and Sen. Eric Berthel said in their Dec. 19 letter. ‘We continue to seek accountability as to how this student was illiterate when she graduated and how the system failed her year after year’” they meant when they wrote this.
This is just yelling at clouds rather than seeking meaningful solutions to resolve issue. You are complaining that senators are upset about the failure of the educational system. Btw one of those senators introduced legislation to prevent this from happening again. Link.
They’re certainly not going to admit to systemic failures.Did you read the article? What do you think “State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding and Sen. Eric Berthel said in their Dec. 19 letter. ‘We continue to seek accountability as to how this student was illiterate when she graduated and how the system failed her year after year’” they meant when they wrote this.
whose the one willfully misreading things now? That was a comment about the school seeking to blame anyone else. the ‘They’re’ refers to the school district mentioned at the start of the paragraph. The point there was that Ortiz was getting rubber stamped through everything. more funding most likely wouldn’t make a significant impact. What I can almost certainly assure you is that standardized testing won’t do a damned thing to stop it. Which is why Bush’s No Child Left Behind fucked up education. What ended up happening with NCLB is that schools were forced to teach to the test, meaning that rather than providing a well rounded education, they were instead basically providing test prep.
Yes, New England Republicans do tend to be much different than other states. No educational spending is not solely tied to party platform that ignores that blue states on average have higher house hold incomes and GDP due to historical & socioeconomic factors.
Most states in fact use a similar system of funding, with state funds being tied to a formula based on the number of students and other demographic factors. Sorry if you misunderstand me. That’s not tied to party platform. What is tied, though, is how much funding that actually becomes. there is a broad and common problem where schools in urban areas are significantly underfunded because people like you insist that local taxes should pay most of it. maybe, maybe not. that’s a different argument, and once again: Does not change that most of hartford’s funding comes from state sources, and republicans in the state legislature bitching about lack of educational standards reads more like manufactured outrage than anything else. At least to me. Maybe I’m wrong, but I rather doubt it.
The socioeconomic factors that give blue states the higher house hold income and gdp you mentioned? yeah, a large part of that is…you know. better public schools. Funny how that works. there is an exceedingly strong, and exceedingly global correlation between public school funding and long-term economic growth (by long term it’s in decades, not two or three years.)
probably the parents are suing.
US in last fucking place in 1st world in Education, life expectancy but the number one in war. This teen needs to join the army, lose a leg and become a hero if he wants to be somebody. Thank you for your service sucker.
They aren’t in last place but they are way farther behind than a lot of places.
they wont be able to join if they cant even pass the asvab for the military, i heard alot of graduates struggling with that. what helped recruitment in the last 1-2 years was military propaganda(like top gun maverick). Having untreated dyslexia makes you ineligible for the military nanyways
Except she’s a woman, so very likely to be sexually assaulted in the military (and that’s if she even gets in, DEI and all that), and vets get shafted as well. Her losing a leg to an IED will be ruled “not service related,” and she will be denied any funds related to care or issues resulting from said injury after she leaves the military.
I hate that this holds any truth. It is really sad to see all of the mismanagement in the military
the military usually doesnt allow combat roles for women , funny enough. they usually choose the safe jobs.
I’ve met some Navy SEALs what were women. Also pilots and other combat roles.
They are a minority but not totally unheard of.
Holding kids back & provide extra support costs the school money. A large percentage of schools either don’t have the money or their bloated bureaucracies are siphoning off the money. Where I live the average pay for teaching is like $22/hr. but people in admin easily make upwards of $100/hr. Additionally, the admin staff is many times larger than the staff at multiple schools.
Why would you want to support some one who is considered retarded? When my Grandpa went to college his parents were upset because he was the dumb one.
As it turns out he was way more successful than any of his siblings. He just was dyslexic and probably Autistic.
Yea district admins earn 100k/year on average, it all goes to them. i had a co-worker in a retail job, said the blue district here only offered 25k-35k/year as a starting package but you must commit to a 5-7 year locked in contract, additionally you will have to teach in the most sketchy neighborhoods too. she refused, and this was before the pandemic. last i heard she doing better in TECH. theres even more fuckery with being a private school teacher.
I hate to go ‘Boy, I don’t buy it’ but, uh, I kinda don’t?
This is one of those things that COULD happen, as long as every teacher, every administrator and the state itself were all intentionally trying to make it happen.
CT has standardized tests that are required to be taken to progress through school, so how can someone who can’t read or write pass those?
And EVERY teacher she had from first grade on just accepted the fact she clearly was unable to read or write, and thus was almost certainly not doing any work, and just decided that’s a-ok and we’ll just pass her along anyways without doing anything?
Somehow feels like there’s a lot more to this story than just her side as presented by that article.
Me: “My kid has a learning disability. Can you give her some reasonable accommodations?”
My Kids School: “But does she really though?”
Me: “Uh, yeah. She has a diagnosis. From a psychiatrist. Also, you have noticed her grades are abysmal, right?”
School: “They’re not that bad. She’s actually doing pretty well.”
Me: “She has mostly D’s and F’s. Is that seriously what you consider ‘pretty well’?”
School: “…”
I’m doing some major paraphrasing but this is the gist of actual conversations with my daughters school administration. I’m not saying I believe it’s very likely that someone could graduate without being able to read and write. I’m just saying that in some school districts, there’s a greater than zero percent chance of that happening.
they have been doing it for decades, even our school passed people with that kinda grade to graduation. not surprised at my local CC i see people struggling with arimethic courses.
As a teacher, admin will not listen.
“Hey this kid cannot read. Hey this kid smells like shit and has been wearing the same outfit for the past two weeks. Hey this kid is telling her classmates which gas stations will sell vape carts to minors.”
As a teacher, do you pass students who cannot read? While your grievances are fair, OP makes some very valid points.
Yes, I did, because failing a student required me to set up a parent meeting and getting them to agree to a contract with a list of assignments that the student could turn in at any point up until the last day of the semester.
I’ve read that in some states, it doesn’t matter if they pass or fail. Or that failing isn’t a thing that happens to students.
Either way, they don’t get held back. Grade level is a stand in for age, nothing more, in some places.
I graduated many years ago now, but I did graduate with someone who could not read or write. He was a sport prodigy, so they lied to keep him playing. It definitely happens.
CT has standardized tests that are required to be taken to progress through school
I don’t know about CT, but I deliberately failed one of my state required tests in NJ and they passed me anyway. It’s all theater.
I absolutely buy it. I know someone whose job it is to teach kids in grade 6-8 how to read. Some can’t read three letter words. This is in a blue state. This teacher I know frequently talks about most of her colleagues being grossly negligent in a variety of ways.
i can confirm, in my hs in a very blue cali area, tons of people were struggling the courses, and they just passed them for the most part. once they get into Community college, you can see a ton of them struggling in the most basic courses( of course students are from all over the us) but more or less they come from the same HS system(pass all D- high F grade earners). the professors themselves also notice this trend, at the time i was in CC, they said people were only getting a 9th grade math education, and a 10th grade reading writing essay education), it has gotten worst since then.
our CC also had university level stem courses, and you can imagine most dont do well in the class(C isnt really considered a good thing), in terms if you want to transfer to a UNIVERSITY(NOT A non-low level tiered one)
(without looking into it to verify) isn’t this likely because of “no child left behind”?
We stopped teaching phonics (which is something that we had already tried in the 70s, to similar disastrous results). The “whole language” approach just does not work for the vast majority of children.
Digital devices and the instant gratification machine/shot attention spans also make it so less children are reading for pleasure, so that way that some failed children would at least “make it” through interest and passion is less common too.
The NCLB/ESSA aspects are pulling time from social studies and science, which hamper the ability to think critically about what is read. The focus on state testing also means that literature instruction rarely involves reading entire books, but instead excerpts and passages in high school English classes, which more explicitly mirror what is assessed on the ACT, etc.
if it is, they’re doing it wrong. it means to help everyone graduate, not abandon everyone and set the bar so low everyone auto-graduates
No Child Left Behind was designed to defund schools. If it wanted to fix things, poor test results would result in a investigation and overhaul of the district. Instead it just punished the school with less federal funds.
The double bind of working in a “D” or “F” rated school were how many of the factors were completely outside of our power.
You can’t do much when 1/10+ of your student population is absent on a good day, when they hate their teachers getting their bags searched by them as soon as they walk in the door, when students just fucking vanish without anyone caring (deported/shot/dropped out). It really fucking stings to finally make some progress with a kid - like when you finally figure out that the reason they haven’t turned in an assignment the entire the semester is because they are completely and utterly illiterate, and despite being a fucking chemistry teacher you have to do something - and then they disappear without a trace the next week.
There are some names I’ve seen in the news that gut me.
The students you give your standardized test to aren’t even the same ones you began the school with. It’s not measuring anything you or the school did.
And these schools - which are the ones that need the fucking money instead got punished. Got funding cuts. It can’t be that the task was impossible, it’s that you didn’t spend enough money on educational consultants to make sure that all bellwork has an ACT question on it.
yea so they end up just passing failing students to keep the funding going, which is kinda sad, because it will be hard for them to even survive in CC even(in our CC like many if you get too low for too many semesters you will get probation on your record. and there have been several incidence that people were expelled that way, and in these probation classes the instructor confirms that there were people that attempted to come back on the property of the school.
