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13 Year Old Piano Prodigy Treated As Truant By Public School System

TeleKat

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Avery Gagliano is a commanding young pianist who attacks Chopin with the focused diligence of a master craftsman and the grace of a ballet dancer. The prodigy, who just turned 13, was one of 12 musicians selected from across the globe to play at a prestigious event in Munich last year and has won competitions and headlined with orchestras nationwide. But to the D.C. public school system, the eighth-grader from Mount Pleasant is also a truant. Yes, you read that right. Avery’s amazing talent and straight-A grades at Alice Deal Middle School earned her no slack from school officials, despite her parents’ begging and pleading for an exception. “As I shared during our phone conversation this morning, DCPS is unable to excuse Avery’s absences due to her piano travels, performances, rehearsals, etc.,” Jemea Goso, attendance specialist with the school system’s Office of Youth Engagement, wrote in an e-mail to Avery’s parents, Drew Gagliano and Ying Lam, last year before she left to perform in Munich.

Although administrators at Deal were supportive of Avery’s budding career and her new role as an ambassador for an international music foundation, the question of whether her absences violated the District’s truancy rules and law had to be kicked up to the main office. And despite requests, no one from the school system wanted to go on the record explaining its refusal to consider her performance-related absences as excused instead of unexcused. Avery’s parents say they did everything they could to persuade the school system. They created a portfolio of her musical achievements and academic record and drafted an independent study plan for the days she’d miss while touring the world as one of the star pianists selected by a prestigious Lang Lang Music Foundation, run by Chinese pianist Lang Lang, who handpicked Avery to be an international music ambassador. But the school officials wouldn’t budge, even though the truancy law gives them the option to decide what an unexcused absence is. The law states that an excused absence can be “an emergency or other circumstances approved by an educational institution.” Too bad, so sad. After 10 unexcused absences, it doesn’t matter whether a child was playing hooky to hang at the mall or charming audiences in Hong Kong with her mastery of Mozart. D.C. bureaucrats will label the kid a truant, will mar her transcript with that assessment and will assign a truancy officer to the case.

In D.C., a 13-year-old piano prodigy is treated as a truant instead of a star student - The Washington Post

Thoughts?
 
Zero Tolerance run amok. It's amazing how stupid humans acting together can be in governing. :doh
 


If she is keeping up with her schoolwork they should be counted as excused absenses, it's a world of difference from playing hooky and going to the mall, and this is yet another instance of school officials being fools. Just my thoughts.


"But the school officials wouldn’t budge, even though the truancy law gives them the option to decide what an unexcused absence is" :roll::roll:
 
You have to be at least an idiot to equate "going to school" with "getting an education".

That kid should skip the stupidity offered by that public school and apply for a grant at Julliard. He has already found his talent and his purpose in life and good on him.
 
Home schooling. Stop suffering the fools.

My first thought as well. Child actors have to deal with this and apparently have special schools and tutors that can cater to their schedules.

Schools have turned into huge bureaucracies. Employees skirt the rules at their peril.
 
If she is keeping up with her schoolwork they should be counted as excused absenses, it's a world of difference from playing hooky and going to the mall, and this is yet another instance of school officials being fools. Just my thoughts.


"But the school officials wouldn’t budge, even though the truancy law gives them the option to decide what an unexcused absence is" :roll::roll:

Are we to assume that absences are initially considered excused or unexcused? Perhaps the default is unexcused thus the record shows them as such unless and until their status is changed.
 
Once more, the "quick to outrage" community is beaten back by more information and facts. It's amazing how people still take the word of the parents without ever considering what the school might say. Considering how often the parents who go to the media lie about what actually happened, it simply boggles my mind people don't wait for more information.
 

Hmm, it seems like there's two sides to this story. I'm going to be honest: it does seem as though the school system is just trying to cover their ass although there definitely is a possibility there was miscommunication or even blatant lying on behalf of the family. I don't see what they would have to gain from such a lie though. :shrug:
 
Hmm, it seems like there's two sides to this story. I'm going to be honest: it does seem as though the school system is just trying to cover their ass although there definitely is a possibility there was miscommunication or even blatant lying on behalf of the family. I don't see what they would have to gain from such a lie though. :shrug:
In my experience of parents going to media about a school, they almost always lie (or, at best, don't tell the whole truth). Usually this is done to "get back" at the school for some slight they perceive has happened to them.
 
Cool. Now, with that being said, zero tolerance = zero intelligence.

Pretty much. I would also add zero tolerance is just laziness of the administrators and teachers.
 
The public school system is more concerned with their self and not the actual kids. This is just another vivid example.

The kid needs to get out of the public school system. They need to continue their education and nurture their talent and dreams - something the public school system doesn't know how to do.

The article said the family is now homeschooling. Probably a good thing too.
 
Hmm, it seems like there's two sides to this story. I'm going to be honest: it does seem as though the school system is just trying to cover their ass although there definitely is a possibility there was miscommunication or even blatant lying on behalf of the family. I don't see what they would have to gain from such a lie though. :shrug:

It does look like the school is trying to cover their own ass here because if they had been considered excused from the beginning, which they should have since the school should have known about them beforehand, then there would have been no reason for the system to have generated any letter of truancy in the first place. So this means either a) they weren't excused absences to begin with and were only changed after the fact (whether the article or simply the parents' efforts, who knows) or b) someone was some sort of miscommunication within the school system itself and they are trying to cover up for that incompetency.
 
In D.C., a 13-year-old piano prodigy is treated as a truant instead of a star student
Why should she be treated like a star student?
I mean really? I piano prodigy does not necessarily make one a Star student.


That said.
The parents should have removed her from that school and found one more amenable to her absences or home schooled her.


edit: Just saw that they were home schooling.
 
Why should she be treated like a star student?
I mean really? I piano prodigy does not necessarily make one a Star student.


That said.
The parents should have removed her from that school and found one more amenable to her absences or home schooled her.


edit: Just saw that they were home schooling.

The fact that she actually maintained an A average while still doing the piano thing is why she should be treated as a "star student".

I was allowed to leave school 2 months early in second grade to help my mother when she went to Michigan to help my grandmother. We arranged everything with the school. It was allowed because my teacher stuck up for me and showed that I was well ahead of the class and my education would not suffer at all by not doing those last two months. The school set up for worksheets to be sent to me that I did and returned to them just to ensure they had some evidence of furthering progress and that I wouldn't forget stuff with such a long summer "break".
 
The fact that she actually maintained an A average while still doing the piano thing is why she should be treated as a "star student".
Earning A's does not necessarily make one a Star student.
Nor should they be treated differently than your average student.
 
Earning A's does not necessarily make one a Star student.
Nor should they be treated differently than your average student.

Being able to make those grades and still miss those days, while not being a discipline problem (which isn't likely to be the case here), does make someone a "star" student. And they should be treated differently in many ways. We should not be treating all children/students the same in school because they aren't all the same. It is ridiculous to believe that students who do have other things they are doing and require "time off" for those things but are still able to keep up with their academic responsibilities otherwise should not have those facts taken into special consideration.
 
Being able to make those grades and still miss those days, while not being a discipline problem (which isn't likely to be the case here), does make someone a "star" student. And they should be treated differently in many ways. We should not be treating all children/students the same in school because they aren't all the same. It is ridiculous to believe that students who do have other things they are doing and require "time off" for those things but are still able to keep up with their academic responsibilities otherwise should not have those facts taken into special consideration.
No it doesn't, and no it shouldn't.
 
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