A tale of two schools - part 1

I sent the following to the superintendent for Salt Lake Public Schools two days ago - so much for government and their response time. I am still awaiting his response - I can't imagine how Tye managed to slip through the cracks in SLC public schools:


Good day, Dr. Withers.

I hope that you are well. I appreciate your willingness to meet with Tye and I after we received word that he was not on track to graduate from West High. I believe that you indicated confidence that Tye would get into college as he is a smart man. Since that time, Tye has received a five year scholarship to a Michigan University. Last week, he found out that the scholarship was withdrawn because he is missing a 1/2 credit on his transcript, and he had to move out of the dorm and wait another semester.

Tye is an amazing man - resilient, not easily flustered and is not worried is he goes to another school. I write to you because there is an error with Tye's transcript from West High. It is ironic that Stephanie Bernritter passed away recently. She is the single teacher at West who took an interest in Tye's abilities. Were Stephanie still alive, I would have contacted her to ask who the best guidance counselor is at West High so that we could get this worked out. Alas, I do not have that opportunity.

There was a miscommunication or miscalculation in the transcript when he switched from Kalamazoo Central and back to Utah.

When I went to the vice principal at West, wondering why I had not been advised that Tye had not registered for school, even though I had made SEVERAL calls to the guidance office requesting his schedule, and several calls to the website support person as the website was down frequently at that time. Her response to me was something like: "our guidance counselors have 600 students each." Dr. Withers, I don't care about the 599 students - I care about Tye. West High has failed him, even as Salt Lake City fails the other 40% minorities. This cannot and will not stand. Given my lack of confidence in the competency of the West High administration, I would like you to have someone on your staff look into this situation. Tye is missing a 1/2 credit. The error is between West High and Kalamazoo Central. I am confident that you can resolve this discrepancy expeditiously.

You can reach me at 914.328.0620 should you have further questions.
Thanks so much for your time.

Annette James Daley