MHS to re-evaluate student contracts
Middleton High School (MHS) students arrived home during the first week of class with contracts that caused many parents to become upset. The contracts, according to MHS, were intended to better prepare graduating students for the workforce or college after graduating. However, the school admits the wording of the contracts could have been clearer and are now re-evaluating the contracts and revising them after parents called the school and The Bolivar Bulletin-Times questioning the stipulations and wording of some areas of the contracts.
“The calls we have received are from ‘A’ student parents who are thinking if their child comes to school without a belt then they are going to fail. That’s not the case,” MHS Principal Darlene Cardwell said. “I can see where it would be overwhelming for a parent who has two children in school and they come home with 14 or so contracts for their classes. I see that.”
Cardwell said the contracts were intended to be a high school form of a syllabus that is commonly used in most colleges and universities. The school will also be changing the name from ‘contract’ to ‘syllabus’ in order to be clearer about the purpose of the document.
“We wanted the parents to know and the children to know what is expected of them. We want to make the kids more accountable for their behavior and for them to understand their behavior impacts their academics,” Cardwell said. “Maybe ‘contract’ is a strong word. It’s going to be a syllabus instead of a contract. We want to be sure there is not confusion between discipline of a child and the grade a child receives.”
In addition to changing the name of the document to ‘syllabus’, another change will be separating the disciplinary aspects from the academic aspects and expectations.
The contracts caused many parents to become upset and children to be worried and fearful over how they will be graded and fear over failing a subject for something such as a dress code violation. Each department created its own contracts and some caused parents to become concerned when it limited the number of absences to six (6) and then a child fails, no matter the situation, as well as if a child does not reach an expected grade, they fail. Cardwell said that was not the intention of the contract and the wording could have been clearer in order to avoid panic, stress, and confusion.
MHS will host a “Meet the Teacher” night on Thursday, August 13 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. to provide parents an opportunity to meet with teachers and express any concerns they have.