A Baltimore, Maryland mother says she believed her son would graduate from high school this coming June, but after four years of high school her must start over. Tiffany France recently learned her 17-year-old has been moved back to ninth grade according to Project Baltimore. Her son a student at Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts in west Baltimore has passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0.13 grade point average.
“He’s stressed and I am too. I told him I’m probably going to start crying. I don’t know what to do for him,” France told Project Baltimore. “Why would he do three more years in school? He didn’t fail, the school failed him. The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that’s the problem here. They failed. They failed. He didn’t deserve that.”
France’s son transcripts show he’s passed only three classes in four years, earning 2.5 credits, placing him in ninth grade. However, France says she didn’t know that until February. France has three children and works three jobs. She was under the assumption her oldest son was doing well because even though he failed most of his classes, he was being promoted to the next grade. His transcripts show he failed Spanish I and Algebra I, however, was promoted to Spanish II and Algebra II. He failed English II but was passed on to English III.
“I’m just assuming that if you are passing, that you have the proper things to go to the next grade and the right grades, you have the right credits,” France said.
During his first three years at Augusta Fells, he failed 22 classes and was late or absent 272 days. However, in those three years, only one teacher requested a parent conference, which France claims never happened adding no one from the school told the mother her son was failing and not going to class.
In his four years at the school, France’s son earned a GPA of 0.13, only passed three classes, but his transcripts show his class rank is 62 out of 120. According to FOX 45 Baltimore, nearly half his classmates, 58 of them, have a 0.13 grade point average or lower.
“He’s a good kid. He didn’t deserve that. Where’s the mentors? Where is the help for him? I hate that this is happening to my child,” France said.
Project Baltimore interviewed a school administrator who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. That administrator says the school system absolutely failed France’s son.
“He feels embarrassed, he feels like a failure,” France said speaking about her son. “I’m like, you can’t feel like that. And you have to be strong and you got to keep fighting. Life is about fighting. Things happen, but you got to keep fighting. And he’s willing, he’s trying, but who would he turn to when the people that’s supposed to help him is not? Who do he turn to?”
France has pulled her son out of Augusta Fells and he’s now enrolled in an accelerated school program at Francis M. Wood in west Baltimore. If everything goes to plan he could graduate by 2023.