Scheduling Problem for High School Senior

Are the prospective schools aware that your son has been recently diagnosed? Maybe there is a loophole for admission for students who have been identified. If all else fails I would go to the principal's supervisor. I don't know if private schools have a supt. or a school board, but everybody reports to some one.

Does your son have a Counselor in the school? The Counselor should be able to help you out with some options. If your son has recently been identified with a learning disorder, then he should be obtaining some accomodations and extra assistance in the classroom that should help to improve the GPA during his senior year. Have you discussed the situation with the special education teacher that works with your son?

Don't even get me started on schedule changes. I wanted Geology, I got AP Physics . Four different schedules in two days, maybe even more.

Little more information on situation, school has NEW 1st time counselor, no idea about NCAA requirements, school added new class and never submitted for approval (1 less class available). Got put in Honors class because of scheduling conflicts which only makes the situation worse. Beyond frustrated.

Thanks for the input and just listening

Southern, I don't think anyone on this site can give you solid advice on this individual situation. It is too specific.
I might suggest, however, that the DI baseball offers might be blinding you from the real issue. The real concern, as I read your post, seems like it needs to be the academics, both in terms of improving and in terms of having necessary grades in reuqired classes, and helping your son understand the importance of his taking the responsiblity to manage and meet those challenges. If your son isn't NCAA eligible or isn't meeting the minimum academic requirements for the collges who have "offered," that needs to be the emphasis. The baseball should be no better than 2nd and maybe not even there.
If your son has struggled in high school, getting him into DI baseball with all that it mandates on the field and off, without his accepting what he needs to do in the classroom, isn't likely to be in his best interests. Bottom line, I would do what is needed to get him the classes and get the grades and academic performance upgraded. I would also work with your son so he knows how important those are for him going forward. It sounds like he is a very good baseball player so the baseball will take care of itself. IMO, baseball needs to be the secondary issue, not the driving force.

Great post Infielddad.

A baseball career is a longshot regardless of HS talent. Life after baseball is reality. If the young man is having academic issues now, they will seem minor in college. I would look into a JC that has a good program that specializes in assisting students with learning disabilities and then in a couple of years when the academic issues may be under control look into transferring to a 4 year in order to complete a degree.

If you are in a private school and the headmaster will not help but the teacher will, you probably need to speak with the Board of Directors. It's amazing what people will do after a telephone call from their boss. Private education is a business and your family should be considered the customers. Sometimes you have to remind people that you are paying their salary.

No, this is NOT a "dumb question"!

It's unfortunate that the problem wasn't identified and addressed earlier, but it's never too late to ask questions and consider all the options available for helping your son improve his academic success, along with the second priority of baseball.

Julie

I am a firm believer that NO question is EVER dumb. Not sure anyone has the authority to tell you Southern Belle, that your " picture is wrong". I do think though that it is hard for those of us out of the loop to completely understand all the specifics in your particular situation, even if some of us sincerely want to help you. Perhaps you could pm me and we can work on getting you some more answers or perhaps the opinions here will be able to give you some options to think about. The HSBBW is really good at that!

Julie,
I agree completely. Not only isn't it NOT a "dumb" question, if you are a senior in high school and just now coming to grips with the grades issue and their full impact, they are tremendously important questions being asked by Southern Belle.
For whatever it is worth, the idea of going over the head of the principal isn't one I would endorse based on what I am reading. If it is true that one other student is being allowed to retake a class, one might assume the principal has a reason for the decision. Maybe the principal actually thinks this is being too heavily influenced by baseball and wants the student to "learn" his way out of past mistakes before he makes more in the future. Maybe that is giving the principal too much or too little credit but I would be thinking through those possibilities before I went over the principal's head.
We have no way of knowing, but from reviewing one past post, the student has not been doing well in school for awhile. At some point, whether it is now or in college, doing poorly will certainly catch up unless the student changes and/or it is recognized the learning disability is strongly associated with the academic issues, or both.

Infielddad,
Very good post, both of them.

The driving force, if one wants to play college ball, should be acceptable grades first, baseball second.

You can't use your son's recent diagnosis of a learning disability to further state your case to retake classes to get better grades to be able to play D1 ball in college. If grades are an issue, then maybe your son needs to condider other options, as suggested Junior college.

TR, sometimes you stand a little too tall on your pulpit. There are no dumb questions and you shouldn't use your good fortune in your ambit to denegrate someone else's situation.

I suggest contacting the schools superintendent and/or the board of education and informing them of the lack of assistance the school is providing and seeing where that takes you.

Southern Belle:You have a PM

I have been following this thread with immense interest and now feel it is appropriate to respond...
My eldest, now 28 years old, was diagnosed at age 16 with ADD and a learning diability and it was not without intense support from myself as well as her teachers.
In the third grade she began to exhibit symptoms of not being able to comprehend math...I had a partial CORE evaluation done and she was deemed "normal"...sent her to a tutor weekly and summer school...4th grade again struggles were evident...another CORE except this was a full one... done by the town...which included a home eval...found she was now 1 year behind in math so tutoring continued as well as summer school...struggles continued into 5th, 6th and 7th grades..repeated 7th against my better judgement...8th grade was a disaster...on to high school and at 16 she read the Time magazine article about ADD and informed me this was exactly how she felt...I paid privately for another full CORE eval to be done by Children's Hospital here in Boston...sat in on the whole exam...end result was ADD with a learning disability in Mathematics...transferred here to the local public high school and she ultimatley quit school on me....I was devastated...constant berating myself that I could have done more...been more astute in my vigilance of her education...recently she reassured me that there was nothing I did or said which would have changed the outcome...she had lost complete interest in education and struggling was too much to take...end result is that now she is a beautiful young woman who is an EMT...loves life and now likes herself...so is being a senior in HS too old to know that there is a problem...by no means NO...I have met people in their 40's who have recently been diagnosed...so keep up your good work...say a prayer and your son WILL do fine

ROCK ON Catchermom,....your post was awesome!!!!! I really enjoyed it!! What a greaaat & inspiring story!!!!

How wonderful of you to share such personal experiences...for that I thank you

CatcherMom,



Great post!!!

If there is anyone on these boards desiring information on the learning disabled and applicable federal laws and guidelines, please feel free to contact me via PM. I will gladly share my knowledge and experience with you. Your child deserves every opportunity provided by law to facilitate the educational process at every level, includiing post-secondary education. The most important concept for you to grasp is knowing that you are your child's only real advocate. Be proactive!

Agree with infield dad... Get the academics in order first, but check the local night/adult school (or continuation school) for the classes you are missing, and the local JC's. Each may offer classes that fit the missing class, and/or be more convenient. Doesn't sound like your school works for your child. Consider changing schools?

quote:

Current principal not interested in helping (teachers willing to help). Have since found out that another student is being allowed to retake a class in hopes of a better grade.

Meticulously document everything with dates and times and meetings and discussion and then head straight to the Super's office and then to an investigative reporter.

Just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to reply and share their views and/or personal experiences on this subject.

As Cathermom said we continue to pray knowing it will all work out in the end.