Dreaded-letter day

By LETITIA STEIN
Published January 27, 2006

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HALL PASS: BURNS MIDDLE SCHOOL

Hall Pass is an occasional feature highlighting moments that define the class day, but rarely make headlines. This week, we cross our fingers as report cards are distributed in a seventh-grade homeroom at Burns Middle School.

BRANDON - This is a story about nine weeks in the life of a student at Burns Middle School. It's told in capital letters on a single piece of paper.

Report card in hand, seventh-grader Shanice Carter squeals the news from the front of the classroom.

"A! A! A! A! A! A!"

Then her gloat turns to a moan. "Ceeee!"

Straight A's in academics, but a C for conduct in geography.

At the back of the classroom, Abraham Lozano acts blase about the lone B on his report card; it was in language arts.

"Because I don't read," he tells classmate Ryan Vickers.

"Dude, I didn't read either," Vickers replies. "And I got an A."

Life's not fair on report card day.

Brianna Eveler jumps three times after scanning her report card. She made Principal's Honor Roll with straight A's.

A girl walks down the hallway in tears. Her report card is stamped with a C, friend Erika Young reports.

Erika's upset, too. She made her first B. Some parents lavish rewards for good grades. Hers didn't, not when she made all A's. Now, she expects consequences.

"Now they're going to give me something," she grimaces.

To release report cards, Burns Middle changes the class schedule. Students receive report cards during homeroom at the end of the day. This way, they can't claim the papers got lost They have to find more creative excuses.

"Some of them make it home," homeroom teacher Athena Nielsen says.

Of course, there shouldn't be surprises. Students already know their grades. Parents received warnings about really bad marks. These days, they even can monitor their child's class-by-class progress online.

Seeing the letters on paper makes it real.

Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com