<p>ek4, that is very odd. In addition to impacting students taking some time off before applying to college, there are some very high profile awards for college students that require submission of formal transcripts from secondary schools. Surely the records are maintained in some form at some central office?</p>
<p>I agree with others’ responses, Ek4. The policy doesn’t make sense and needs to be changed unless the records are placed in a central location.</p>
<p>I was able to get some of my own high school records 7 years after graduation.</p>
<p>S had no problems getting records sent from his h.s. 8 months after graduation when he applied to colleges during a gap year.</p>
<p>If in your district, records aren’t being sent to a central location, that policy needs to be changed.</p>
<p>Im in Seattle not port Angeles, but I know from experience that records are not maintained from year to year for current students.
For example- I wanted to see my daughters records as was my right regarding her IEP and other things- and requested everything and quoted WACs at them ( washington administrative code) What they gave me, was not what have should been in her record- things were not being kept from year to year.</p>
<p>The way they change soft and hardware like some people change shoes, I wonder if they even * have* hard copies anywhere?
I am going to find out though</p>
<p>It could be the school administration is so incompetent it no longer has records on the kid, at least not good ones. It may be dragging its feet because it just doesn’t have the goods.</p>
<p>I think it is fine to contact the media, School Board, etc., etc., but the school has already proven its unreliability. So I think the boy ought not sit around waiting for the results of these actions. There is little time for it. He needs to do it, but strategically. </p>
<p>The boy needs to spend the bulk of his time talking to everyone he knows who is in any position of authority, including pastors and bosses, to see if they would be willing to help him out with recommendations. If there are teachers who especially liked the boy, he needs to go to them privately and get good recs sent on his behalf. That will take care of most of his LOR requirements. If he has teachers and bosses writing for him, the schools may even consider this a fulfillment of all LOR requirements.</p>
<p>He will then need to get the transcript and other administration requirements out of the way. As a hedge, I would have him make his own transcript, briefly describing his work for each class and also showing his grades. He must be intensely honest with the grades, including a letter explaining why the transcript is as it is. He should name names and include phone numbers of all involved, using a detached voice to tell exactly what happened. This will enable the colleges to contact the boy’s school if they wish to do so. I suspect the very minute a college calls asking for the stuff, the school will cave in and will probably even give a positive LOR for the kid.</p>
<p>Encourage the boy to write a Great American essay-- no sob stories, but something that shows his spirit, guts, and creativity. Tell him to also describe the EC’s that are most meaningful to him. Also describe the books he has read, briefly outlining their significance to him. These things, with his homebrewed transcript, his explanatory letter with contact information, his great test scores, and great letters, all testify to the kid’s unstoppable nature. It shows that this kid is gonna go forward no matter what. The colleges, thank God in heaven, already know what black kids are up against. They will do what they can to see the truth. I have a great deal of faith in these people to do all they can to see this boy as he really is. But the boy has to give them enough of the right kinds of information to enable them to see him. If he fails here, the story will not end nicely for him, and it shouldn’t either because he can do well for himself despite his dumb school (I am so angry about this I can spit nails!).</p>
<p>The kid needs to get all this done, like yesterday. After he gets it done, he needs to send his application to the NAACP and to the School Board, following up with phone calls to make sure they get it and are moving on it. That way, these organizations can see what sort of damage the school is doing to black kids. If there is a story here, the media will take over. My guess is, there isn’t much of a story because this school’s incompetence and sabotage likely overrides its students long before they even think of applying to colleges.</p>
<p>That way, these organizations can see what sort of damage the school is doing to black kids.</p>
<p>My guess is it isn’t just * AA* kids.</p>
<p>I was cochair of parent group, in the school every day as a volunteer- for years-Caucasian 
and couldn’t get my daughters IEP addressed, not to mention other issues and IDEA is a * Federal* law</p>
<p>Yeah. Understood. My point is, he can contact folks and ask for help. But if he does this showing that he has the goods, they are more likely to help with passion, with anger at how a guy like this is about to get shafted. Plus, if he gets it all done and the school and overall process is still too slothful, he still has something to send to the schools. He ought not wait or trust, but do all he can for himself.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’d rush to the NAACP. They might see the teachers/administrators union as more their constituency than the sstudent in question.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Attempt to determine if the transcript is available at all…was it already destroyed? </p></li>
<li><p>Agree with Xiggi on recommendations. If you beat up the teachers, you’ll get something worthless. </p></li>
<li><p>Is it possible that there is something here that you don’t know about that has strained relations between the student and the school? If so, thats another reason to move cautiously on whom to seek recommendation letters from. (…I know, preposition).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In any case, I think attempting to resolve this without “nuking” the school with the NAACP or a reporter might be the better part of valor here. Whatever the young man’s shortcomings or faults, you can be sure they will come into focus if you precipitate some larger battle than just getting his application completed.</p>
<p>Publicity, reporters, NAACP . . . all that is perhaps appropriate, but will as likely harden the positions in the short term as get anything done. And this kid needs something done in the next 5 weeks or so. That’s why I think retail-level political pressure is the way to go: city council representatives and state reps have service-oriented offices and staff (even if it’s only a person or two) who know how to resolve individuals’ problems with government institutions, and who do it every day. You may need the superintendant or a deputy to say to a subordinate “Make this happen,” and the easiest way to get to that point – at least in my city, and probably in p3t’s city, too – is to work with politicians.</p>
<p>I don’t have much faith in reaching out to the NAACP, for some of the reasons already stated.</p>
<p>It sounds as if the state school safety application has been filed. It may well be that his parents think that is a fine option and that is why they are not stepping in to resolve the difficulties with the school. IF that is the case, the family is not likely to appreciate having reporters take up the story and making a cause out of a situation they do not think is a problem. </p>
<p>If the scenario I have suggested is accurate, I think the student’s best option is to contact the appropriate person in the admission office of each of the schools he is applying to and request that they make contact with his hs to extract a transcript and a school profile; if the hs is unable to produce those documents, perhaps they can contact the district offices. In the meantime, the student should contact any mentors with whom he worked during hs on special activities and request letters from them. If he is spending his gap year working, he should get letters from his employers or supervisors. If he knows anyone else in the community who can attest to his character, abilities and ambitions, he should get letters from them.</p>
<p>As much as I would like to see the incompetents at his hs get what they deserve, I suspect that making a loud public case will not help this particular young man.</p>
<p>This story points to the importance of asking for recs as soon as a course has been completed, or even before. That young man should have requested letters as if he were not going to take a gap year, from teachers who still knew him. If he was in an inner-city school, the teachers are probably focused on getting the students they now have ready to graduate. </p>
<p>I agree it is best to contact the principal and ask for assistance to get the GC and teachers to do something. If that fails, perhaps the superintendent or the school board. I would not sic the media or the NCPAA onto the school. Such adversarial attitude would most likely yield a terse letter of recommendation: “Student xyz was in my class.” Much help would such a letter be to the student, but the teacher would be off the hook.</p>