In our school district there is a policy that the school will only provide grades and attendance figures for applications. There is no “school recommendation” that often is sought from a guidance counselor for applications to private schools. The teachers and principals at the district have taken this to mean that no teacher is permitted to write a recommendation for a student for any school. When confronted on this assumption, the head of the district said that the no-rec policy only applies to a “school recommendation” and does not apply to any recommendations by teachers, who are free to write what they want. When this “write what they want” observation was made to the principal of one of the school, the principal adamantly denied this was possible, referring to the “no school recommendation” policy. Obvious bureaucratic confusion and mis-direction, but it results in NO recommendations from teachers from this district. And, as such, since all private schools require recommendations, it is very difficult to get into a private school from the district. Only a very personal and warm relationship with a teacher will encourage the teacher to write, and even then he/she feels they are taking a risk in doing so.
O, by the way, the district gets $$ from the State depending on enrollment . . .
Not that that doesn’t figure at all into the district “policy” on recommendations . . .