I love Thursdays. Not only is that the day that both the Post and the Times run their Home, and Fashion and Style sections respectively, but it’s when the Post sends out its Montgomery Extra, a local supplement. And each Extra issue includes lots of good nitty-gritty local education bits. Today’s was particularly noteworthy (here’s the link):
Parent Outraged, Arrested
Scott Rogers, an outspoken Damascus parent who is well known on parent Internet lists, has been banned from his son’s elementary school for a year following an incident that he describes as a protest arrest this month.
Rogers was at Potomac Elementary School on March 6 for a conference with teachers and administrators. His son attends the school’s Chinese immersion program.
In e-mail correspondence, Rogers said he wanted the school to assign fifth-grade work to his third-grade son, who is gifted. Rogers says his son’s teacher is assigning fourth-grade work, with occasional forays into fifth-grade material; Rogers considers this insufficient.
School system officials often disagree with parents on whether a gifted child is properly challenged, but such disputes seldom end in arrest.
Rogers wrote that “after years of the usual run-around, I figured either I was going to successfully argue my case (with their documents) or I was just not going to leave (unless in handcuffs.) Unfortunately, the meeting did not go well.”
According to Principal Linda Goldberg, Rogers raised his voice, pointed his finger at staff “in a threatening manner” and pursued them loudly into the main office, leading school officials to put the campus on Code Blue, an emergency procedure.
When Rogers refused to leave, police were summoned. According to an arrest document, the 6-foot-4 Rogers “stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed very loudly, ‘I am Rosa Parks. I will not ride on the back of the bus.’ “
Rogers, a stay-at-home father, said he spent 3 1/2 hours in jail. He faces misdemeanor charges of disturbing school operations and trespassing, each punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a fine. Rogers was banned from school under a section of state code that allows school officials to deny access to someone who has disrupted normal educational functions.
He said he invoked the name of Rosa Parks to draw a parallel between the civil rights struggle and his battle against “lowered expectations” at the school for his son, who he contends is “undertaught.”
Lordy!
Based on comments by some who seem to know him–in real life and online–Rogers doesn’t have many fans in the community. How does the saying go? “One parent complaining is a fruitcake; two parents are a fruitcake and friend; five parents will get some attention; 20 parents can be seen as a powerful organization.”
Perhaps he’s been trying (clumsily) to advocate online, but problem is, it’s hard to “rouse the masses” to make an impact: MCPS is comprised of 200 schools and 137,745 students. With a system that big, and with lives so busy, many parents make a choice to focus on their individual child’s situation, especially when the school year goes by in a blink and yet the bureaucracy turns so slowly.
So while I don’t advocate his tactics–and pity his poor son and the impact this will have on him–I can empathize with Rogers’ frustration and sense of urgency. The school, meanwhile, just sees the fruitcake.
Those were my thoughts exactly – he didn’t use the best judgement or tactics and I feel really bad for his son, but boy do I understand his frustration! The gifted/advanced parents from our tiny district did try to band together to effect change and still the powers that be just blew us off.
You know, after I posted it struck me that this is about a *dad* who lost it. So often it is the mom who is in there tirelessly, thanklessly advocating. They’re the ones who are dismissed as over-involved Psycho Moms. I suppose it’s a testament to our gender that we don’t read about more moms taking equally dramatic steps. For every Scott Rogers there are probably 10 , 50, 100, 1000 frustrated moms.
Good for Scott Rogers! This incident might have the same effect that Rosa Parks had years ago.
I would like to politely disagree with Amiga. Whereas I understand the frustration that many parents feel, Scott Rogers’ tactics are very different from Parks’. Park sat quietly and firmly — and above all, peacefully. Her immovably peaceful protest gained force not from the volume of her voice, but from the fact that a woman sitting on a bus could be perceived as a threat to the social order. That discrepancy helped many people question segregation law and realize that those laws were not only discriminatory, but utterly illogical and meritless.
Unfortunately, by presenting himself in the way he did, Scott Rogers only adds to the perception that parents of gifted children are delusional elitists with a sense of entitlement, when the reality, for most of us, is really quite different: we’re parents who want an appropriate education. Acting inappropriately, especially as Rogers did, is not the way to go.
Oh dear — I agree, poor judgment, but I totally understand those feelings. Trying to advocate with the school was such a nightmare! It’s a wonder you don’t read more stories like this.