Comments on progress reports don’t match students

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- An apparent glitch in the school district’s

computer software caused parents of students in at least three schools to

received progress reports with incorrect information on them.

The comment section of reports from TeWinkle Middle School, Newport

Harbor High School and Costa Mesa High School contained comments that

didn’t match the students named on the reports, said Sharon Fry,

principal at TeWinkle.

This first progress report of the year had calls from irate and

bewildered parents filling up teachers’ voice mailboxes as soon as Friday

morning.

“My daughter is a straight-A student,” said Kathy Miller, whose daughter

is in the sixth grade at TeWinkle. “It had comments like poor work habits

and excessive talking.”

The most perplexing thing about the report, she said, was the conflicting

information.

“It had an outstanding in citizenship -- and next to it was poor work

habits,” Miller said.

The grades on the reports were correct, explained Jaime Castellanos,

assistant superintendent for secondary education.

But comments entered for students from the first school in the computer

system were then printed on progress reports for every subsequent school.

A stay-at-home mom, Miller got her mail at 10 a.m. and began frantically

calling other mothers asking if they had received any thing or if she had

the only misbehaver.

Llewelyn Smith had no idea what she was talking about -- her mail doesn’t

come until 2 p.m. But when the mail came, Smith couldn’t believe it.”We

get glowing reports every week,” said Smith, whose daughter Kascy attends

TeWinkle. “I was looking at the worst report I’d ever seen.”

Both mothers called the teachers. Smith said she intended to go down to

the school if she didn’t some answers. Once parents learned of the error

and were reassured of their children’s good behavior they said they were

both relieved and amused.

But what about those parents who would not get their mail until after the

school was closed?

“What’s really going to be bad is mothers and fathers who get this at 6

p.m. when they get home from work --they have no recourse,” Smith said,

pondering how many children were grounded unjustly for the weekend.

Fry said the staff at TeWinkle planned to call parents Monday and that

each child would be given a note to take home.

Castellanos said each home in the district will also soon receive a

correction in the mail.

“I feel bad -- I heard through the grapevine that there were students

disciplined over this,” he said.