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Update:
Petula Dvorak responded to DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s statements yesterday claiming that her original column “[presents] a false representation of DCPS” and the case of student piano prodigy Avery Gagliano.
In her new column, Dvorak defends herself from Henderson’s statements, writing that “Avery’s mom, Ying Lam, stands by her account. And I stand by mine.” Dvorak says that Avery’s parent’s decision to withdraw her from Alice Deal Middle School and homeschool her came after a barrage of emails, phone calls, and letters warning of her truancy. Though they were told to “ignore the truancy notices,” they were never told that Avery’s absences were excused.
Though Henderson and DCPS say they want to work with Avery’s family to find a solution, Lam says that’s not the solution they’re looking for. “[That’s not the solution Lam was hoping for,” Dvorak writes. “She wanted the school system to revisit its blanket policy and treat students as individuals. She wanted a system that doesn’t say one thing, then do another.”
Read the whole thing here.
Original post:
Is a 13-year-old local piano prodigy really seen as a truant in the eyes of D.C. Public Schools? Not so, Chancellor Kaya Henderson says.
Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak published a column yesterday about Avery Gagliano, who, according to Dvorak, was labeled as a truant by DCPS for performance-related absences. Henderson issued a statement today, citing grave inaccuracies in Dvorak’s reporting. “We are disappointed Ms. Dvorak chose to present a false representation of DCPS’ response about this child’s circumstances rather than taking the time to collect the relevant facts,” Henderson said in a statement.
Gagliano, a former student of Alice Deal Middle School, was “one of 12 musicians selected from across the globe to play at a prestigious event in Munich last year and has won competitions and headlined with orchestras nationwide,” Dvorak wrote. But Gagliano’s absences due to her performance-related travels weren’t excused by DCPS:
“As I shared during our phone conversation this morning, DCPS is unable to excuse Avery’s absences due to her piano travels, performances, rehearsals, etc.,” Jemea Goso, attendance specialist with the school system’s Office of Youth Engagement, wrote in an e-mail to Avery’s parents, Drew Gagliano and Ying Lam, last year before she left to perform in Munich.
Although administrators at Deal were supportive of Avery’s budding career and her new role as an ambassador for an international music foundation, the question of whether her absences violated the District’s truancy rules and law had to be kicked up to the main office. And despite requests, no one from the school system wanted to go on the record explaining its refusal to consider her performance-related absences as excused instead of unexcused.
In a response, Henderson says there was a miscommunication between DCPS and Gagliano’s family, and writes that “we believed our communication with the family as recently as August 25 clarified that Avery’s absences had been excused.”
Henderson explained what happened thusly: “While DCPS was working with the family to excuse the student’s absences, the automatic letter that is generated when a student reaches ten unexcused absences was sent.” According to Henderson, all of Gagliano’s absences were excused and she was never referred to a truancy officer.
