PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD -- Almost forty students making up the seventh grade class at a Prince George's County public charter school were given a “question mark" as a grade for all four marking periods of social studies.
The school district did not notify parents until the end of the following school year, when the students were in eighth grade.
According to Imagine Foundations at Morningside Public Charter School, the students impacted, who are now eighth graders, have the option to take a five-week long make-up course, a year after they should have completed the class.
The school said they notified parents of the then seventh graders in April 2018.
A frustrated parent told WUSA9, one of the reasons her student was rejected from a specialized high school she had dreams of attending was because she did not have a social studies grade.
So what happened?
According to parents, a social studies teacher left during the first marking period and was replaced by substitutes who were not qualified to teach the class, or give students grades. Each student received a question mark as a grade for social studies.
Shawn Toler, Executive Director at Imagine Foundations at Morningside, has a different explanation. He sayid there was a "miscommunication between our school’s former principal and Prince George’s County Public School District regarding the manner in which social studies was taught to our middle school scholars."
Toler went on to say that social studies "was incorporated with Reading and Writing instruction. As a result, the district was unable to issue a grade for social studies."
According to Toler, "our new principal and regional team have worked closely with the District to ensure there will be no issue with our social studies instruction for current or future scholars."
Students are not required to take the five-week make-up class. According to Toler, the class is open to "any family requesting a grade."
The school said no students will be held back because of the issue. All students impacted will go on to high school.