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Let Her Go! To School, That Is
Grace, age 8, is the victim of parents school fight.
Amanda suggested that eight-year-old Grace should have input into the decision of where she goes to school. I don't think that a very practical idea, since the divorce decree gave the father the last word on her education.
Although they have joint custody, Esther Yang lives in Manhattan and Edward Carter on Staten Island. Grace spends Tuesday through Thursday with her father, and the other four days with mom. She was attending PS 16 near the father's home, where only 50% of the students scored at grade level or above. The mother, without authority, enrolled her in the coveted PS 6, on the upper East Side of Manhattan.
The father objected because of the long commute to PS 6 and re-enrolled her in PS 16. We don't know why her father didn't welcome the opportunity for Grace to attend a school where 90% of the students tested at grade level or above. Why would he stand in the way of this apparently gifted student who scored 92% in a private elite school test? She deserves to be in school with peers like herself. Her father says he fears she would lose the opportunity to participate in extra curricular activities at the school near his home.
In reality, this little girl is a pawn between parents, who are not providing an appropriate education that is in the best interest of their daughter. Why would this mother agree to let her ex-husband's choose their daughter's school? Perhaps what the father really needs to do is to move to Manhattan, to ease the commuting the child already does, though it may be a tougher commute between Staten Island and the Upper East Side. So far, the Courts have sided with Grace's father, but her mother has appealed. We'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.
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It's disgusting that these
It's disgusting that these parents can't seem to get over themselves and let their child go to school. It is way beyond who is right or wrong. This child is obviously nothing more than a pawn in their seemingly endless fight about nothing! GROW UP YOU JERKS! And think of your daughter.
CM
When I read the post on
When I read the post on Saturday I was also puzzled by the mother's choice to allow the father all say in educational issues.
I have to question why the court system allows one parent to have such authority over another parent. These two people are evidently very involved in the child's life. You would think that the judge or attorneys involved in the divorce would have encouraged both parents to have equal say based on the 50/50 custody situation.
Of course, court ordered equal say in the child's education probably wouldn't have done any good in this case. They may just be determined to fight. It may not have anything at all to do with the child and her education.
Cathy Meyer