My name is Jury O. Byrd IV and I am a student in the Invention and
Design Educational Academy located at the Crawford Educational
Complex. To graduate from high school, you are required to complete a
senior exhibition class, portfolio, and presentation as I am sure you
well know. I believe that this is a great requirement because it helps
to show students what it is like to go through an interview and have a
job in the real world. However, there is one problem with the process
of Senior Exhibition at Crawford. There is a limited amount of spaces
in the Business Environments class, which is what the senior
exhibition class is called. I and four of my fellow students were in a
Business Environments class. We found out that the classes were to
full so we did the school a favor and offered to take the class as
independent study. This was accepted and we went off to do our work.
Though many miscommunications, the teacher of the class thought that
we were not doing any work, and therefore, removed all independent
study students from her class. We were told that because this
happened, we are guaranteed a spot in the business environments class
next semester. We agreed to this, so we thought everything was solved.
About a week later, we were all called into the counseling center and
met with Ms. Veazey and were told that we were not doing work for the
independent study course (even though we were told that there was not
one anymore) and that we would be removed from it if things were not
all figured out soon. We were dumbfounded at hearing this, because we
were under the impression that we were no longer in that class and
that we were guaranteed spots in the class next semester. When we
brought this to the attention of our counselor, she denied ever saying
this. She kept insisting that there were not enough spots. A few days
later Ms. Veazey came to our advisory class and threatened to send a
letter home informing our parents that we were going to be unable to
graduate this year. After having a very pointless meeting with her and
the Business Environment teacher, Ms.Daschle, we were still confused.
The only new information that we received was that we were able to
take a personal growth class at a community college to cover the
requirement of business environments. This would be a good
alternative, except that it would cost a lot of
money for transportation, and would probably interfere with my job.
While I do believe that my education is more important then my job, my
job is also very important. I have to support myself. My father does
not have the money or time to be active in my education. I pay for my
own gas, insurance, supplies, and anything else that I might need. He
does supply the needs to live and pays for the Internet, but anything
extra is just that, extra, and I pay for it myself. I cannot leave my
job, because it would greatly hinder my education as well as other
parts of my life. This is a problem that needs to be taken care of
quickly. I request that me and my comrades are either given a
guaranteed spot in senior exhibition class for the first or second
periods for the second semester, or we are excused from this
requirement. All of us have already completed and internship and we
all have a job. This shows that we have all gone through and interview
and have already completed many of the requirements that would be
completed in the senior exhibition class. I understand that we will
still be required to give the presentation like everyone else, but the
requirement to take the class should be lifted in this situation. I am
coming to you because I believe that you are able to help us. This
situation needs to be resolved quickly and all of the staff at
Crawford seem very confused right now and are unable to assist us to
the extent that we need. Please respond letting me know your thoughts
and plan of action.
Thank you for your time,
Jury O. Byrd IV
P.S. The other students with this problem are Susan Ngouy, Chinh
Nguyen, Thy Nguyen, Jessenia Peralta, and of course me, Jury Byrd
