Brickbat: School Daze
In Bessemer, Alabama, a dozen students who thought they would be starting high school this month were instead told they need to finish eighth grade. All of the students had failed a grade in the past. They'd been in seventh grade last school year and were allowed by their principal to enroll on an online program to earn eighth-grade credits, too, so they could go straight to high school after finishing seventh grade. But the school system did not have a license to use that program and the coursework taken by the students couldn't be verified.