Let's punish initiative!

We are in the final two weeks of school for our kids. They will be missing the final 3 days of the school year since we will be on our vacation. I visited with all of her teachers last week and let them know that Karissa will need to get things done as far in advance as possible. They all seemed to understand. Karissa is not a kid that procrastinates and puts things off unless they are so unpalatable that she is avoiding it which isn't often. She rarely has homework because she takes her down time to get her homework done. Today Karissa came out to the car at the end of the day nearly in tears because a paper she had worked really hard on last week was refused by the teacher. She told me the teacher wanted her to type it over, just to type it over. I was furious. I went in to the teacher and asked what the deal was. It turned out to be a miscommunication. The teacher wanted her to complete the peer editing process, and rough draft editing and then turn in the paper. She more or less skipped these two steps. It's the process she is wanting the kids to learn. Ok, I told her, but requested she be a little more lenient with us given our situation. "Lila wasn't even here Friday or today to peer edit", Karissa told her! This isn't the first time this has happened. Her Science and Reading teacher has been working on her Masters degree all year and has actually graded down two things she turned in before the due date. Her reason is she wants every thing turned in from all students at the same time so she doesn't lose anything. I let this slide a bit since she had a strong A anyway. In my recent experience in the school, if you have a student who is turning work in on time, that is cause to smile. If they turn it in early, jump for JOY! Grading them down or refusing the work definitely isn't sending the right message. I just don't get it!!!