About two months ago, we had an incident with two students in one of the 7th grade classrooms. It started out as a playful exchange, and eventually led to a boy picking up a chair and hitting a girl over the head with it, gashing her eyebrow and causing utter chaos before 8 in the morning. He was a student who had come mid-year, and had been a behavior issue since day one. In fact, he had been kicked out of his previous school for fighting, yet we still allowed him to come to our school. Problem number 1,392 with our county.
He was immediately put out of school and within days was a candidate for long-term suspension. Then one day, I saw his name removed from my roster, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. From day one, he was nothing but disrespectful and disruptive. He created a scene in class, and then laughed when he was disciplined. He talked back, refused to do work, slept, and had half of the seventh grade girls fighting over him. This incident was just the icing on the cake. The girl's parents pressed charges against him, and we thought for sure we were done dealing with this child.
Keyword: thought.
One day after school, our assistant principal was having a casual conversation with one of our team members, and he told her that the boy's trial had been held that day. Apparently, after hearing his case, the judge ordered this kid back to school immediately. She said no one could prove he was a threat to the school, and instead gave him probation and community service. No one could prove he was a threat to the school? Didn't he prove that when he picked up a chair and knocked a girl upside the face with it? He even claimed to have "blacked out" from anger. That's not dangerous?
When I heard the news, I felt sick to my stomach. This kid was going to waltz right back into school with a smirk on his face, and the kids were going to worship him. He would destroy the dynamic of a class I had worked so hard to repair. He would corrupt my innocent babies.
The school didn't have a say in the matter. The judge ordered it, so it was to be done. He was not allowed to come back until the principal had met with the superintendent, and the child, parent and probation officer met with the principal. This bought us 3 terror-free days, but eventually The Day rolled around when his name was placed back on my roster, and I thought I might throw up.
Before he was allowed back in class, we met with our school leaders and went over his behavior contract. It was basically a restatement of all of the rules and policies that ALL of our students must follow, but in a format that would spell it out very clearly for everyone involved. The contract required us to first make contact with the parent, then the probation officer, then disciplinary action. When asked my thoughts on the behavior contract, I couldn't respond with anything except, "I'm so angry that we are even in the position that I cannot think clearly."
Two weeks into his return, the child has broken 10 of his 11 expectations. So what happens? We have another meeting, this time with his father. The principal reminds him that he is not upholding his contract, and that the next offense will mean suspension. But shouldn't it be too late for that? Shouldn't he have been gone the first time he broke his contract?
Reason #275 why I can't stay here. These kids and their parents are not held accountable for anything. Everything is the teacher's fault, the school's fault, the principal's fault. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of working my butt off, only to be told I could be doing more, I should be doing more, that I'm failing my kids. That it's not fair to them. That I'm not good enough. I'm done.
21 days.
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