Arson...It's Not Just for Grown-ups Anymore

A few years back, I worked at Bowie Elementary (also an alias) in a Houston-area ISD. Bowie was whack. This was primarily because the administration at Bowie hated dealing with the deranged behavior of the students, so instead of the students realizing that they were at school where there were high expectations for behavior and learning they thought that they were in a precursor to prison day camp. All of us teachers were really doubling as prison guards and reading, writing, math, and science were a cute little sideshow until they felt like wrecking some havoc.

I made some great friends, while I worked at Bowie. In fact, it was a great friend that got me the job there in the first place. We still keep in touch and I get to hear about the effed up shit that still goes on there. Not that I am happy about it. It breaks my heart to hear about how these excellent teachers get put through the ringer every fucking day, because the principal doesn't have the guts to lay down the law. You can have your class on lock down, but when your kids act like these kids act and nobody gets your back, you are FUCKED! And that's a fact. Here's an example of what I'm talking about... My best friend calls me yesterday.

I had the best day today.

Really. Why?

Brendan, tried to burn down the school.

What?

Yeah. You heard me. Brendan. Tried. To. Burn. Down. The. School.

So.... what did they do? (I'm referring to the admin, because this is what matters in this situation. I'm always curious how Mrs. Trout handles the behavior issues at Bowie.)

Oh, they let him sit in the office for an hour, cause they had to read "Green Eggs and Ham" for a Great Day of Reading first. Then he was sent to Exile (teacher talk for the extended suspension campus) He's gone!

They let him sit for an hour? He tried to burn down the school. And they didn't attend to him for an hour?

Yeah. I know, 'cause they couldn't read any other time of day.

This is what pisses me off. A child brought a lighter to school and held it to the bathroom wall in front of even younger students. He scared them so badly that they started to cry and reported him to their teachers. He said, "I'm gonna burn the school down and I'm gonna kill Mrs. Wall."

To a kid, an hour seems like forever. And sitting in the office is a consequence of no consequence. And as all that time ticks by, he is thinking that everything is probably okay for him or he's plotting how he's going to try to burn the school down even better next time. As an administrator, you should know that if you don't handle issues like potential arson IMMEDIATELY then you are sending the message that it was NO BIG DEAL!

Even if the kid is sent to Exile, you didn't do a good enough job of sending the message that attempting to burn down the school is a a REALLY BAD CHOICE WITH MAJOR CONSEQUENCES! That when you try to burn down the school, it puts people in so much danger that even the principal stops the very important thing that she is doing to deal with you. This is why Bowie Elementary School and other schools like it suck. A principal without principles leads everyone astray.

Fifth Grade Flashback!

Let's talk about 5th grade!  Not my favorite year of teaching.  I never got to give it another go around, but I'm okay with that.  If I could sum it up in one word, it would be clusterfuck.  That's what makes the 5th grade flashback so much fun!  I can visit it in my mind, but I don't have to live it.

Like the day Elisa snipped off a chunk of my hair in the back and called me a bitch for writing her up.  Then she refused to leave the school and the Assistant Principal had to call the cops to remove her from campus, since we couldn't physically remove her ourselves and her mom was unreachable.  Nevermind that she committed a crime when she cut my hair off.  It's called assault.

The principal assigned her to a day of in-school suspension.  That's typically what students got for coming out of uniform.  This is one of the many reasons why I couldn't stand my administrator from that school.  No consequences of consequence.  I'm all for compassion, but I want the consequences.    

I walked Elisa out of the building myself that day.  I hugged her at the curb and let her cry.  I don't remember if she said she was sorry.  It was a rocky road for me and Elisa from there on out.  I felt sorry for her and I did my best to hold her responsible.  At the end of the school year, she told me that I was the third best teacher that she ever had.  Not too shabby.  Considering.