The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

Two days ago, this kid named Norman was running in the hallway. He stopped in front of Mrs. Robinson's doorway, banged his hand on her door repeatedly and pressed his face up against the window. Mrs. Robinson stopped her teaching (because it was impossible to continue) and said, "Get your ugly face out of my doorway." Norman then ran off, turned around and yelled down the hallway, "Suck my dick, BITCH!" and continued running.
Norman was suspended.

Today his mother showed up.

When her and Norman walked in the building a teacher told him to tuck in his shirt (a school rule) and the mother said, "You better say 'please' to my son." She later informed all of the teachers (as she screamed it down the hallway) that because Mrs. Robinson called her son ugly, he was totally right to say what he said. She said nobody can call her son ugly and they deserve any m'f'in thing they get.


She then walked down the hallway and threatened to beat up another teacher and screamed profanities down the hallway until she had to be dragged away by the police.

I'm Disgusted.

Some of the 9 kids mentioned in this article are my former students:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.mta08dec08,0,3220736.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout


I'm disgusted by the fact that nine of them attacked a woman on a bus. It is deplorable.

But I more disgusted by the comments left by readers.
When a white kid goes into a school and kills people with shotguns, he was depressed and picked on. He had personal and psychological issues.
When some black kids beat up a woman, they're "animals." I'm disgusted.
ANIMALS? Those statements make we want to strangle America.

As I was leaving today, I saw the school police officer outside. He came up to me and we were having a conversation when the vice principal came outside and asked him to come to the office because of a "situation."
We both went inside. There, a mother was beating the crap out of her son. Officer Johnson told her she had to stop and she kept saying that he's her son and she can do whatever she wants. Me and another teacher got all the other kids out of the office area and they closed the door. He kept telling her that she is not allowed to hit him like that on school property. He told her she had to let go of him.
I walked the other kids outside, away from the office. When we were outside, the boy ran out door, dropped his coat and backpack (its 18 degrees outside) and ran off. His mother came out screaming about how she had told them not to let him go and that it was the school's fault that he ran off. They closed the door in her face and she continued screaming profanities at the school.
I have no idea where that little boy went, but I'm sure it's not home. I hope he's warm and safe.

Takin' Care of Business

So, my 7th graders are working with a partner to create a business. After Shermera and Montel had worked very hard on their business sign, they showed me....

The S&M Spot.

ummmm. So innocent! So cute!


P.S. This Shermera is not to be confused with Shamira, who is also in her class, or Shameera who is in my 4th period.

The Name Game

It was only a matter of time until I wrote this list.

Shabrivia
RonniAndre
Flavour
Kesia
deasia
Shavontae
Davontae
Damonte
Keonte
Deonte
Sagheerah (pronounced Sa-hara)
Nautica
Unique
Uneek
Uneeque
Breonna
Briana
Brionna
Bryona
Zie'Kia
Shacoreya
Karisma
Diva
Deeva
Queen
Queenette
Sumayyah
Sybrionna
Shamonique (I have two of them)

Oh, get excited. That's only a partial list.

If I'm Not Okay With It, Then You're Not Okay With It.

So, the vice principal that got beat up? Yeah, he definitely came to school today acting like it wasn't a big deal. The student got suspended for TWO DAYS. TWO. Apparently, "she has a lot going on at home." WHAT? So, when I smack a kid across the face, its okay as long as I have a lot going on at home? (This is a recurring theme, btw.)

When myself and other teachers called vice principal out about the fact that he is not doing more to follow up, he told us it was his decision and something that only affected him.

Um, I beg to differ.

This girl isn't even one of the "crazy" ones. Apparently, she just all of a sudden snapped. But what message does this send to the students who will be fully aware that they are attacking you, and are totally fine with it? "Oh, that's cool. Just go hang out at home (where something so bad is happening that you think its okay to hit grown men) for a few days. Happy Thanksgiving!"

The thing about it is though, is that this man is one of the few people in the building that these kids would even dare to touch. 90% of the teachers (including myself) approach it with this attitude: "Go ahead and try to touch me. I will lay your ass out." This is vice principal's approach: "Hey! wait! don't hit! ow! That is not something you should be doing! Think about your actions!" (Which is a good thing to say when they are calm enough to understand what you are saying, not when they are kicking you) And all the kids HATE him. And all the kids LOVE us. Hmmmm....

He also told us that she can't be expelled because of "No Child Left Behind." Apparently he thinks that we are not aware of ANY OTHER SCHOOLS IN AMERICA.

Fight.

Yep, there was a fight today.
How was this different than any other day, you say?
Oh, that's because it was a GIRL beating up the VICE PRINCIPAL.

That's right. According to the teachers that broke it up, VP was on the floor covering his face and this girl was kicking him and punching him.

What the hell?

There's so many negative things I could say about this situation, but most of them are about the vice principal himself and not the insane little girl. And, sorry for the pun, but I don't really think I should kick a man while he's down.

Anger (Mis)Management

Today during 2nd period, one of the vice principals stopped me in the hallway. We're having an assembly last period for the 7th graders about anger management. Take the girls to the 2nd floor and the boys to the 3rd. That's all he says.

Last period, I walk my girls to their place and walk the boys to theirs. I spend the next 30 minutes getting random boys out of the hallway and into the room they're supposed to be in. I finally get down to the girls session. The vice principal has handed out a "quiz" of 5 questions asking questions like, "what would you do if someone hit you?" The obvious response here is punch them in the mouth and insult their mother.

Oh, wait, no its not.

However, that is the obvious response of every single girl in the "assembly." Vice Principal tells them to complete the "quiz." About 10 minutes later (and three times of the principal standing at the doorway screaming, YOU ARE TOO LOUD! SHUT YOUR MOUTHS!") I look up to see the VP gone. We are left with these girls for about half an hour with no direction whatsoever.

I understand the purpose of these assemblies, but how about give me a few days notice? or how about have someone who ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY"RE TALKING ABOUT! or how about not expecting 100+ girls to sit in a room and have an intimate discussion on their feelings.

This is one of the days when I'm not sure I can do this.

First, it was this:

http://wjz.com/local/antonio.brown.belinda.2.565934.html

This baby, little Tony, comes to visit me almost every single day. The 13 year old mentioned in the article is one of my students from last year. I would play with baby Tony every time his grandmother came up to the school. This year, she would always bring him by my room, even though I don't teach her son anymore. He always puts his head on my shoulder, pats my back and tells me everything will be okay. I have no idea what is going to happen to him.

Then, Joe was transferred out of our school. He's been acting weird for a few weeks but he wouldn't tell anybody what's going on. Well, the vice principal told me today that there was a "recurrence" of the molestation, and his mother took him out of our school. I didn't get to say goodbye. I have no idea what is going to happen to him.

I saw a kid on the street today, a student that I taught my first year. He dropped out of high school a few weeks ago. This is the school that he went to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Yx7HDXCxM

It breaks my heart, but I can't say that I blame him.

Tavon. I know that 3 years ago, his older brother was shot in the head and dumped in the chesapeake bay. His mother is a crack addict and his father just got out of jail (and is trying to get himself together.) I asked him today if anybody had ever told him that he's wonderful and he shrugged his shoulders and started to cry.

THEY DON'T DESERVE THIS LIFE.

Nightmare

Well. Friday morning during announcements, principal said that all teachers needed to come to a "quick 10-minute informational meeting" after school. I had no idea what it was about, so I didn't think anything of it.
After school we all crowded in to basically get our heads blown off. She spent 20 minutes yelling at us and saying that she has been a principal for 9 years and never had a school this bad, and she's not going to start now. She screamed and blamed us for the horrible state that is our school.
I don't know if I've mentioned before, but on the first floor of the building (where I teach) its like a normal school. Every now and then something crazy, but mostly pretty calm. The 2nd and 3rd floors get progressively worse, with the third floor being total chaos. Basically there is a bunch of new teachers, a bunch of foreign teachers that aren't loud and have no classroom management, and a few veteran teachers that just don't give a shit.
So, here's the new plan. Instead of helping the new/struggling teachers, they are just taking away their classes. The 2nd floor teachers and the other side of my floor are doubling their class sizes. In November. These classes now have upwards of 40! kids in a class. We literally do not have that many desks or enough room. We have to spend Monday morning procuring desks and chairs. These children that are coming from upstairs have been running up and down the building for 3 months screaming and setting fire alarms. We're supposedly giving them a sheet of paper with their new schedule and trusting them to find their way to the new class and wait patiently while someone finds a desk for them? Give me a break.
How this affects me is this: As the IB teacher, my 7th grade classes already had 35 students (but they are well-behaved) so we aren't getting any more of them. However, my 6th grade classes are very small (and wonderful). But so everyone doesn't murder us, we are combining our two sixth grade classes and taking on some kids from the other side.
This situation pisses me off for a number of reasons:
1. These good kids downstairs are going to get SCREWED. they did nothing to deserve having to sit in a classroom with somebody who throws books at the teacher. They will learn nothing.
2. Any teacher who is any good at their job is getting SCREWED. These teachers that couldn't control the 3rd floor are now being regulated to assistants and hall monitors, but they still get paid the same as I do. I'm not saying that as you get better you should get easier students. I'm saying fine, send me upstairs to where the insanity is, and I'll fix it. Don't put them down here with the students who actually care.
3. The administration KNEW this was a time bomb. But they scheduled the "quick" meeting on a Friday after school. This is supposed to go into effect on MONDAY.
4. Whenever someone in the meeting brought up something negative about this idea (there is absolutely not enough room for 40 students in ANYBODY'S classroom.) The administration turned into defensive children and said that if we didn't like it, then we should come up with a better solution. No, that's YOUR job.
5. It's frigging November. I get screamed at all the time about student achievement and lesson plans and planning ahead and blah blah blah. I'm getting an entire new CLASS. They will no longer have any of the teachers they've had since the beginning of the year. I have no idea what they've been learning, where their skills are.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Trippin'

I had to call a PARENT today to inform them that when we go on our trip to the Japanese Embassy in DC next week, WE ARE NOT ACTUALLY GOING TO JAPAN. (She doesn't want her daughter out of the country!)

You Know You Teach In BCPSS When....

1. You refer to your school by number, not name
2 A teacher quits every month, like clockwork
3. You get a snow day because there is a chance it may snow
4. Other teachers steal supplies from your room
5. You (or another teacher at your schools has) had your tires slashed while at work...probably by an angry student
6. You've passed a student just because he/she showed up to school everyday
7. None of the copiers in the whole school work (except the one in the principal’s office-which no one else can use.)
8. You and your students have to step over food and condiments when leaving the cafeteria.
9. Most of your children are more educated than their parents
10. Your kids still use their fingers to add
11. Your kids don’t know their multiplication tables (even in their teens).
12. You only have air conditioning when its below 50 outside
13. The heat in your classroom only works when outdoor temperatures exceed 75 degrees
14. You've had to break up a fight involving children that are twice your size
15. If half of your students show up for class - its a good day
16. Your school has never met benchmark on a state exam
17. A child cusses you out in class and it doesn’t even phase you (or warrant much of a punishment.)
18. Almost all of your students read well below their grade level.
19. Almost every student on roll has been in jail at some point
20. You have to give a kid a 60 on their report card even if they did nothing all quarter
21. The sound of a fire alarm means nothing to you.
22. The word "dog" rhymes with "mug"
23. A chicken box is an acceptable "bring-to-class" breakfast
24. Most of your students don't live with their parents.
25. When you go to call parents, none of the 10 or so numbers you have still work.
26. There are more long term substitutes in the school than certified teachers.

This isn't even my list, which I think makes it all the funnier.

Cursive Shmursive

For our economics unit, we're learning how to write checks and balance checkbooks. I found out that one of my SEVENTH GRADERS never learned how to write in cursive. He can't sign his name! Where were his teachers? WHERE ARE HIS PARENTS?

I'll Mace You Good, Boy!

At 2:20, principal came over the intercom, "Teachers assess the smell in the hallway and close your doors." (What the hell does that mean?!)
At 2:23, principal came over the intercom, "Officer Johnson, please report to the office. Teachers keep your doors closed."
At 2:26, principal came over the intercom, "Teachers act as though this is a fire drill. Escort your students out for the end of the day, students will not go to their lockers."
Students are yelling, "I have to get my stuff!" Principal is yelling, "GO OUTSIDE!"
All the students are outside, all the teachers are standing around because we have no idea what is going on.
The principal comes out of her office and starts yelling at us because we are "congregating" and not helping. Helping do what? We have absolutely no clue what is happening.

Finally I just got my stuff and left at 3pm. There was a line of about 50 kids to go back in and get backpacks. They were letting 3 kids in at a time. We had, by this time, found out the police officer maced somebody. Mace won't kill you. Why couldn't the kids just run in and get their stuff? LAST TIME there was mace, we didn't even get to go outside. Why was this time different?

I Hate The Educational System

Today I had to spend my planning period for "professional development."
We had to go into a room for the entire period and listen to someone talk to us about co-teaching with a special educator. (If you teach students with IEP's, there should be a special educator come into the room a few times a week to assist with their learning needs.)
1. We teach the advanced students. I have one IEP within all of m 95 kids, and his is a speech and learning problem, which means I don't do any modifications for his work.
2. Even if I did teach IEP kids, special educators only go into the math and language arts classroom, so it still would have been a waste of time.
3. They passed out 15-20 worthless sheets of paper to EVERY teacher in the building. Yet, our copiers don't work, and we don't have enough paper.

But you know, that's not even my point.
They informed us that the special educators should be co-teaching with the regular educator, so that all the students feel as though this special educator is part of the classroom. They don't think that this teacher coming in and just assisting the special ed kids is teaching, its "tutoring," which is not okay. So regular educators and special educators need to plan together to get it all worked out. Why?
If its your classroom, its YOUR classroom. ANYBODY who comes in once a week is not going to be "a part" of the classroom. And if they wanted to teach entire classes of regular ed kids, they wouldn't be special educators! And why should you alter the flow of your classroom?
They want you to plan with the other teachers on your team, plan with the other teachers in your subject area, plan with the special educator, but yet they don't respect you enough to let you create your own lessons, they basically tell you what you have to teach.

Faculty Meeting

Oh, how I loathe the faculty meeting.
Whenever we have an issue, it gets pushed aside and are told to, "bring it up at the faculty meeting." However, when we have them (once a month), we actually get lectured to for about an hour. By that time, everyone is antsy to get out of the building, and then principal breezes out after "thanking" us. As posted here on this blog, our school has a multitude of problems. These are the things covered in the faculty meeting:

• Teachers should clean up their rooms.
• If you see paper in the hallway, pick it up and throw it away.
• Make sure your room is decorated.
• Your classroom is like your house, its dirtiness reflects on your teaching.
• Make your kids clean up trash.
• Decorate your bulletin board.

Yep. That's about it.

Ring The Alarm

We've had, I don't know, maybe 10 or so fire alarms go off since the school year started. Once we have actually left the building. Other times, once you've got the kids in the hallway (I generally associate a loud, blaring alarm with a sense of urgency. Maybe it's just me...) they come over the intercom and say, "Teachers, please disregard the fire alarm. Disregard the fire alarm." Meanwhile, the alarm continues to go off for at least 20 more minutes making it impossible to teach.
Today was another "alarm" but no one left, they all waited to hear that it was a false alarm. What happens when there really IS a fire? (Which wouldn't be surprising, to be honest.)

IB Conference

So, I'm in Seattle for an IB conference. Our school is a "candidate school" for the international baccalaureate program. It's sortof ridiculous. Basically we have created an elitist program where only smart, well-behaved students are allowed the best teachers(and by "best," I actually mean the ones with classroom management and least likely to leave in the middle of the year), schedule, field trips and anything else our school has to offer. We're on the first floor, so that visitors see this school instead of the one I write about in this blog (that is mostly the 2nd and 3rd floors). The principal constantly threatens them with removal (what do they care? The 3rd floor looks "really fun" to them.) They are always told how horrible they are for petty stuff like talking in the hallway (heh hem, JOE.) But they see other students throwing books at teachers and screaming profanities down the hallway.
Now I'm at this conference. All the teachers have to have the training in order for us to become an official IB school. I get here, and meet all these other teachers who are cool, but who totally piss me off. Today in my group, there were teachers from Orange County ("Our kids are exactly like those jerks on that show.") and a teacher that complained about her school because 30% of the kids are on free and reduced lunch (100% of my kids are on free and reduced lunch...i.e. poor.) They tell stories that start with, "Well, last year when we put on a full-scale production of Romeo and Juliet..." and "Our supply room has been out of lavender tinted paper for almost 2 weeks!" (wait, wait...Supply Room?!)
Meanwhile, we discuss "challenges" of IB. I mention that we have difficulties getting teachers trained because of such high teacher turn-over. Inquiries are made. All of a sudden I'm like some circus sideshow. "Quick! Go talk to the Baltimore teacher! Listen and be amazed! You'll be shocked! You'll be appalled! You'll *tsk* and shake your head!" Now everybody looks at me like I am slowly morphing into a banana and they don't know if they should say something.
Good Times in Seattle.

"Ain't this where Jeepers Creepers be?!"

Had a good time at the corn maze. Left the school an hour later after principal yelled at me/us for asinine reasons (apparently I'm supposed to have all permission slips signed, alphabetized and also on a typed list two weeks in advance so that she can go back over it and make sure I'm not retarded. I disagree with this strategy. Harassment and name-calling ensues.) It's Saturday afternoon and nobody has called and said they found a random kid still lost in the maze, so hopefully everything turned out okay.

The kids kept asking, "Where is the corn? I don't see no corn."

They really enjoyed the slide.

There were like 10 different mazes at this place.

You could also "mine" for gemstones.

It was good times. However, I will have to be insane if I ever want to take charge of another large scale field trip. I'll still go to Outward Bound (I can manage a 15 kid trip.) But when you start throwing around 150+ permission slips with that crazy woman as a principal, it is WAY too much to handle.

I wouldn't wish the stress of planning and organizing a field trip on my worst enemy. Hopefully there will be a fun-filled trip to a Corn Maze tomorrow. I'm sure something crazy will happen.

Snipers and Hostages

I let the kids go at 2:35. I was in my room getting some stuff together for a field trip, and about 30 kids come back into my room saying, "We can't leave. They won't let us leave." We hung out for like 10 minutes, then the school secretary came over the intercom and said for us all to report to the auditorium. There we sat for about half an hour after school.
Why? At the street over from us, there were about 10 police snipers stationed outside of a house. I don't know the whole story (It didn't even make the news!) but I heard some man had hostages in the house.
So my after-school activity was teaching 11 year olds what the word "sniper" means. While we were in the auditorium, principal screamed and blew a whistle--they had to be totally silent. 400 middle schoolers--DON'T EVER TALK OR YOU GET SUSPENDED. Why not?

Speeding Tickets

The other day, I saw a police car pull over a speeding car in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Driving down that road, I've seen prostitutes, drug deals and other kinds of unsavory activity. Is it really the place for a speed trap?

That is the mentality of my principal at my school. Yesterday, I saw a student scream in a teacher's face. When I went to the office to write a referral (the teacher is new and was also having other problems) the principal said to me (about the teacher), "He has to learn what to do with them. I can't be everything to everyone."
Later on that same day, I was standing in the hallway and she screamed down the hallway at me, "Miss V, YOUR student is in trouble AGAIN." I had no idea what she was talking about, so I walked down to her and asked. Apparently, Joe had been walking down the hallway on the way to the bathroom and he had *gasp* looked in the window of another class! Well shit, where's a guillotine when you need one?

Today, after school, there was a huge fight outside the building. The police officer and all the male teachers were asked to go outside and monitor. Two students were brought back in the building in handcuffs and went to the police officer's office. Principal was nowhere to be found. About 10 minutes later, she comes outside to yell. She sees Imani, who is one of my best students. She is well-mannered, studious and all around wonderful. She was standing with her friend, who was using Imani's phone to call her mother. Principal came up to the girls and said, "Give me the phone, you are still on school property." When she gave it to her, Imani said, "But that's MY phone!" Principal then SCREAMED at her in front of about 60 other people and then sent her into the office. She then walked back in and screamed at her (at the top of her lungs...I could hear her down the hallway) for about 20 minutes. When I left about 20 minutes after that, she still hadn't even acknowledged the students who had been fighting earlier.

Speeding tickets in the midst of murders.

Joe

We all met with the principal and Joe is still in our class.
YAY!

Breaking My Heart

I love all my kids, I really do. But there are a select few (I'll say about 5) that I really feel like they're my children. I don't really consider them my "favorites" because they're sometimes troublemakers. But they are those kids that you just see something in and yet at the same time, you know they've gotten the shaft so far in life. Tavon is the sweetest boy I know, and so smart, but his mother is a drug addict and he just has this bone-deep sadness about him. Like he has already found all the ugliness of the world, and he's only 12 years old.
Another one of those children is Joe. He hasn't lived her his whole life, so he knows what "real" school is like. He told me last year that he can't learn when its loud. And when you have a new teacher (or a bad teacher...) it is generally loud and rambunctious (or out of control) in a classroom. Some of the hardcore kids from the city that DO want to learn can maintain through the chaos. But Joe is one who just can't. I tried to get him in the advanced classes last year, but they were full.
This year, after I fought, and he aced his standardized tests, he got in the advanced classes. However, our principal still hates him because he's a goofy little boy and gets in goofy little boy trouble.
Apparently, when he was 9, and living somewhere else, some kind of innappropriate sexual something happened with him and a younger child (I'm really not clear at all on what happened, the principal vaguely mentions it in a "I know, and its really important but i just can't possibly tell you" kind of way) Whenever Joe gets in trouble, the principal brings this up. What the HELL does that have to do with him talking during spanish class?
(And on a complete side note, how can you blame a CHILD for something like that? Normal nine year olds don't know about sex. If he molested somebody, HE HAS BEEN MOLESTED HIMSELF.)
So, two days ago, he got suspended for hitting someone after that person hit him. (Despite what most people think, at my school, that is relatively minor.) The other student did not get suspended. When he came back to school, the principal said he was coming out of advanced classes. (This is her form of punishment, wtf?) He has had no problems in any class besides Spanish (which is a brand new teacher). He, in fact, excels above many of his classmates within the advanced classes.
I walked into the office this morning because I saw Joe coming back from suspension. I asked him what had happened. He started to tell me, but the principal interrupted and said, "I'm taking him out of the program. He's going upstairs." I started to argue with her, because upstairs is all new teachers and a huge chaotic mess. He did nothing wrong in his classes, and suspension was his punishment (which he spent at the library by the way.) She says to me, "I have to make decisions based on what is best for the entire school. I know things that you don't know about this boy, and I have to make those decisions that benefit everyone." (She doesn't know that I know about the molestation.)
Basically, she doesn't want this "criminal" corrupting her "good" kids. HE IS A GOOD KID. A good kid that obviously has serious personal problems. Does that mean we give up on him? I have known him for two years and he has never been innapropriate in any way.
HE IS A CHILD. Aren't we there to try and help them?

A Whole Other Level

For the most part, today was just a regular day. Nothing really excitng, my kids were good, my lessons went fine. Except...
At 11:30a.m.(I was at lunch), the school secretary came over the intercom and said, "Staff Evacuate. Staff Evacuate. Do Not Use The Front Exit. Evacuate." So, we (me and the other teachers I was eating with) walked out of the back door. We saw all the students coming out. I walked over to another teacher that had been in the office and asked her what was happening. Apparently, someone had thrown a molotov cocktail in the stairwell at the front of the building.
We stood outside (while principal screamed, "In a line! No talking! Stay in line! Stop Talking!") for 30 minutes. While we were out in the parking lot, two police cars were already there, three more showed up, as well as two firetrucks.
Then we were told to go back in the building (NO TALKING!!) and resume class. After everyone was back in the room, she came over the intercom, berated teachers for "not watching students at all times," and told us not to use the front exit. The End.
I have never been afraid to go to my school. I know it's crazy and out of control, but I have never feared for my own safety. Now there's bombs. I'm really not okay with that at all. I'm really not okay with the principal thinking this is something she "deals" with. This is not a suspension moment. This is not a principal's situation. This is something that every adult and every parent of a child in that building has the right to know about. She never told anyone what was happening. Most people didn't know. I understand not wanting to cause chaos. That is totally understandable. But the issue needs to be addressed.
We also got cited because they didn't evacuate the building soon enough.

Parent Night

Four parents.

I teach 110 children, four parents showed up.

Oh, this morning during announcements, my principal (who is black) was talking about having passes in the hallway and said, "We're tightening the nooses around here."

What I Hate The Most

Hands down, the worst part of my job is the CPS referral. CPS is Child Protective Services. By law, I am required to report any suspected abuse. If a child shows up with bruises or tells me something about being hit/abused, etc. I have to fill out a report and fax it to CPS.
As if its not hard enough to listen to an 11 year old tell me that her father chased her into the bathroom and hit her because she stayed out too late, it always ends up being so much worse. My students rarely have two-parent households (I'm talking maybe 2 or 3 out of 100.) Many times, the parents are lashing out, not as a psychological thing, but as a desperate thing--most of them are still children themselves. They have no idea how to raise a child. They didn't graduate high school, they below the poverty line, and they have growing children that they have no idea what to do with.
To make matters even worse, the student is normally hesitant to say anything. Today, she was worried because her father takes care of her. If he is arrested for abuse, she is afraid she will be sent to live with her mother who barely speaks to her and is a drug addict.
They see so much violence in their neighborhood they think that is how its "supposed" to be.
I've had one CPS referral this year and nine last year. It is the hardest thing I have to do.

Outta Control

Remember the girl who was caught vandalizing the building?
Well, today I walked out of my room to see NINE police officers walking down the hallway. I could hear the police helicopter outside and hear sirens. I walked down the hallway, the front office door was closed. Inside, that girl was on the ground kicking and screaming, being held down by the principal, two police officers, and a random mother who had been in the office.
I don't know the whole story, but apparently the girl was being arrested and she totally flipped out. Then her mother showed up at the school and also flipped out--so much so that she attacked the principal AND two police officers. When she knocked one of the police officers over, the other one called for back-up, and the entire city showed up. My next period class showed up--they had been in gym (OUTSIDE) when this whole thing started. Can you imagine being 11 years old, playing outside and 5 police cars with sirens on and a helicopter show up. The cops jump out of the car with guns drawn, and you're expected to go calmly throughout the rest of the day?
"I know you just saw a woman assault a police officer and a girl your age that you know get arrested, but who wants to learn about Ancient Mesopotamia?!"

Just Another Manic Monday

• I had to attend a meeting today for kid that, not only do I not know, he doesn't even go to our school. But they needed a "Regular Educator" to sign off so it looked legit.
• I have been appointed as a Mentor Teacher....to a black man who has been teaching for 7 years. What?
• I heard a rumor that our new CEO showed up unannounced to a school, suspended someone without pay for 5 days because they didn't have a lesson plan, and another for 2 because they were wearing jeans. (We don't have a dress code.) I wish someone would realize that leading through fear is maybe not the best idea. In a perfect world, somebody realizes that its not totally the teacher's fault when all students aren't a genius. My school is so messed up that we need people in the building, not people home for arbitrary punishements.

Three Things

1. So, my first year, the school I taught at had no air conditioning. It sucked. When it was hot, everybody was crabby. But you opened the windows, got the breeze and dealt with it.
When we moved to the new school, we were all so excited that the building had A/C. Now, not so much. Because there is A/C, our windows are bolted shut. So when I have 35 smelly children, I can't open the window for a breeze. Oh, and when do they turn the A/C off for the weekend? Yeah, around 5am FRIDAY morning. So all day Friday it just gets stickier and hotter and smellier....and crazier.
And I can't wait until winter when they turn the heat on to 90 degrees.

2. Yesterday one of our teachers saw a student (that she doesn't teach) spray-painting profanity on our school building. She recognized the student because she is CRAZY and everybody knows her. She told the principal that she had seen it occur. Today after school the teacher was HIDING because the principal had called the child and her mother and she wanted to confront them about it. This girl, this 12 year old, is a well-known member of the Bloods, and I have seen her mother beat her in the hallway at school. Why put a teacher who doesn't even know her into that equation? That just makes teachers who see things want to keep their mouth shut. And then what progress are we making?

3. Our principal uses the intercom for her every whim. It's like we work at an airport. Today was really special. She interrupted 1st period (a 60 minute class) NINE times to request things (so and so, come to the office), random rants (students, don't be in the hall without a pass), teacher insults (Mr. S GET IN MY OFFICE), among other things. Well, she had a meeting with the 6th graders today to discuss behavior in school. (She focused on incredibly important things like walking on the right side of the hallway and having proper passes) The vice principal came on the intercom once (in 1 1/2 hours) and she sent a teacher to tell him to "stop interrupting HER assembly." (She said this across the room so all the 6th graders heard...)

Driveway

Today was the first day in one year and two weeks of school that teachers and staff didn't have to drive the wrong way down a one-way alley to get to our parking lot. They have actually paved us an entryway!
In our old entrance of the alley, there were used needles in the doorway of a "grocery store." The store was in someone's house and the sign says, "GROCERY-Lunch Meat and Beer"

ham and beer that I bought from someone who lives in an alley. mmm, delicious!

Today everyone was coughing and their eyes were watery because a girl had to be maced. There was a limited amount of pepper spray, but it was all over the whole school. It was my first experience with that stuff...it's hardcore.

I Hate The Vice Principal (Part One of a Thousand)

Well, I realize this story I'm about to relay didn't happen to me, but variations of it have throughout the past two years. I found out about it from my co-worker.

One of our vice principals, Mr. Sh, is a middle-aged white man who got no respect from the students or staff last year. Children cuss him out on a daily basis, and he thinks every problem can be solved by holding hands and singing "kum-bah-yah." His solution to every problem is to talk it out, or have the students write about their "feelings." Therefore, the kids think he's a joke. And because he can't control the children, we all hate him. (How can he demand something from us he can't do himself?)
Well, he was new to our school last year, and basically from the get-go he knew he would have no say with us. (Our staff is very much like a family.) So this year, all these new teachers have appeared, having no idea of our opinion of Mr. Sh. So he has decided that he's going to exert power SOMEWHERE, DAMNIT, and he has begun creating and enforcing made-up rules on the new teachers. ("I'm sorry, you can only make 100 copies a week." "Your desk arrangement is completely wrong." "You can't come in that door to the cafeteria, that's the 'student' door.") So when they complain about these ridiculous rules to us, we look shocked and clarify.
Anyway, on Thursday, my friend, Ms. K (a new teacher) got a desk thrown at her. The girl who did it isn't normally a trouble-maker, but she can have serious attitude. So Ms. K writes an office referral (This is a "level 3" offense). Mr. Sh comes to Ms. K and tells her that there cannot be an office referral because there have been no steps to intervene for this girl's behavior. So he says he will call the parent for a conference.
The next day, Mr. Sh shows up at Ms. K's door with the parent. He tells her to stop teaching her class and he will watch them while she stands in the hallway to talk to this mother. After about a minute, he opens the door and tells her she has four minutes to conclude this "conference." So, to summarize, Ms. K is in the hallway-alone-with an irate parent whose daughter has committed an act of violence. At which point the parent says, "All you white people are the same." Then Mr. Sh comes out, makes Ms. K go back to teaching and considers the issue resolved. The girl is not punished and nothing else happens regarding it. Later, when Ms. K brings it up, Mr. Sh says," well, she has a lot going on at home."
OKAY. But she should still be held accountable for her actions! She THREW a DESK for pete's sake. No matter how much you have "going on," you still have to act like a civilized human being or you will suffer the consequences. What, exactly, are we teaching these children?
Personally, I feel that Mr. Sh's attitude is one of the detriments to inner city schools. They ALL have a lot going on, and if I knew all the facts, I would be devestated. But I can't allow them to use it as an excuse to act ridiculous. It just means you have train harder and longer to jump the hurdles, not to complain about the hurdles until they are lowered enough to step over.

Back to Crazy, Just Like Normal

Well the first friday of the school year was nothing if not chaotic. Here I was, getting comfortable in my advanced classes and my relatively well-behaved children thinking this year would be much different than last. Man was I wrong. I was walking my 4th period to their next class (all 35 of them...) and we turned the corner and accidently walked right into battle. There were four other classes in the hallway, all of which had lost control. One girl was being held against the wall by two grown men, kicking and screaming, "I will fucking kill her! Get the fuck off me! I will kill her!" (I found out later some girl had pushed against her in the hallway.) Closer to my class was another teacher holding back a boy, who proceeded to punch the teacher in the face. The teacher then had him on the ground with his knee in the boy's neck saying, "You just assaulted me son." and the boy was screaming, "Don't fucking touch me!" My kids had, of course, gotten out of line and ran up to see what was happening. There was pushing to get closer, and then other small fights starting breaking out because of the shoving to see the student/teacher fights. It took us about 20 minutes to get everybody in the classroom and somewhat settled.
Later on, the girl who had been screaming (J)was walking the hallway. I saw her, and I saw the police officer following her about 10 feet behind. About 20 minutes after that, I saw her again. I called her into my room and talked to her for about a minute or two. The police officer was nowhere to be found. After she had left, I saw the police officer again and told him she had been in my room. He said, "I can't find her. If you see her again, try to keep her in the room." So, my next period class showed up. One of my good students sits near the door, and I told her if she saw me talking to J, she should just get up and go get the principal or the police officer. Sure enough, J came back a few minutes later. I stood in the hallway and spoke with her (You know, what's wrong, are you okay, what happened, all that...) and the principal came and got her. Well, not 30 minutes later, she was walking the hallways alone again. How can I teach when everyone knows this crazy girl is walking the hallway?

Unrelated but also notable:
Part of our bullshit discipline code is to have as many behavior interventions as possible before writing an office referral. Well, we have 2 boys who need a little bit of a talking to, so they know we're watching their behavior. I went to get them from band so that we could all talk to them together as a team. (Me, and 3 other teachers meet daily) As I'm walking with them down the hallway, the principal stops me, and tells me that I can't take students out of class. I tell her they are going to a student/teacher meeting which is part of her discipline code. Her voice raises and she tells me that I will have to find another time to meet, because I will not be taking them out of class. My voice raises and I inform her that they need to be spoken with about their behavior with all of their teachers present, and I am taking them out of BAND for about 20 minutes. By this point, we are both yelling, and it ends with me throwing up my hands, saying whatever, and listening to her shouting at me as I walk down the stairwell.
In my three years working for her, she has never learned that you don't talk to teachers like you talk to naughty students, especially not in front of said students. I would totally lose all respect from them if I meekly accepted her tantrums. They respect me more when I stand up for myself, so that is what I have to do. She eventually gets over it and pretends like it never happened. I'd like to think that upon reflection, she realizes it was the wrong thing to do and dismisses it.

I'm going to be so bad at this...

I've realized I'm better at storytelling than story writing. But I will keep trying to document the insanity. We've had the first two days. I'm not in the trenches of the insanity like I was last year, but I'm still getting some. First of all, I share 12 desks with the neighboring teacher. My 4th period has to go over and get them from him, and then my last period returns them.
We have a huge overload of teachers (I guess anticipating all the teachers that will be quitting.) But the administrators are totally retarded about the schedule. They made out a schedule without ever seeing some of the teachers. So there are three teachers on the schedule (who have full class loads) that never showed up.
But instead of fixing all that, they just let it go (maybe it will fix itself?) So while some classess have 2 teachers, others have none. Teachers will walk their class to the next one, only to spend the next 20 minutes out in the hallway looking for someone to "cover" that class. They force subs to go all day without a break, mid-level administrators to cover classes, new teachers to give up their planning period...meanwhile, up to 10 teachers are "co-teaching."
One of the new teachers is in the hospital and she has the worst homeroom. I found one of her students roaming the hallway halfway through 1st period, and he told me they were up there by themselves, fighting. I told the principal, and she said, "oh yeah, I forgot." FORGOT? my ass would be chewed out if I made a mistake half that big. The worst class in the school, left to their own devices.
Our principal has implemented a ridiculous new discipline code, where basically you have to get approval from Congress to send a kid to the office. Meanwhile, she suspends kids for looking at her the wrong way. One of my best students got 3 weeks detention for having his shirt untucked in the lunchroom. However, if somebody stands up and throws a chair across the room and calls another kid an effin' N*****, then you better make sure you have documentation showing the interventions you used to prevent that type of behavior before you even think about writing them up.

oh, I guess once I get started, I DO have something to say. :)

When Failing Isn't Failure

Well, we went over our class lists today. The students are grouped homogenously by test scores, which is absolutely ridiculous. Now the quiet low performers aren't going to get any help at all because the loud ahole low performers are going to take over the class.
But I'm here to complain about a whole other issue. The retention policy in this city is a disgrace. Apparently, if a child has failed before, EVER, they can't be held back again. So if Deonte failed 1st grade, but does no work all of 6th grade, he still gets passed on. For example, I have a student that came sporadically during September and October, and then I never saw him again. Well, he had failed 4th grade, so he was promoted to 7th grade, despite missing more than 140 straight days of school.
We also have students that failed every single class, but were promoted by our principal. What does that do to the authority of the classroom teacher? makes it nonexistent.

On another note, we had our first new teacher quit. She got into an argument with our principal about being late, then later about something else random, then she stormed out and said she's not coming back. Its all very dramatic, but I don't have all the details. But this doesn't bode well for the year. 1 down, 23 to go.

Let's get this angry started.

Today I had to go to the hugest high school I have ever seen (and which I wandered around a good 30 minutes) to go to a professional development for the new 7th grade geography book. This seems reasonable, except I am being given no time to actually set up my room because I have to go to this training. During this training, two adults teach us lessons like we are 7th graders. They use the same "get your attention" strategies and cooperative grouping. This is more than mildly insulting. I am an adult with a masters degree, but instead of giving me the literature to read myself, they've decided I "learn by doing." Okay, that's all good and well, but I don't need to learn latitude and longitude, I need to teach it.. 16 hours of these lessons seems rather excessive.
My other favorite part was the general ridiculousness of the lessons. Yet another examples of how sad this city is. Our "instructors" were from a suburban school in Florida. We did an activity where you're supposed to put half the class in the hallway with instructions while the other half stays in the room to draw maps. YEAH RIGHT. There would be fights, fires, general mayhem with a group of students left unattended.
Oh, and when they kept talking about using our powerpoints, overhead projectors, laminating machines, and everything else I would never see in my classroom.
I don't understand how people pretending that my kids are just like everyone else. It gets us nowhere.

Welcome Back, It's All Your Fault

Hey Hey. It was the first day back for all us teachers today. We had a meeting from 8am to 330pm. What, you say? We need time to get our rooms ready? Ah! Who cares about that! We have to spend 7 1/2 telling you how we're not gonna take your shit this year, you better get your act together, you better do a good job.
Some highlights:
-if you miss more than 3 days for the entire year, you have to meet with the principal, more than 5 you get a "letter" and more than 7 you can be fired. glad i get 15 sick days.
-our new vice principal is a self-proclaimed computer illiterate, so if you do your grades online, you better have a hard copy too for her to look at. because that make sense.
-you have to go through ELEVEN steps before a student can be sent to the office. These include but are not limited to: meeting with student, meeting with parent and student, meeting with other teachers and student, meeting with counselor and student, meeting with social worker and student. When confronted about an "extreme" situation like a kid cussing you out, our other vice principal says, "sometimes you have to grin and bear it. You guys overreact sometimes." ummmmkay. which is a weird statement because, he "grins and bears it" and gets cussed out everyday and the kids hate him. I, on the other hand, lack the smackdown if somebody wants to act a fool, and therefore my amount of acting a fool is relatively low. hmmm.

I'm sure theres hundreds more that I can't think of right now because my brain has been turned to mush from seven hours of sitting and getting lectured.

First Professional Development Day Eve

Well, I went in today to try and put a few things together in my room. I spent most of the day searching for desks (I have 14 and two of my classes have 30+ students...) Last year I made do with about 15 elementary-size desks (those with the storage space underneath.) It wasn't fun, or attractive (they were super old) but I made it. Well, the kids will be bigger this year, and I don't think its right to ask 7th graders to sit in old crappy elementary size desks. So I was told (by my principal) to search around and steal desks from the rooms of the new teachers. I tried, but there aren't many new desks available for procurement.
I now have 24 desks.
I also spent a lot of time today listening to one of the Assistant Principals bitch and moan about the other one. It was awkward.
Tomorrow is the first day that all the teachers will be required to be there. There will be a whole lot of sitting around listening to "THIS year..." lectures, while wishing I could be putting my room together. Yaaay!

Disclaimer

I teach in an "inner-city" school. I LOVE my kids with all my heart.
But I'm going to be documenting the ridiculousness of bureaucracy and general insanity, not necessarily my teaching skills or how I've "changed their lives for the better."

Basically, this blog is not going to be turned into an inspirational movie, but it should make for some interesting stories.

Getting Started...

Well, This will be my third year teaching. Last year was pretty much a big ol' mess of insanity, so I've decided I should blog about this one. You know, start from the beginning and get it all down.

I went up to the school today to check in. The students will be coming a week from today. I found out I'm teaching Social Studies and they've totally changed the structure of the day, (I think I'll like the new way better.)

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail about last year (it will all come out soon enough) but today I met some of the new teachers....but not all 17 of them. 17.new.teachers. All of the 7 we had last year were gone by march, most by december. It should be interesting.