Wednesday, May 22, 2019

The Details I Leave Out

There's a lot to love about my job.

Our day ends earlier than the high school's, but it stays busy.

Last week ended odd with a student getting kicked off the bus at the end of the day. Amidst all the yelling and cursing, the police were almost called, a pole was punched, a hand broken, and then the student went home and found a dead body while fishing with another student. The kid's been off for a number of other reasons and everything extra won't help.

I hoped this week would start off quieter, but it didn't.  Monday, I heard yelling and jumped over a chair to help keep a pair of students separate. There'd been an attempt at a restorative, clearing-the-air conversation, but it went south. Also, I let it out in the open that I was moving and switching schools. I wanted to give the kids time to process. I'd told one kid on Friday who kept talking about "next year," and didn't want to lie by omission to him.

Tuesday, was quieter due to the aftermath, but it was busier in a different way: The kids all wanted to work...which is great, but tiring. It was a revolving door. I was busy through lunch and my off period as one came in whenever one went out.

Wednesday had an odd air. I heard gunshots at home after 11 PM Monday and Tuesday. No one got hit or it would have made the news, but some of the kids who lived in the area were on edge. Carrie was asleep, thankfully, or she'd have been on edge, too! It was a long day with night school. There's a funny story with my boss picking up one student and finding another she "Mom'd" into coming back to school. His friend was laughing at his temper tantrum until his Juul was confiscated, because he was trying to charge it in his chromebook.

Thursday, a pair of my students had court. They've been locked and we didn't know if they were going to be tried as adults or minors. They were involved in a serious incident and a chunk of students related/connected to the incident were out. There's friction between the sides. The boss warned us that it was possible one of them would be released and back at school in the morning while she was out.

Friday, the boss was out and one of the students was released. I don't think there's ever a good time for a student to be arrested, but right as I was doing some paperwork with deadlines and through SOLs is a pretty crappy time. Dropping the kid back into the mix wasn't a huge help, but if the kid graduates that would save me a ton of work (minus the work to get them to graduate!). I bolted out of my room at one point when I heard chest-wracking, sobs and bawling, but the situation was under control. It was right back to teaching.

I'm bittersweet about moving on, but the time is right. I'm tired. I'm thankful that I have a choice in the matter (It's a luxury).

The last few weeks trying to somehow do everything while life is busy outside of school, too, will be tough. It feels like the pressure is building and my flames are fizzling, but summer is coming.

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