I Surrender.....

Well - I forfeit. I give up. I am out of options. I have 2 students in my 1st period Physical Science class who do nothing. Both are boys and they rarely come to school. One of them has a total of 295 attendance violations (absences & tardies). 65 of which are in my class alone. The other one has a total of 391 attendance violations (76 of which are in my class alone).

When they do come to class, they do not bring anything with them. They do not have a pencil, paper, let alone their homework. I give an assignment to do in class and they do nothing. They sit there and stare at the empty desk.

In the past, I have been thinking, "well, this will catch up to them someday." I initiated attendance contracts on them with the Attendance Liaison and then I go about my business keeping myself occupied with the 30 other students in that class who actually have a desire to learn something.

Lately, they have been coming in to class late, and now they are causing a disruption in class. They are keeping 2 other students from doing any work in my class. So, I printed out their attendance violations and thought, "Gee, with this many attendance violations, it is only a matter of me bringing it up to my administrators to get them removed from class." WRONG!

Besides the fact that the one with 391 attendance violations has received 6 or 7 referrals (2 of which were from me). This is a kid that actually told me, "F*ck this class, I am not even in it!" as I asked him to pull up his pants to keep them from dropping to the floor. Then, the second time, this bundle of joy was not working on a Performance Based Assessment and when I asked him to leave because he kept distracting other students, he wrote "F*ck this class" on his lab before exiting the room.

I was under the beautiful impression that all I would have to do is to bring it up as an issue and poof! Just like magic, the administrators would see all my documentation (which I spent 3 hours accumulating by the way) and the problem would be solved. Wow - from Friday until today, have I had a reality check!

When I went to the counselors, I was told we had to schedule a parent conference. Awesome! I have been trying to get in touch with the parents all year. Yeay! Then I was told by the counselor of the student who had 391 attendance violations that I had to schedule it. Okay - fine - not my area of expertise as I have no idea nor do I have access to scheduling the use of the conference room - but fine. The other counselor told me she would call to schedule the conference. Thank you.

I get back to my room and call student with 391 violations. I actually reached his mom. She said she would be available to meet Friday after school. Considering this student did not pass ANY of his classes last semester, I figured - perfect. All teachers would come to the meeting. I sent out an invitation on outlook with a calendar. I invited all his teachers, his counselor, his attendance liaison, and the Dean of Students since I saw all of his referrals with the counselor. Here is where it starts to roll downhill for me.......

The counselors mailbox was full. This means she did not get the invitation. I called her to tell her and problem was solved there. Next issue, the Dean of Students tentatively accepted the meeting. Not a big concern - she is probably got a million other issues to deal with. Okay. Next problem..... Only 2 other teachers accepted the invitation. 2 out of 8. 3 out of 8 if you include me. This isn't even half!!! Alright - still not a big concern because what I have to tell the mom really doesn't involve all his teachers.

Friday comes around and student 391 doesn't show up to my class. Surprise, surprise. I call home at my 2nd hour prep period just to confirm with mom to make sure they are coming. Mom tells me she dropped off her son at school at 7:45 that morning. I told her he wasn't in my class today, but she can call back later this afternoon to speak with the counselor to see if he has shown up to his other classes. 1:00pm rolls around and I get an email from the counselor. Apparently, Student 391 has not shown up to any classes all day. The counselor had included our Assistant Principal of Instruction (API) in the email because she wanted an Administrator to commit to being present at the meeting. Next email was from the API. He said we might not be able to conduct the meeting because the student isn't present. What? I have been teaching all year without him present. This is the exact behavior I am trying to correct! I sent back an email stating that since we already had the meeting scheduled, I felt it would be important to conduct the meeting regardless because I wanted to make sure the mother knew what was going on. Also, I wanted the API to see my documentation of this students disruptive behavior, combative behavior, and lack of attendance. Didn't hear back from anyone.

3:05 rolls around and I shoo all the kids out of my room. I get my paperwork together and head down to the conference room. The counselor was there and she said the mother was outside trying to see if she could spot her son outside the school leaving for the day. The API shows up, and the 2 other teachers who confirmed their attendance at the meeting. None of these other teachers were the teachers who wrote the other discipline referrals.

I started the meeting and went through my packet with the mother. I explained to her that his issues in the classroom are a behavior issue and that I did not feel that attending this type of school was in the best interest for her son. In my opinion - it ISN'T! He isn't learning! He needs a school with more strict guidelines for discipline and teachers who are not going to cry over a lab they worked hard on creating when he writes "F*ck This Class" on the lab sheet. He needs a teacher who isn't going to tolerate his disruptive behavior during lesson implementation.

The other 2 teachers were very un-helpful. Apparently, this student is new to them this semester. They said he does no work in their class, but he is very respectful and never a problem in class. HELL-O! I am looking at his attendance and for the 19 days we have been back this school semester, he has been absent for 7 of them. This means they have only seen him for 12 days. 12!!!! Then the one teacher follows everything up with...."Well, we don't want to feel as though we are attacking you. Maybe he needs a mentor, does he have a male figure at home to model?" WHAT?! Are you out of your MIND?! This goes WAY beyond a male figure at home! If that was the case, why wasn't he provided with a support group last semester? How does this fix the problem in the classroom?

As this was going on - I tried desperately not to spontaneously explode in my chair. I pushed over my packet to the API and he began to leaf through it as the meeting at this point turned in to an episode of Oprah and Dr. Feel Good About Myself - I don't have to take responsibility for my kid, I can't even make sure he goes to school. After looking through my packet, the API said, "Well, he's done. From what I have seen here, we have it documented the numerous attempts we have made to intervene on his behalf and since he obviously doesn't want to be here, next time he violates procedure, he is out."

I snapped my head around to the mother and said, "Alright, so what this means is if on Monday morning, he does not show up to class on time, with a pencil, and with paper, and his homework, he is out." Mother nodded. The counselor and attendance liaison said they would need to see him first thing Monday morning to sign the "behavior contract" stating what the API said and have the student sign it. Everyone agreed.

I walked out of the meeting feeling relieved.

Monday morning. I'll be darned if he didn't show up to class on time, with a spiral notebook of paper, and a pencil. He didn't have his school-issued binder, but I felt I had been pretty clear so I allowed him that much slack. I had no behavior issues from him at all. Late afternoon on Monday - I got an email from the counselor saying he did not show up to sign his contract. I thought, "Oh, well he's done." Didn't think anything else about it and didn't comment on the email.

Today - Student shows up tardy to class. He did not take notes during our review before the test tomorrow. I get an email from the Attendance Liaison (which she initiated - not me) stating that I should have not held the meeting because the student was not present and as a result, I had made the mother feel very uncomfortable and attacked. Huh. Okay - I thought in the long run to a logically educated person I would be doing her a favor. They have MANY other schools available here in the Phoenix Valley for "At-Risk" youth that I truly feel he would benefit from attending (especially since he doesn't have a male figure in his life and all).

Later this afternoon, I got another email from the attendance liaison stating that the student is in need of some serious support. He is "homeless" (because he and his mother are living with the mother's parents). As a result, "we" legally cannot kick him out of school because of his attendance. Awesome. What a great way to manipulate the system so 30 of my other students have to suffer because I spend so much of my energy in class trying to keep control of him. Awesome. What a great asset this is to the public education system.

This kid is not homeless. I have students who are homeless. They smell, wear clothes with holes in them that have not been washed, and tell me they cannot stay after school because they have to catch the bus to get to the shelter first. These kids do not ditch because at school, they get free food. Student 391 is not homeless. He is LIVING with his mother AT his grandparents. I have lived with my parents at my grandparents house. I have NEVER seen him in dirty clothes with holes in them. He always appears to have new clothes and the latest crisp, clean, sagging jeans with new sneakers he is always wiping clean. He has never smelled. He has never had appeared to be dirty nor has he asked me if he could finish eating his breakfast in my room because he was so hungry he didn't get to finish eating it all at the school breakfast. He also recently had surgery on his foot - hmm...... Never seen a homeless kid hobbling around on crutches with a brand-new walking boot as a cast (this is really besides the point but just venting here).

As I am steaming in my chair, I thought to myself....what's the point? If I am just going to get squashed every time I try to follow through on my job, what is the point? Why? Why do I even waste my time? That was about 6 hours of my life I spent doing my job and everything that was required of me to do to provide my students with an excellent education and for what?

Icing on the cake???? I got an email from the API. In his email he said and I quote: "I understand your frustration. Continue to document for your own interventions, but do not take anything he does personal and don’t let him get you worked up. I’m sure that you have a whole class full of angels to keep you distracted that period. If his behavior becomes unbearable, call the Dean or me so we can come up to talk to him. We’ll let the counselors and liaisons work on the fine tuning. This week I was presented with way more information than what came up in that meeting. There’s only 3 ½ months left!"

What would you do? What do I do when he tells me to F*CK OFF to my face and I have to again waste time in class to deal with him? I am out of ideas....

Student 295 does not have a valid phone number on file. Attendance Liaison was supposed to schedule a home visit last week. Still waiting on the phone number/contact with parents.