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In my illustrious year in the Racine (WI) Unified School District, the following things happened, in no particular order (names are changed): • HS junior Chrissy stabs senior Amy in the back, literally, several times with a pocket knife, leaving superficial wounds. This was outside of school. Chrissy remains IN MY CLASSROOM for the rest of the school year; Amy gets transferred to the "at-risk" school because she technically started it -- a fist-fight. • HS junior Jake makes a pager into a countdown timer in my classroom, during a movie. Hmm. Wonder what use a kid would have for a countdown timer. He was back in class the next day. • Sophomore Marie tries to sell me acid, offering me $5 chocolate chips. When I get the vice principal up to cart her off, she felt betrayed, and also amazed that I immediately implied a connection between the price of the chocolate chips and what's on them. She was back in class the next day. • Last day of schools before finals. Very large, football player Dennis gets mad because I wrote him up for cussing out the educational aide. He responded by throwing a desk at me. He missed, but since there was no phone or intercom in the classroom, and I didn't have a cell phone, I had to make a choice between leaving the classroom to go get a police officer, or sending a student out to do the same and hoping Dennis wouldn't retaliate. Luckily, someone in the office across the hall heard the ruckus and called on my behalf. Talked to the vice principal, and requested that Dennis be removed from school for finals, or at least MY final. Vice principal denied my request, because if Dennis didn't take the final , he would fail and be ineligible to play football in the fall. • At least six pregnancies I can think of, and another dozen or so children already born to my students. One of the girls gave birth the first week of school, and both she and the baby ended up in foster care (together, thankfully) because her stepfather hit her, hard, and threatened to send her baby away. The school district never bothered to inform me of the correct way to report suspected child abuse, and instead told me to talk to her guidance counselor. (We were given a two-hour bus tour during orientation; the district mandatory-reporting coordinator tried to get on the schedule for that week but was turned down.) The girl got help in spite of the system, not because of it. • I found myself in another vice principal's office, "explaining my conduct." It seems another teacher (never identified) reported me to him because I was "stepping on the senior teachers' toes." Apparently, I caused this stir by asking what books were taught in the science-fiction class, and expressing an interest in science fiction. I am positive it wasn't the sci-fi teacher who reported me, but someone felt I wanted to come in and take over instead of paying my dues. (BTW: My senior education thesis was on sci-fi in the classroom.) • In WI, teachers aren't allowed to strike, and can actually go to jail for it. We had rolling sickouts (new teachers and building union heads were instructed to go to school by the union; otherwise, I would have participated). The district responded by shutting down. The town newspaper, which had avidly supported UPS strikers a while before, had nothing but vitriol for the greedy teachers who dared to ask for more than a 1% raise in a robust economy. (Perspective -- Extra-duty pay was 17 cents a minute -- $10.20 an hour, regardless of base pay, regardless of • A sophomore, Kora, cut class twice. She forged my signature on a "change of status" form, so the attendance secretary would think I just made a mistake. She only got caught because she misspelled my name. Penalty? Two detentions. Back in class the next day.
And it goes on and on. Needless to say, if my entire career rested on the test scores of kids who threw desks, didn't know where their next meal was coming from, had kids of their own to take care of and didn't even bother to show up, well, I guess I'd be in the exact same place I am now -- out of teaching. But so would plenty of good teachers (I was iffy at it, and got laid off but would have quit anyway) in bad situations.
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