Scared

Yesterday we had a girl at school who got so drunk that she passed out in the bathroom and had to be rushed to the hospital. Apparently at lunch she and her friends decided to chug some tequila. She obviously had much more than the rest of them and when she began acting funny in the restroom, they left her. Fortunately, someone had the sense to let the principal know and he sent a female teacher in immediately. I was in the office when the principal asked the office manager to call the parents and at the time just thought that she had fainted. She is a good student with a cheerful personality and I was in shock when the teacher that was with her told me that she was drunk. I kept the hallway clear of all of the students that tried to see what was going on and what came out of the bathroom scared me. It scared me because she couldn't walk and had to be strapped onto the stretcher because she kept on trying to jump off it. It scared me because these students thought that this was ok to do during school. It scared me because they thought they were mature enough to consume at least half a bottle of cheap tequilla and then  left their friend  alone in an extremely dangerous situation. It scared me because I think how much things have changed since I was in high school 8 years ago and how much more they will change by the time my - yet - to - be - born children go to school. It scared me thinking of the parents who sent their kids to school in the morning, telling them to work their hardest, who had to be informed that their daughter had severe alcohol poisoning and was being taken to the hospital, unconscious. It scared me to think that for some of these kids, drinking themselves to oblivion at age 15 is their way of coping with whatever is going on their lives. In a time when the news and the politicians want to talk about everything that's wrong with education and tell us what we should do to fix it, those of us that are actually living through it know that the issues that we are dealing with go so much deeper than poor reading scores.

*I have since learned that the student was released from the hospital to her parents. The parents and the school are continuing to investigate who was involved and where the alochol came from.

Oh Baby Baby

Today one of my students threw a temper tantrum - complete with pouty face and sitting in the corner. There were also several f words thrown in there. There was stomping out of the room and returning to sulk in chair. There were dirty looks and sighs. I could not believe that I was witnessing this. Oh and  by the way - this was a 10th grader. Yeah. What had I done to warrant such behavior? I would not give him a pass to get his skateboard so that he could skateboard around school for the last 20 minutes of school. How horrible of me huh. This incident has stuck in the back of my mind all night. I had heard horror stories of this student since last year. We have a new (and amazing) principal this year who actually follows through with the students and this student is having a tough time with that. Last year he was allowed time to 'cool off' when he didn't want to stay in a class. Translation: previous principal allowed him to wander in and out of classes whenever he wanted to. When I refused to let him do this today, I was met with a 5 year old in a grocery store that cannot get the toy he wants. After the first two wonderful weeks of school, known as the honeymoon period, the challenges of educating teenagers has reared its crazy head

We've only just begun

It is 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon and I am in my pajamas. I slept in and then spent the day alternating in between cleaning and laundry and reading, catching up on emails and facebook, and watching senseless tv. Can you guess what today is? If you guessed the very first weekend of the school year . . .ding ding you are correct. Today marked the first day that I have not done anything school related in over 2 1/2 weeks including one week of professional development and the always eventful first week of school. We have had some major changes at my school and this is the first year that I went back with as much enthusiasm as I did the first year that I taught. After a wonderful summer, I am starting this new year with feelings of great renewal and excitement. I am looking forward to the changes that are happening and to a year with no mistakes and so much learning ahead. This is going to be an amazing year. I've always intended to keep track of things that go on in school and with my students (and the crazy things that they say) and have decided that I'm actually going to do it - so here we go!