Haven't kept up with the school day postings of late. In fact, haven't really been doing much here at the 'blog for a few weeks. Too busy winding down from the accelerated Master's, etc.
Today Lukie got banged in the eyepiece by a sixth grader while trying to break up a fight. She's fine, but aggravated. Normally Lukie wouldn't press charges on a child for such an attack, especially given that the girl was trying to punch around Lukie to hit her opponent, but because of the state of things at Booker T. she's going to write up every detail and go ahead and press charges. We have to get everything down on paper every day and make sure the City knows exactly what's happening in these schools.
Last week when I left on Thursday a 7th grader was attacking a uniformed police officer out front. The officer got knocked on her back before a colleague started spraying mace and there was a crowd of middle schoolers hacking and crying.
Students from a different school were beating two of our students with a four by four board outside. The board had a baseball bat handle lathed into its end for easy gripping. Usually these fights break up after the intervention of adults, but this one kept going. The kids with the board attempted to follow their quarry into the building.
Gang activity, mob fights, and unruly disrespectful behavior still reign at Booker T. The principal has taken to standing in the hall with a bullhorn at the end of the day, but I never see him when kids are actually in the building.
The things I've seen this year!
They offered me a job for next year, but too late. I already signed my contract to head a few blocks east and teach over by MICA in a much calmer middle school. I will miss my time at Booker T. I will never forget it.
3 comments:
Congrats on your new job. Even thought I'll miss your first hand accounts at Booker T. that school has problems much bigger then one person. Don't you think your story needs to be told to a wider audience? I mean you can change the names to protect the innocent, but come on, I think this story needs to be told. I think it would give more meaning to the year you spent here, and to the kids and teachers who have no choice but to live through this. It's all here in a blog, why not take the next step to make it a book? You could even publish under a nom de plume. Just my two cents.
I'm still waiting for an agent to contact me and send me an advance.
I feel pretty good about Booker T. going forward. A lot of folks are not coming back next year, and that is a positive step. If they get some hard-core administrators in the building and work with the good teachers they already have, it could be dramatically different next year. It would be nice to help rebuild that school, but I'll have enough on my plate as a first-year teacher on my own for the first time.
Yeah, get yourself a book deal. Later, they might make a movie of you starring Edward James Olmos. Well, maybe not him. . . How 'bout Ed Norton?
I'll miss your Booker T. accounts, but I'm glad you're gonna be in a (slightly) saner place.
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