Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Blows and Woes.

Our classes have been somewhat reduced, which is a big relief for two reasons. The first reason is that it's just easier to keep order with a more reasonable number of students. The second reason is that our workload of gradable material will be reduced to something less insane. It was originally something like 150 kids. We hope to have our class rolls reduced to their final version by Friday.

Second period was about to end when I went into the hall to get some water. I saw the assistant principal, who was standing in the door to the bus dropoff, call for help, saying her radio was broken. The BOE cop charged out of the door, and I followed. Two guys were struggling, with one of them basically just beating the other. Two or three females were active participants, as well.

The school cop got between the two males, and other staff dealt with two of the females. I grabbed the nearest unsecured female, and pulled her away from her attempts to hit the male who had been taking the beating. I let her go when we were well clear, and stayed between her and the action while she screamed for me to Get the $%^& away from me! And continued trying to get back into the fight.

It seemed that someone had been sent home- perhaps for fighting earlier, and as they were preparing to leave the school, a rival group of students ganged up on that student. One of the parents almost got arrested a little later, as well, when she felt the need to scream at the BOE cops.

Fun stuff. I was sad to see that one of the involved parties was one of my students, who's carrying a pretty high daily GPA. I hope she's not gone for good.

2 comments:

Timbo said...

Classroom management is tough. Learning how to deal with the scraps between the kids is even tougher. I would offer advice, but the one fight I was involved in breaking up pretty much involved me turning into Gunnery Sergeant Marquart and using my full on (and intensely loud)drill instructor voice. It worked, but I was informed later that the kind of volume produced in that mode was maybe a bit over the top for a simple hallway scrap, and more importantly actually scared some of the other kids.

What can I say? When the S hits the F, I instinctively revert to Marine Corps mode. I would rather a loud voice bring the action to a halt than have to grab a kid. I am fully capable of controlling my herculean power, but even slight pressure can result in a mark when a kid is trying to get back into the fray. Marks, of course, lead to lawsuits. It's especially problematic when you are as big as I am, because it turns into a "don't know your own strength, they are only children" type of deal.

J.R.Shirley said...

I guess I have an advantage in that regard. The girl I grabbed might have outweighed me.


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