Last week at my school, my co-teacher and I had a conversation with our coordinating teacher about safety issues. This all stemmed from a worm being launched from one desk to another, landing on some poor girl’s shoulder. When our CT attempted to confront the boys, one of them took this strange stance of masculine dominance and started casting hateful looks at her. He seemed on the verge of violence and to be honest, I was a little confused to how you would deal with a bristling teenage boy. After the class ended, we started talking about the potential of weapons being brought into school as well as our CT’s reservations sometimes to call home about disciplinary issues in school when she suspects violence in the home.
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One story she told us involved a girl asking to go to the nurse. Our CT’s typical procedure on nurse trips involves going out into the hall to ask the students what is wrong, then sending them on their merry way. On this occasion, the girl came out into the hallway and whispered, “I don’t really have to go to the bathroom, I think so-and-so might have a gun and I’m scared.” My CT, not wanting to look suspicious, wrote the girl her hall-pass which was really a note to an administrator or sentry or anyone the girl ran into first that, “Classroom 285 might be in serious trouble, there is the potential of so-and-so having a weapon, most probably a gun, in the classroom hidden in his binder.” Our CT explained that zip-up binders were often really good hiding places for weapons and that the suspected students had the weapon in one of these on his desk. She came into the room and acted calmly and an administrator promptly got there and asked a few random students to come out into the hall, the suspected student included, and to leave their stuff. Fortunately, the situation was diffused. I only share this story because I think that perhaps we could benefit from a solid example of what to do in case you suspect a weapon.
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Another story our CT shared with us was that of how to deal with students who won’t do homework or who are having disciplinary issues when we suspect parental/guardian violence in the home. She explained how she used to have a student who she had witnessed come in roughed-up in the past and how his speech and manner suggested that his father might be beating up on him. When one semester despite all her urging, he still had not turned in all his assignments by end of marking period and was going to receive a failing grade in the course, my CT decided to give the student a B+ to avoid getting this student a beating at home. The day after grades were submitted, our CT and a counselor had a meeting with the boy and explained, ” We really don’t want to get you in trouble with your parents over this grade, so we are giving you one week to get all these assignments in. Otherwise we will be forced to report an error in the report card and send home your actual grade.” The student took her cue, shaped up, and finished his assignments by the next day. I am not advocating that you falsify grades for any student who might have a strict parent but in this case, her logic and generosity of spirit were well-directed. She knows sometimes after a phone-call with a livid and often descriptive parent that something awful might happen. Our CT was conscious of the signs of child abuse in students and hopefully after our Child Abuse Prevention workshop, we will also be able to interpret these kind of signs and avoid calls home, etc.
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I needed to share these stories because I feel like sometimes at Warner, we are so busy getting deep on pedagogy and social justice, we avoid thinking about the brutal realities that are present in urban schools and it is essential that we know how to avoid violence, both in the school and at the home.
