Update on δ

Update on the student (who I'll call δ since I can't call her by her name!) whose IEP meeting never happened and what happened later. Yesterday δ was being rude to the student teacher in class - as the poor teacher asked her to be quiet many times, she just kept on talking. I'm in the back of the room wondering when I should be stepping in...the student teacher does need to deal with it, so I pretty much let it go until....

δ is told by another student to be quiet. This happens a lot, actually, and kids are pretty good about acting appropriately when other students tell them to. But not this time. δ takes the other kid's book (who is Somali) and throws it across the room. So now it is time for me to get her out of the room. I take her to the assistant principal's office, and the isn't very happy about it. The principal tells her to go to the main office and wait for her there since she is busy at the moment.

When I get her to the office, I go back to the classroom to talk to the Somali student, who tells me that δ has been bothering her and other Somali kids for quite some time. This kid is really upset and afraid since she knows that the other girl has been in quite a few fights. I'm surprised she had the guts to tell δ to be quiet at all.

Well, surprise, surprise, δ is in school once again today. God for bid if we sacrifice δ's right to an education in order to let the other students learn without interruption and to be free from fear in school. When teachers leave the profession, it is because we have to deal with behavior like this. Since I'll be teaching Algebra 1 next year as well, I just might be lucky enough to have her in class for another 180 days of my life. And if I ever suggest that she move to an alternative program where people are trained to work with kids with these kinds of behavior issues, I'm sure to be chastised for "inflammatory and hurtful".