My weekly schedule has been somewhat, well, inconsistent in the past few weeks. It's starting to really get to me.
In October, I got lulled into the fact that school was going relatively well, soccer improved, and my personal life seemed pretty easy to handle. Then, there was this "hurricane" and there still seem to be chunks of debris swirling around me. Some bits make glancing blows, others whip by without hurting, but no matter how I try, some grit and stone manages to zoom right into my eye and sting.
I'd forgotten that the day before Wilma hit, we got a new Assistant Principal at the "Central South Sattelite Campus" (the four-room pathetic excuse for a 'high school' that they've scraped together at Madison Middle). She seemed harmless enough when she introduced herself, but I should have known better when we were forced to have an hour-long faculty meeting the next Wednesday to "introduce ourselves." Ordinarily, I would say that this was a good idea; the staff needs to get acquainted with a new administrator, and talk about what's been working and what hasn't. Yes, that would have been productive. Instead, we did various get-to-know-you activities which involved writing poems about ourselves. Are you kidding me? Really? She doesn't seem to "get" the fact that we've been getting along just fine enough for the past three months without her. She swooped in and wanted to "take charge" and "get things done."
So now we've finally got the administrator, extra security guard, and the two counselors that we were legally required to be provided with at the beginning of the school year. It only took them a semester to do so. Yet, even with all these extra bodies, more help and advice for the students, things are starting to go to hell.
Even my own personal hero, Ms. B the ESE coordinator, is starting to get down. This is a woman who at thirtysomething owns more shoes and matching color-coordinated suits than I can ever hope to house in a closet. She is a woman who inspires the respect (and sometimes fear) of the students while making a mohawk sexy. She is amazing, and I love her. They kicked her out of the office she's been using since August, told her to clean out a janitorial storage closet to use, then proceeded to appropriate her space. If she's not daunted, how can I complain?
The kids, while they may be doing their homework a little more, are getting rowdier. For some reason, the security team can't keep track of who's in class and who's not; illicit activities in the "halls" a.k.a. grassy fields in between and behind the portables have become a problem. One of my two thumbsuckers, yes I have two of them in the NINTH GRADE, shows up to class 25 minutes late after lunch. When asked where he's been, the towering 14 year-old removes his digit from his mouth to tell me that he was detained in the office. "Why, Maurice? And don't you have a note?" "Naw, we was throwin' dice."
And how does one begin to respond to that? Somewhat at a loss, I gave him a stern teacher look, shake my head, and decide to let him in to class. At least he's honest, right?
There are several problems with crowd control and behavior managment. One of them, unfortunately, is that our new A.P. is white. The one we had before, the only competent one, was a strong black woman who probably reminded half the kids of an aunt or mother, and she didn't take any lip. The other large dilemma is that this new woman looks like she's about to have a coronary in the next three point five seconds. She races around like it's the end of the world, but what she doesn't realize is that the world already ended. It ended on August 1st when "Central South" opened its doors, and the rest of us have just learned to exist in this hell-hole by relying on our wits and each other. Fighting the system is too hard. In a place like this, you've got to "flow" as Ms. B says. She just hasn't found her rhythm, and I hope like hell she gets with it soon, because she's going to take us all down with her. I'm not much for going down with this ship, because it's going to be a titanic disaster. Pun intended.
I was starting to get my flow before the damn hurricane hit, and now it's just all messed up. With these last three weeks before break, I'm hoping to get back in the groove and trickle on in to winter break. I'm starting to get sarcastic with the kids, which is dangerous for both parties. That should stop.
Well, at least it's vacation.
No comments:
Post a Comment