Just had to post, to feel better. I have a terrible group of 11th graders. Let me rephrase that--90% of the kids in class are fine, but I have troublemakers who are constantly destroying the class. And unfortunately, our new administration does not believe in referrals or removing students from class unless it a fight or something incredibly serious--let's just put it this way--one young man called a young lady in my class "that white B***" and he is still sitting in the room, and his referral was filed - "for later reference"--the last three referrals I wrote on him were ripped up in my face. I guess I should be happy that this one wasn't ripped up. Well, anyway, my kids are heading into testing season, and I wanted to have them take a practice test--give me some guidelines for the remainder of the semester. I took them to the computer lab. When we got there, my troublemakers proceeded to . . . Throw a stack of printer paper on the floor Throw privacy screens around the room, hitting two young ladies in the head Push other students out of the way to get to their "preferred" seat - which they weren't going to get to sit in anyway Proceed to sing loudly at the top of their lungs and make farting noises as I ordered everyone back to class and they walked through the hall. Looked at me in my face and said "Oh, you're mad now? Whatcha gonna do?" Luckily, most of them got the message and sat down and did my alternate work, although I did forbid several from coming into the room-and luckily their basketball coach took them. I actually had to get another teacher in the room so I could step away for a few minutes so I wouldn't say anything I'd regret. I so wanted to take my keys, get in my car and drive away. I need to find a new job--I loved this place last year--what a difference a P makes.
Wait, the PRINCIPAL ripped up referral notices? Were they for members of certain sports teams? Wow, wow, and WOW.
Wow. I'm sorry. If you want to get into a power struggle with admin, maybe keep sending the student out of the class to the office, again and again, until they get the message that this student can't be in your class if they want learning to happen. I can't guarantee you'd win that power struggle but at least you'd send a message that you refuse to deal with this. In our district, our union fought for the right for every teacher to be able to have a student suspended from class. Admin could NOT send them back. If they did, they could have action taken against them by the union. Do you have anything similar?
start making a paper trail..start documenting behavior/things you said and student responses and behavior...times/dates/ etc it will show a pattern. Concrete Documentation is hard to refute
Is your school using PBIS as their discipline system by any chance? It sure sounds like it. Modern school discipline, where keeping a kid in class is so important that we are willing to have the other 34 kids feel unsafe. Yippee.
I think at this point, "good" admin are far harder to find than the "bad." I taught at two prior schools where there were zero consequences, and it showed in the school climate. I am finally at a school where discipline is taken seriously, and the difference is incredible. It's hard to tell what you're getting yourself into from the outside -- I would start looking now for next year, and try to talk to people who work at the school or who have kids there and can tell you what it's really like, not just the "official version" you'll get in the interview. I was blatantly lied to by one P who told me "we don't have those kinds of problems here" when there had in fact been a stabbing on campus the day before.
Exactly.....right now our district is in the first phase of PBIS, collecting data. They have been very "creative" with the punishment they give out for various infractions.
