Friday. Seventh grade science. Fourth period.
It had already been a day. It was pouring down rain, which meant the kiddos were already cold and wet. And the rain just brings out the crazy. (It doesn't rain for us much, so that means any rainy day is an unusual day.)
Fourth period was after lunch, so the kiddos had just spent a half hour out in the weather. (It had been pouring rain all lunch. No, there is no real cafeteria for them to eat in.)
So, I was expecting some crazy.
Two girls needed to get paper towels from the restroom to dry off. A boy fought me on sitting in his assigned seat. They went through a box of tissues. A couple boys stepped outside to wring out their clothes.
It was about halfway through the period when assigned seat boy, Austin, was doing something very strange.
(I am having a moment with Austins. This was not chair thrower Austin nor was it forever restroom pass Austin. This was an entirely different Austin. I've had him in class before, but he didn't merit a blog mention before.)
Austin was "smoking" (snorting?) a powder from a small strip of paper (about five millimeters wide).
I chased him back to his seat, examining the area. What had he been doing?
Then another girl and then another girl did the same thing. That's when I noticed the girl passing these out: Briar.
As my warning to stop fell on deaf ears, it was time to call out for help. The assistant principal sent me security.
"She called security," got whispered throughout the room. (What, exactly, did they expect?) The class calmed.
Sadly, in the chaos, I was unable to pick out all three (five?) girls who had been involved, but I knew Briar and Austin.
Briar claimed innocence as she attempted to surreptitiously brush the powder from her desk. (Seventh graders aren't subtle. They think they are, but they are not.)
Things calmed somewhat after students left with security, but they were wound up from the get-go.
Middle schoolers and rain are a bad combination. Is a small pinch of powder in a bit of paper the thing now? I am so out of touch when it comes to drug culture.
Hi Liz - yes I can see this would be 'a bad Friday' ... I'm glad security came ... have a good weekend - Hilary
ReplyDeleteAny idea what the powder was? Those kids sound ‘delightful “
ReplyDeleteMy first instinct was that it was candy. The more I think about it, the less sure I am.
DeleteI probably know even less about drug culture than you do, so I'll have to pass on that. Those kids should try going to New England or the Pacific Northwest. That'll teach them a thing or two about rain.
ReplyDeleteI am out of it also but to do that or try that in an open full room. CRAZY. Even just acting like they were doing drugs was a stupid thing.
ReplyDeleteYup. Middle school behavior at its finest. (This is kind of typical for them, although this year they're crazier than usual.)
DeleteI'm hoping by the age group they were just playing silly buggers and pretending to be "cool", but these days, who knows? Did you ever find out?
ReplyDeleteI did not. But, I agree, I think they were playing at it.
DeleteA bad Friday indeed... Did you find out what this powder was?
ReplyDeleteWow. That's just... wow.
ReplyDeleteSome days the blog writes itself.
DeleteUnfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if it was drugs. It starts young. Although I hear that particular drug is expensive, so unless these are kids from wealthy families, maybe not. I know that when lights went out for movies in middle school back in about 1970, kids passed pills.
ReplyDeleteA shame the school can't provide a place to keep students dry!
At that moment, I thought candy. In retrospect, I wouldn't put it past them to openly be doing drugs in the classroom.
DeleteAs for more shelters, it would make sense if we got more rain. Unless this school year continues being strange (like with this cold), we're pretty much done with rain until maybe October. I believe we average something like 25 days of rain a year. It doesn't make sense to build for something that rarely happens.
Just wow on the white powder. I'd be the last person to know about something like popular drugs of today's middle schoolers but could it have been meth? Yikes.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought they'd have appeared altered if on meth. I did not get "high" vibes off them.
DeleteMy hat's off to you, and to all middle school teachers. Not sure if I told you that I taught middle school science... for one year. That's all I could take, and I was miserable most of the time. Such a hard job, and I just wasn't cut out for it.
ReplyDeleteWow! My school on my day, was so innocent. I have a feeling it was some sort of drug...like a caffeine fit to make them more high strung. Did you notice a change in them at all?
ReplyDelete