Not Very Surprised

It was bound to happen eventually...

This year, the school district has contracted with some agency or other to bring around drug sniffing dogs. I saw the notification of this at the beginning of the school year. I've seen them on the various campuses. They were even going to search one of my classrooms, but they came around on a prep period (no students), so they skipped me. 

Last Thursday was the day.

It was towards the end of first period. US history. Juniors. The class was, as usual, pretty mellow. The door opened, and it was an administrator with a couple other people, one of whom had a big dog on a leash. 

Oh, okay then. 

We all stepped outside. (The class contains seven students. All were present.) We waited. (It was a sunny day, so it was nice to stand in the sun.) Then the door opened, and Alvin was pulled inside.

Uh oh...

It was a few more minutes. Joey talked about how he no longer did "that sort of thing". He also informed me that he had a couple friends (who still did "that sort of thing") who knew when the dog was coming and would warn people. 

Then they let us come back inside. Alvin's backpack was packed up, and Alvin was escorted from the room.

And... I wasn't shocked. 

Currently, Alvin has a 21% in the class. He'd been promising that he was making up the work he was missing. He would bring it "next time". But each following class, no work. He was also consistently late by at least a half hour a day. 

And... Yeah. He seemed like the type. 

(If you had asked me about drug use before this incident, I wouldn't have singled him out. I wouldn't have pinpointed him as someone who was high. Of course, I wouldn't have singled anyone out as I wasn't particularly looking for that issue. But when you call my attention to it, yeah, it didn't surprise me.) 

The teacher next door had noticed us standing outside. When I informed him of who was whisked away (we share students, so he knows Alvin), he wondered if Gerardo would know more, as the two are buddies. (I have Gerardo in eighth period.) Later, Mr. B reported back that Gerardo said that Alvin had alcohol on him. Or, at least that's what he thought.

Will I find out for sure? Maybe. If I learn anything interesting, I'll report back.

Flushed

Thursday. I was back at the alternative education center (the place where Austin was throwing chairs). 

At the start of the day, every student is checked in. They turn in their cell phones. Security waves a wand over them to check for weapons. They remove their shoes and show they're not smuggling something in. And they turn out their pockets. 

Jaron was sporting a backpack. 

The students don't really bring stuff to school. Mr. T immediately mentioned the backpack. Jaron pulled out a gallon jug of water. As there was nothing else in the backpack, Jaron shoved the empty backpack into his drawer. (The students each have a drawer where their cell phones and other items live until they leave for the day.) 

Jaron explained that he had to drink that full gallon of water that day.

Mr. T understood. "Drug test?"

Jaron confirmed. 

I had Jaron in third period. He had the water with him, The jug was about half empty. 

(They can bring in outside drinks/water so long as they're still factory sealed. Same with food.)

Unsurprisingly, Jaron needed to use the restroom during class. 

Later, security poked his head in the door. He motioned to Jaron. It was time for his drug test. 

I guess the test is quick, as when Jaron returned, he was relieved. He had passed the drug test. 

I wonder. Was it the water that did it? Or, knowing that he had a drug test coming up, did Jaron lay off with enough time to pee clean? I didn't ask. 

A Bad Friday

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.

Strange Timing

Last week was Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is an awareness campaign about the dangers of drug use. The middle schools were doing a "spirit week" where they got dress up days. They had the red ribbons tied on everything. It's a thing. 

Wednesday, I was at the continuation high school. Math. 

Fifth period. I got a call from the office. Who had just returned from the restroom? 

It was a curious question as I had a student out in the restroom, but the only student who had just gotten to class had just arrived with a tardy pass. 

When the student who had been in the restroom returned to class, I got another call from the office. At this point things got clarified. Who had been out of the room? I gave the clerk those names. 

About ten minutes later, the school counselor arrived. She told the two students who I had named to get their stuff and come with her. And she was not happy.

(The counselor is usually all smiles and pleasantries. The students like her. To get her stern voice was a change I was not expecting.)

A few minutes later, the boy who had actually had a restroom pass from me returned. The other boy did not.

Luckily, the next period I had a conference, so I went up to the office to ask. (Well, I went up to the office to use the restroom, but while I was there, I figured I'd find out what was up.) 

The answer was succinct: "Drug deal."

The custodian happened to be walking by the restroom and looked in. He saw one boy surreptitiously hand another boy something. The clerk watched where the boys returned to and then called us teachers to get names. 

Where I got confused was with the boy with the tardy pass. Apparently he had come to school late, and then instead of coming straight to class, he made a pit stop in the restroom. 

And when he got to class, well, let's just say that him buying drugs in the school restroom does not surprise me. In fact, considering how he looked and acted, it made that make a whole lot more sense. 

(The boy who actually had permission to use the restroom was probably just wrong place, wrong time.)

It's Red Ribbon Week. Why'd they have to do this in the specific week that's all about living drug free? 

*shakes head*

High

Friday. Sixth period. We were doing some district mandated standardized test, so the kiddos were quiet, and the room was calm. It was after the middle of the period, so the majority of the students were actually finished.

Helen asked for a restroom pass. She returned a short time later.

Not too long after her return, she approached me. Whispering (so I had to ask her to repeat as whispering and masks do not work well together), she informed me that she felt like she was going to throw up, and could she step outside? 

Yeah, I don't want to deal with any of that, so I let her go.

She returned shortly thereafter, went to her desk, and put her head down.

I asked her if she wished to go to the health office. She did. (I probably would have insisted if she hadn't.) 

This was my last day covering the vacant English class (the new teacher they hired started and was in the room with me during this), so I went up to the office to check out at the end of the day. 

Because it had been sixth period, Helen had ended up in the office where I check out. (The health office only has coverage part of the day, and no longer is there an actual nurse on campus. Well, sometimes, maybe. But not usually.) The secretary told me that Helen had been taken away in an ambulance. Drugs. 

Helen took something. Her body didn't react well. (Apparently, her parents were close by, so they were at the school quickly.) I'm not sure if she was coming down or if she had taken it when she used the restroom. (She hadn't taken anything in class. At least, if she had, she managed to do it in a way that three adults in the room did not notice.) 

I just... 

I mean, I hope she's okay. I hope she learned that drugs are bad. But, I know this sort of thing is going to happen again.

Wrong Luck

I had the same class all last week. Seventh grade world history. Advanced. Their teacher was on the annual field trip to Washington, D.C.

I believe I've mentioned that subs have been in short supply this year. More often than not, I'm covering a different class on the teacher's prep period.

Mr. F's prep period was fifth. Around third or fourth period, I'd get a call from the secretary telling me what class I was going to cover for that fifth period. Monday it was an English class I'd covered before. Easy group. Tuesday it was a very small special ed. class.

On Wednesday, she called to tell me I'd be covering a math class. And I groaned.

The teacher's morning was co-taught. The teacher's sixth period was pretty good, actually. But her period five...

I wrote about them. Well, kind of. They're the ones that somehow managed to make a room smell of marijuana.

As it turned out, the teacher was there to start off the class. (She had an IEP meeting that period.) She told me that fifth was her bad class. Yup, I remembered.

And, actually, I had a student that I had had earlier in the day. (This happens sometimes. When they point it out, I cackle and tell them they can't escape me 😛) Let's just say I wasn't surprised at his inclusion in this class.

The period went about as well as I expected. The teacher told them that they had corrections to make on prior assignments. These would help raise their grades. And yet, half the class told me that their grades were good and they had no corrections to make.

(Ms. T told me this would be true of two students. At least a dozen made the claim.)

Ah well. On the prep period lottery, you win some and you lose some. Four good preps out of five isn't too shabby.

High

Period three. I was back at the continuation high school. A student bounded into class. High energy. And he told everyone why...

"I did so much Ecstasy, I haven't slept in three days...

"I am so high...

"I'm, like, addicted, but it's so expensive that I can't get addicted..."

To which another student replied, "I was there last week..."

My reaction:

via GIPHY