The Long Walk

Monday I was called to cover a Spanish II class.

Class had barely begun when a girl asked to use the restroom. (This is not unusual.) But when another girl and then another boy asked, I noticed that the first girl had been gone a while. (It's a one at a time rule, so they couldn't go until the first girl got back.) This was weird as the restrooms were about three doors down from the classroom.

Finally the girl returned about twenty minutes later.

Whenever a student takes forever, I note it. Some students use it as an excuse to roam campus, and they can get into all sorts of mischief (vandalism, disturbing other classes, meeting up with friends, or meeting up with boyfriend/girlfriend to do things they shouldn't).

However, this time the girl immediately apologized for taking her time. She explained.

Apparently, there's been "an issue", and she was afraid she'd get "jumped" in the restroom, so for safety, she had gone to the health office to use the restroom there. The health office was on the complete other side of campus.

There have been a lot of fights on campus lately. I can't fault her for looking after her own safety.

Although, she could have asked for a health office pass. I never refuse those.

Ah well. At least I know where she'd gotten herself to.

The Run Around

This is the sort of thing I'd expect to happen while Mercury was in retrograde...

"Is John Smith there?"

The quickest way to find out is to call the name. John turned around.

The caller explained. He was the teacher in room B2, Mr. S. (I've subbed for him before. It's a computer class.) He had gotten a pass that should have come to me in room 302. (How B2 and 302 look alike...?) Rather than getting someone to bring it to me (I was on the opposite side of campus), he gave me the info.

So, I sent John to the attendance office to see someone who's name I didn't catch. (It didn't sound familiar, so I didn't retain it.) I explained the situation to John and hoped for the best.

A few minutes later, I got a call from the main office...

So, yeah, not enough information.

I explained that I didn't have the pass, so the secretary had to call Mr. S.

John returned shortly thereafter with an envelope in hand. So, he found who he needed. Eventually.

Avoiding Class

Math class at the continuation high school. Earvin was in period three.

Class had barely started when Earvin asked to go and talk to the counselor.

I called, but I got her voicemail. I knew she was on campus, but if her voicemail was picking up, that meant she was busy. And I wasn't going to send a student to her office if she was occupied with something else. So, I told Earvin no.

That should have been the end of it. But this is Earvin we're talking about.

He wanted to talk to someone "in the office". I knew the principal was off campus. No other administrators were around. Only the secretaries and clerks were there. But Earvin insisted, so I called to ask if he could go.

No.

Earvin was on a mission. He wanted out of class. So, now he needed to go "work" in another class. Could he go to another room?

Okay, fine. Which class?

I called the teacher. He didn't want Earvin either. (I don't blame him. I wouldn't take him if he wasn't enrolled in my class.)

So, we're done, right? Earvin realized he was stuck and got to work, right? No, of course not. Earvin picked another teacher to try.

"Is he driving you crazy?"

Well, yeah, but that's normal. I can take it for a period. I didn't say this, however. I don't remember what I said. But this teacher said yes.

I did state that Earvin could remain with me. Earvin overheard and protested...

So, in the end Earvin got out of math class and went to PE instead. It calmed the room way down. (There was this girl chasing him, and he was running away...)

But I ran into the counselor later. She told me that Earvin has been "getting out of" math quite frequently lately. He doesn't seem to get on with the teacher. However, he's getting close to finishing, and math is one of the few subjects he needs to finish, so he needs to stay in class.

(Turns out that not having the counselor answer the phone worked in his favor, for she would have said that he shouldn't go anywhere.)

Out of Class

This is not so much a repost as a missed post. As I pared down some of my stacked paperwork, I found notes for a blog post I meant to write. I figured now was as good a time as any.  

Some teachers like detailed notes from their subs. I came up with a grid system. One of my grids is for listing which students were out of class. Usually, this becomes a list of who used the restroom (there've been times when I needed it). This day, the list was slightly more interesting.

The first girl to request a pass asked to go to the library. She had all her books with her (this is an unusual occurrence). Obviously, she needed to return her textbooks. I wondered why, so I asked. She explained that this day was her last. She was being sent to the continuation high school.

I made sure to get her name. I told her to say hi to her first teacher. I'd be seeing her around.

Then I got a phone call. I was to send another girl to her IEP meeting. (IEP stands for individual education plan. It's a special ed thing.)

Later in the day, security came by. All the security person had to do was open the door and the student grabbed her stuff and bounded out of the room. I got the feeling that the student expected to be removed from class. She did not return.

Then finally I got another call. It was the attendance office. The lady asked me if a student had showed me her off-campus pass. She had not.

There are fences around the entire campus. A student can't leave without permission. And the student has to pass through the attendance office. They have a pass for this. All a student has to do is to show me this pass, and I will allow that student out of class. Usually, the student is a bit anxious to leave and will try to leave just a little bit early.

So, I was surprised by the call. The attendance lady told me to tell the student to run. Apparently, she was now late for some appointment. Oops.

Any day I might have one of these types of students out of class. But four in one day? That was different.