The Friday before the Thanksgiving break, I agreed to cover a class at the alternative education center. It has been a long while since I was there last, things had only started opening up again after the virtual learning of the 2020-21 school year.
But now things are back to somewhat normal, so I was expecting a challenging day.
The alternative education center is where they send kiddos who have been expelled from other schools. At the beginning of the day, they "check in". This includes them getting wanded for miscellaneous metals and them taking off their shoes to show that they aren't hiding anything in them.
Pretty much every student has a probation officer.
Fifth period. It was "elective". They usually watch a movie, but for the day before Thanksgiving break, I put on a documentary I found on YouTube about Thanksgiving traditions. (The lesson plan said to find a documentary on YouTube.)
The class wasn't into it, so they were entertaining themselves on their Chromebooks. I figured this was fine.
But Austin was bored. (No, not that Austin. And not that Austin, either. I'm not having good luck with the name Austin this year.)
First he tried to change the video, but of course he chose something not appropriate for school. Then he decided that he'd rather draw on the smartboard, and he attempted to block me from changing the display back to the video.
I got my way. Austin gave up and headed to the back of the room. I fiddled with the TV to get something appropriate playing.
That's when the first chair went flying.
Earlier in the day a couple chairs had fallen over, plus a desk. I didn't think too much of this, earlier or then. When the second stool went flying, that's when I knew I had a problem.
But I didn't call the office until the third stool hit the ground.
Was Austin throwing furniture at me? He waited until my back was turned, so I didn't see him do it.
I don't know what they were expecting, but when I dialed the phone, every student was whispering. "She's calling the office."
Shortly thereafter, the principal arrived. She removed Austin from class. And things got way calmer after that. (Austin heckled her, and he had already angered her earlier in the day, so he kind of selected himself for removal.)
And you know what? No more furniture got hurled. So, win.
(The chairs fell to positions nowhere near me, so I didn't feel like I was in any danger.)
With fifth period finished, I was done for the day. (I do love a sixth period conference. I get to leave early.)
I went to check out. Austin was stuck in the office.
"Did I hit you?" He actually sounded a little apologetic.
"No, you missed me."
Austin: "It wasn't me throwing the chairs..."
As he wound up for more denials, the principal barked out that Austin needed to be quiet.
And I went home.
