Teacher Misery

by Jane Morris

  Scenario: My pet is hungry. I give him absolutely no food. Outcome: My pet starves. I get arrested for animal cruelty.

  Several school districts across the nation have adopted a “no zero” grading policy. Basically, a teacher is no longer allowed to give a zero for work that has not been completed. The rationale behind this is that failing to complete assignments is a behavioral issue and grades should reflect a student’s ability level and not their behavior. Instead of receiving a zero for a test or assignment that has not been completed, students are marked with a comment stating that the assignment is incomplete. The student's grade is then based on whatever work he or she has actually done, with no penalty for the missing work.

  Some teachers have refused to use this policy, citing the fact that it teaches students to have no accountability and some have been suspended and/or fired over it.

  Speaking of school policies that need revision, my district’s discipline policy leaves much to be desired. There is a huge push in our nation’s schools to lessen or even eliminate suspensions, expulsions and referrals to law enforcement. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly released initiatives to “assist school districts in promoting positive learning environments and limit unnecessary disciplinary action.” The idea is that when you suspend a student, they are missing valuable learning opportunities which is counterintuitive to their education and behavioral improvement. In an effort to reduce suspensions, interventions are supposed to address students’ social and emotional requirements, identify future behavioral problems and teach students appropriate behavior.

  The Behavioral Education Plan is designed to teach appropriate behavior to keep students in school rather than suspend them when they break rules. Instead of just removing students from the classroom and school, the plan outlines interventions that are aimed at keeping students in school to improve academic achievement and graduation rates. My school district, along with many others across the country, has adopted this plan. Under this plan, there is a range under which a student can receive consequences for their actions. Whenever possible, it is advised that the lowest level (or least severe) consequence be implemented. The result has been, at least from what I have seen, a student body who understands that they can get away with almost anything with little or no consequence.

  For example, for making inappropriate gestures, verbal or written comments, including cursing, the most extreme consequence one can receive is “community service, peer mediation and temporary removal from class.” An example of this would be just a few weeks ago when a student said, “Open the motherfucking door you bitch!” to me, and only received a chat with an administrator about appropriate language. The student refused to apologize.

  For plagiarizing, meaning copying someone else’s work; forgery of a parent or teacher’s signature or cheating, a student may be asked to write an apology (though no one will check that they do), and the most that can occur is peer mediation, and community service (though I have never heard of a student doing community service for these violations.) I have rarely, if ever, heard of a student receiving any consequences for these behaviors.

  For engaging in inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature (e.g. indecent exposure) a student may only receive peer mediation and a time out, and the highest consequence for this is a few days suspension. A sexual attack may receive as little as in-school suspension. Students are caught in the act on a regular basis, including two who were going at it on the main staircase as students entered the building at 7:30 in the morning. Those two got two days suspension.

  For making a bomb threat or threatening a school shooting, a student may receive as little as community service and peer mediation. For physically attacking an employee of the school system or other adult, including intentionally striking a staff member who is intervening in a fight or other disruptive activity, a student may receive as little as having to write an apology or a talk with a school counselor. These same consequences are suggested for setting or attempting to set a fire. For using or threatening to use a knife or other implement as a weapon with intent to cause serious bodily harm, a student might only receive a few days of in-school suspension. If a student possesses an incendiary or explosive device, material, or any combination of combustible or explosive substances that can cause harm, it is suggested that they write an apology and have a chat with their counselor.

  If the consequences for such severe and harmful behavior is so negligible, you can imagine that there are no consequences for things like being consistently late to class or skipping. Under the current attendance policy, if a student misses more than four classes without an excuse note they will lose credit for the class and have to retake it. This policy might encourage students not to skip if it was adhered to. But students can obtain a contract that states they will try to come to class more often and teachers are obligated to sign it. If this contract is signed, the student gets credit at the end of the semester. If the contract is not signed, the administrator will most likely go into the system and pass the student anyway, especially if he or she is a senior.

  They have made it so difficult for teachers to remove credit from a student that it is almost impossible. If a student has missed most of their classes it is very likely that they will not pass. However, teachers are required to provide enough makeup work for these students for them to pass. It is a common occurrence for a student to come to a teacher on the last day of the school year with an attendance contract, and they are expected to sign it, even if there are no more classes for the contract to be fulfilled. If a teacher makes a habit of not signing these contracts, he or she is seen as a nuisance to administration and accused of “not being a team player.” In the end, there is much less aggravation if you just sign the contract and let the kid pass, regardless of the fact that they rarely showed up and did almost nothing in your class.

  HIS FUCKING PHONE IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE

  I had a student whose name closely resembles that of a type of dinosaur. To protect his identity I’ll call him “Raptor.”

  Raptor slept through most of my classes, no matter what tactics I used to keep him awake. He would sprawl out across two chairs in the back row and prop his feet up on a desk. I actually preferred him asleep because when he was wide awake, he would ask every member of the class for lotion until he got some, take his shoes and socks off, put his feet up on the desk, and lather up his legs and feet. It was quite disgusting.

  One day, after I finally got the class settled and ready to take a test, Raptor stood up and yelled, “This class is not fucking starting yet!” I looked at him in shock. “Excuse me?” I answered. “That’s right,” he said calmly. “This class isn’t fucking starting until I get my fucking phone.”

  “Raptor, you can’t use that language. You’re going to have to leave.”

  “No. I’m not going anywhere until I get my fucking phone!” he replied.

  Raptor came to the front of the room, pulled a stool in front of me, sat on it with his arms crossed and said, “Now who took my fucking phone?” I stepped out from behind him. “Excuse me. You can’t just take over the class like that.”

  “Yes, I can. And I’m not moving until I get my fucking phone. Someone took my fucking phone and I want it right now.” I explained to Raptor that perhaps if he had approached me about his problem without cursing I would be willing to help him. But at this point I didn’t care that someone took his phone. I was more concerned with his disrespectful behavior.

  Without moving he said, “Yeah, what’re you gonna do? You gonna fight me?” I started to walk past him to call security to remove him. He saw me move and began to pat his chest and throw his arms in my face.

  “You wanna go? You wanna fight me?” he yelled. I just laughed at him and told him I was calling security. It took them about 25 minutes to get to the classroom. We spent every minute of that time in silence because every time I tried to speak, Raptor interrupted me and reminded the class that he
wanted his fucking phone. (By the way, in the midst of this I offered to call his fucking phone, but he said that it was disconnected.)

  When security finally got there, I pulled them into the hallway and explained the situation. They seemed to understand what I was saying. They entered the room and ordered the students to stand up and proceeded to pat them all down. They also emptied all of their backpacks and questioned them heavily. During this, I explained that the issue was not Raptor’s missing phone (which they did not find), but rather his cursing at me, threatening me and preventing the class from starting. They ignored me and said they would handle that later. They took Raptor to the security office to record the details of his missing phone. I sent an email to the Ass. Principal and this is the response I received:

  “Had discussion with Raptor about his disrespectful actions. Student seems to understand the seriousness of what he did. Please call parents for follow-up.”

  The phone number listed for his parents was disconnected. He informed me the next day that he had forgotten that he left his phone in his locker, and it was not actually stolen. I asked if he was sorry for the way he treated me. He shrugged and said, “I dunno,” then walked away.

  FLIPPING A BRICK

  Bertha was a very friendly young lady. She always took the time to ask how my day was going and how my weekend was. In fact, a few weeks into the semester, she started to ask me if I needed money. I thought she was joking, so I always said, “Yes, of course. I’m a teacher. We always need money.” She would then tell me that she would hook me up. I thought this was all very cute and playful until Bertha pulled out a huge wad of cash during class.

  In the middle of a class discussion, she asked if I had change for a hundred dollar bill. “No Bertha,” I said, “I don’t carry that kind of cash. And I doubt that you do either.” She immediately flashed an enormous mass of bills, with a hundred wrapped around the top. My mouth dropped and the eyes of every student in the room lit up. “Okay, put that away. I don’t want to see it.” She put the money away and said, “I don’t understand why teachers get so pressed about money.” I told her to be quiet. She replied, “Ms. Morris if you need money so bad you could just flip a brick.” I did not know what this meant, but I assumed it wasn’t good. “That’s okay, Bertha. I don’t need your help.” She pulled out a twenty, got up and slid it across my desk. “Here. I feel bad for you.” I pushed it back to her and told her not to feel bad for me. I said that her behavior was inappropriate. She shrugged her shoulders and sat down.

  I looked up “flip a brick” online and found out that it meant selling drugs, but it wasn’t specific about what kind. I guess I should have realized that drugs come in the form of bricks, or packages shaped like bricks. It turns out that I was not as hip as I had once thought.

  I referred Bertha to security and the assistant principal and reported that she had told me that she sells drugs and should be searched. No one answered me and I forgot about it, until the next class.

  Bertha was now conducting shady transactions in the back row of my classroom. I couldn’t see what she was giving out, but I could see that others were giving her money in exchange for something. I called her into the hallway and told her that I didn’t like what she was doing in my class. She didn’t deny it. She tried to recruit me again. “Ms. Morris, you could make so much money and you wouldn’t have to be so pressed all the time.”

  “Bertha, I want you to stop this,” I said. “You are never to ask me that again, and you are never to sell anything in my class. I don’t care if it’s chewing gum.” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Okay.”

  During the next class, Bertha asked to go to the bathroom. It didn’t occur to me at the moment that she would probably sell drugs when she got there. She left the class, went into the hallway, and right in front of the open classroom door she conducted a little transaction. I ran into the hallway and screamed at her to get back into the classroom. She did but told me to “chill” on her way back in. “I will not chill! Were you just selling drugs, Bertha?”

  “Yeah,” she replied.

  “So you’re admitting it!” I said. “Yeah,” she answered.

  “And you admit that you have drugs on you right now?” “Yeah, it’s just a little weed. Nothing serious.”

  “I’m sorry Bertha, but I’m going to have to call security.”

  “That’s cool. Mr. Boots (the head of security) is my man. He’ll be cool about it.”

  I pressed the security button, but no one came. Class ended and Bertha left. I officially wrote her up for selling drugs in my class. A few days later the Ass. Principal called me down to her office to discuss the situation. After I explained the situation, she agreed that it sounded very serious, and she would notify the principal and school police officer immediately. A few days after that, I got an email from the Ass. Principal explaining that the principal felt the evidence I gave did not warrant Bertha being searched by the school’s police officer. He said that I should leave the matter alone.

  What does a kid have to do to be searched? Perhaps sprinkle drugs on top of my head? I thought. Bertha announcing that she had drugs, and my actually witnessing a transaction in my class was not enough, so I dropped it. Soon after, the class was working on research papers about controversial issues in the U.S. It was hard to get Bertha to focus and work on anything. She kept asking me if she could write her paper about legalizing marijuana. I said it would be okay, as long as she took the project seriously and did actual research.

  To my surprise, Bertha turned in a beautifully written, scholarly research paper about medical marijuana dispensaries in the U.S. Her paper began with the following line, “As the stubborn economic downturn has forced the state of California to take painful steps to balance its budget in recent years, it has increasingly turned to one of its newer industries to raise much-needed revenues: medical marijuana dispensaries.” I was blown away by this sentence; not because it was so well written, but because Bertha could barely read or write at an elementary school level. I looked up the first sentence of her report and found that her entire paper was merely a New York Times article. I asked her if she wrote her paper by herself. She asked why I wanted to know. I responded that I was amazed by how well written it was. She thanked me and took the credit. Next, I told her that it was easy to figure out that she completely copied her article from the internet. She said “oh” and admitted to it right away, with little to no shame. I emailed the Ass. Principal the following email:

  From: English Teacher

  To: Ass. Principal

  Subject: Office Action (Urgent)

  Bertha completely copied a very important research paper from the internet. We have been working on this paper for several weeks, and her entire paper was merely a New York Times article with her name on it. She did not show much remorse for this when I spoke with her. I would like for there to be a consequence so that she understands the seriousness of what she is doing. I have tried to contact her parents, but none of the numbers listed are in service.

  In response, the Ass. Principal asked to meet with Bertha and me in person to discuss this matter. We met in her office and here is how the meeting transpired:

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Bertha, we are here to discuss a paper that you wrote.

  Me: No, she didn’t write any of it. She completely copied it, word for word, from a newspaper article.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Is that true?

  BERTHA: I mean, I don’t know.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: What do you mean?

  BERTHA: I wrote some of it.

  ME: No she didn’t. It is, word for word, a New York Times article.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: May I see the paper?

  ME: Sure.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Why did you write about marijuana?

  BERTHA: I dunno.

  ME: The assignment in the curriculum is to research a controversial pro/con issue.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: And you let her write about drugs?

  ME: Well, it is a very c
ontroversial issue right now, and the curriculum doesn’t specifically state what issues they are allowed to write about.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: But you should know, Ms. Morris, that this is inappropriate.

  ME: I felt that maybe if the student was allowed to write about something she took a personal interest in, she might focus and do her work for once. And given my history with Bertha, I know that she has an extreme interest in the legalization of marijuana.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: But that is not appropriate. Students should not be writing about drugs. You should know that. Bertha, why did you copy your paper?

  BERTHA: I dunno.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Don’t copy work anymore. Write another paper about a different topic, okay?

  BERTHA: Okay.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Great. You can go now.

  BERTHA: Okay bye.

  ME: Is she not going to get any punishment for completely plagiarizing her paper?

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: She knows not to do it again. But I don’t think you should have let her write about drugs.

  ME: It was supposed to be research based, and not include their opinions.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Ms. Morris, you’re a new teacher, and I suppose you don’t know this, but writing about marijuana is not appropriate.

  ME: Okay.

  ASS. PRINCIPAL: Okay, thanks.

  CAUSE FOR CONCERN

  As mentioned in previous chapters, on the first day of school I have students introduce each other. Sometimes I ask them to choose three words to describe themselves. You can tell a lot by the words a student chooses. Some give very factual labels, such as brother, student, teen. Others stick to their hobbies and say runner, basketballer, footballer. Some students take the humorous approach and say something like “future favorite student” or “flat out pimp,” while others use this opportunity to show me that they are not interested in participating in my activities such as, “I don’t know” or “dumb, stupid, lazy.” When Michael and his partner stood up I expected a standard answer. I was wrong.