Betting Against A Student

Because I work at the discipline campus, the students are transitory, meaning they are placed only for a short time. I thought this would be good, because if you have an annoying student, they go on their way at the end of their allotted time. Not so much. I actually have grown to really love my students. Of course, it is good that they return to their home campus. They have friends to see, plays to be in, sports to participate in, and in general, be a teenager again. We began a transition plan at the behest of our administration. Today, I got to be the first one to participate in the transition, to check on former student who exited this year.

NYwas a dream student. She was our only middle schooler, in the DAEP for losing it after she had been confronted about taking someone's things. While with us, I learned lots of things about her. She has huge struggles with her step mom. She is a nerd, and doesn't fit in at her uber-chic middle school. (Not really shocked about that. Her middle school is the wealthiest in the district, by far.) She read 16 books during her spare time while she was with us for four weeks. She loves to write. She went to a writing camp this summer. She is into drama. Okay, although she wasn't a mini-me, she and I share a lot of common interests.

So I go over to check on her, give her a quick hug, and I can tell she doesn't want to talk. She has a life that is calling. She's been in choir and drama, has made some friends, and doesn't need me anymore. Her grades are up, her attittude is up, she is sailing right along. On the way out, I tell the two counselors at her MS that I will be back, but not a lot. She doesn't seem like a risk to come back to our DAEP. That is when one of the counselors unloads. She starts looking around counselor 1s desk and office to see if NY has taken anything. She laughs in my face when I tell her that I don't think NY is a risk. Then she says, "We'll see if she comes back to you around April. Let's just wait and see how she is doing then." With a sarcastic snarl on her face.

I am wondering to myself if this highly educated woman has morphed into a middle schooler. I want to ask her if she has heard of Pygmalion, and self-fulfilling prophecy. I want to ask her if she really is implying that N will be back, in other words, if she is insisting N will fail. In true life-long educator form, I smile, bid the lady counselors goodbye, and tell them to have a nice day. Outside, I mutter "bitch," and I am so angry that someone would be so hateful to a 12 year old and get PAID to do it. I can't imagine disliking a student so much.

At my home campus, the one other teacher who wasn't new this year confirms "They don't like NY over there." I want to judge the counselor, to think she is a horrible person who should be fired, but there is a little voice inside of my head that urges me to imagine my words and how they are taken in social situations. Although I've tried to move beyond this, I am still haunted that so many campuses are guilty of betting against students. I will try not to do this, as this violates education ethics 101, and also, it violates the inner-law God has stamped upon my heard, that of free will. You see, the truth of the matter is this: Either NY will return to our DAEP for bad choices, or she will advance on without incident. The choice is hers. It has nothing to do with counselor number 1 nor myself. April, come quickly, so NY can prove everyone in her petty middle school wrong. I am betting on NY. It may be a long shot.