The last few journal entries describe some on-going problems that we had that year. In the March 5th entry I refer to some bullying behavior that was going on among some of the 6th grade girls. I had dealt with the girls almost all year long and it seemed that no matter how much I chastised them the bullying continued. It was very frustrating. Girls can sometimes be more difficult to handle than boys in many ways.
The other child referred to was very troubled and I often wonder what has happened to the child since then. They moved out of the district that summer. The child would be about 16 years old now.
The rest of the entries describe a few of the more frustrating things that happened that year. As with all of my published entries, I have modified enough to make it impossible to identify the people involved and yet still illustrate the types of things that occurred.
March 5, 1998
Today is a parent/teacher conference day. All have gone pretty well. We met with a parent whose daughter is being bothered by some other 6th graders. Hopefully we are making progress in getting this kind of thing stopped. It is very frustrating. We had a kindergartner kick, bite, hit, and spit on adult staff yesterday while I was out of the building. She has done this before, but not for a while. We are going to have to meet and make sure that the mother is taking some steps to stop this behavior.
April 1, 1998
True to form the year continues to be full of struggles and surprises. A student went bonkers yesterday. I had to carry him to the office. He threatened to get his neighbors shotgun and shoot me in the head. Teacher salary negotiations are stalled and the Strategy 2 stuff is still a hot issue. We are already planning for another round of cuts for next year. It won't get any better until the legislature changes some things. I am not optimistic that will happen soon.
April 14, 1998
A parent has pulled his child out of Longfellow and placed the child in the BD classroom at Lemme. It is a relief not to have to deal with them and this is probably the best for the kid. It is a troubled family! I also suspended the child for two school days because of the incident mentioned in the April 1 notes. Now that that is taken care of another parent has flared up and wants to control who their child associates with. We are meeting with her on Thursday.
June 6, 1998
Whew! That school year is over! I hope I never have one like it again! This spring has been hectic--actually the whole year was hectic--and I haven't had much time to journal about it. I am looking forward to a nice break from the stress this summer. Near the end of the year we had another stabbing incident. A student used a pencil. I suspended her and her father is quite upset that this will be on her permanent record. He filed a grievance against me but I held my ground and the issue went to the superintendent. As far as I know she upheld my position.
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