Catch 22
What I've learned from the public school system of Arizona: Consistency is crap. We do things how we want!
No really. So days like today makes me question my job. I had a really good with one exception. Oh my little Danny-boy. During homeroom, he tested me and let it me slide. I wasn't so lucky during Writing. In Writing, we are reading Holes and answering comprehension questions, then later we will write a newspaper and complete a comparative essay. I have a whole 3 kids who haven't read it or seen the movie and he has to go and ruin it for them. He spent the first half of class mocking the students reading aloud and then mocking the book. After we finished reading Chapter 6 today, I let the kids who were at least pretending to follow along go take a 3 minute break; using the restroom and getting a drink. I always keep kids back who cannot follow directions or participate. Getting this break is a privilege and if you don't earn it, you don't get it. Danny seemed to disagree. After the break, which he was not allowed to take, he made a comment about how I "smoke weed". He said it as a joke, but that's how rumors start. I have actually never smoked even a cigarette. I want to be able to say that to my students and be honest about it. I don't need rumors about me going out among students about me smoking weed. I gave him a piece of my mind and let it slide (with a small notation, just for documentation). Next, Danny informs me that he has no intention of doing any work because I didn't let him go on a break. I said that was fine, then gave him a "Student refusal verification form", aka, a reflection that says the kids are refusing to work. He sat there and scribbled on it, filled it in with jokes, and said he would act the same way everyday until he got to use the restroom.
Next hour, he had a sub. Mr. R went in a few minutes late, just to check on the kids and said Danny was acting up. He inquired about his behaviors and Danny got defensive. When Mr. R asked him what he was doing, Danny challenged for Mr. R to write him up because he's "not scared of anyone here". Mr. R had taken him out of the room and taken him to me at that point. I said write him up. Because there was substitute, it's an automatic Category II. In my eyes, with all the exceptions we've allotted him, he deserves whatever consequence he earned. I've had him for 2 years now and only seen his inappropriate behaviors stay the same or increase. All we are doing by excusing his behaviors, mind you he is not E/BD, we are only teaching him he can get away with murder. So here's the deal, I take the referral to office and wait for an Assistant Principal. I get Addy. Yay! (She pretty much loathes me, side note). She is the one who wrote me up for standing up for my students, she now made me look like S*** for "not standing up for students". Ridiculous. A kid who earned a consequence that everyone else would get for the same crime gets excused because she did not think it was a "fitting punishment". Are you kidding me? Absurd. Why would I keep going up to bat for him when he does everything in his power to cross the line? I love the kid and would be very sad to see him expelled or long term suspended; but why should I continue breaking my back trying to prevent his ill-behaviors when he is perfectly in control of them? He has gotten away with so much and thinks there are no consequences. Best part is that as he walked outside to the buses, he strode past Mr. R and bragged about not getting in trouble.
In short, if I stand up for my students, I get rolled and in trouble for being "unprofessional". If I don't stand up students who don't deserve another free pass, I don't care. I just cannot win. Now I'm terrified that when she does my observation next week she's going to mark me lower. I can feel at three "1's" on my evaluation coming on... Especially when she asked me to schedule it earlier for the spring because she "wanted extra time for a 3rd observation just in case [I] didn't do well". Classy. Just classy.