Remember Me?

In September, October, and November, I substituted at a West Side Junior High School for about 7 weeks while an Algebra I teacher was having and recovering from surgery. While many of those experiences were memorable, one that stood out involved a young man who, for the sake of protecting the not-so-innocent, we'll call 'A'.

It had been a difficult morning, and the kids in first period were pretty wired. I'd been having some particular difficulties with one kid, 'A'. I'd had to discipline him verbally for something, I don't even really remember what at the moment. But he wasn't the only one. Kids had been throwing things, and I told the class that the floor needed to be cleaned up before anyone left. We'd done this song and dance before, and I took my place in front of the door.

Well, the bell rang, and 'A' was first in line to leave. I reminded everyone that nobody could leave until the place was cleaned up, but 'A' tried to push his way past. Now, the Prime Directive of Substitute Teaching is never to touch a student. There are just too many things that can go wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of choice, as A initiated contact in trying to get by me. So I put my hands on his shoulders and moved him back into the classroom. He immediately started shouting bloody murder and so forth.

Anyway, after the class had managed to clean things up a bit I let them go, telling 'A' he needed to stay after and talk to me about his behavior. He left, and I shouted down the hall to him, "'A', get back here." His response was short and to the point: "F--- You!"

I made mention of this little conversation to the folks at the office during my lunch break that afternoon. 'A' was out of school on a 3-day suspension by day's end.

Fast forward now to yesterday. I returned to WSJHS for the first time in months. I saw several kids that I remembered, including one who even called out to me in the hallway. This was strange, because the last time I saw her, she was telling me how mean I was for insisting that she actually do her keyboarding assignment rather than surfing the Internet. Anyway, I'm greeting kids as they come into third period, and I turn to find myself face to face with 'A'.

His words on seeing me: "Oh, f--- no!"

Well, that answered any questions I might have had about if he had forgotten me or sprouted a little maturity in the intervening months. This was not something I was prepared to tolerate. So I told him straight out, "I hear you swear again, 'A', and you're gone."

His response was again a model of brevity, even more so than the last time. He said, "Fine!" and stormed out the door. I didn't see him again for the rest of the period. Big loss. /sarcasm

I checked with the office during the planning period to make sure he made it down there. Yes, he'd been to the office and seen the principal, the secretary told me. When I explained to her what had happened, she looked shocked. 'A' had neglected to mention his use of the same kind of language that had got him suspended the first time. Small wonder. She said she'd make the principal aware of the additional details.

I never found out what happened to 'A' yesterday. Frankly, I don't really care. Without him, third period was the best-behaved class of the day.

I was content to file 'A' under "N" for "No longer my problem".