Following Your Gut

While teaching for thirty-plus years, a school rule that irritated me was the automatic three and five days suspensions for predetermined violations. Those 'automatic' suspensions caused me to often take matters in my own hands. Let me be clear about  this. I did turn over 'fighting' issues to administrators because of possible physical injuries.

However, those nickel-dime missteps by students were another matter; improper physical education dress, cheating on a test, smoking on campus, etc. I suppose during my entire teaching career, I wrote a handful of student discipline referrals. My thinking was somewhat this way: If I had to write a referral, I was admitting that the matter facing me was beyond my passion and abilities to impact in a positive manner. The referral writing was a written confession of my own inabilities and failure.

I recall one year at Jacksonville high school when I noticed a young black male student shake down a freshman white kid for lunch money. I caught the youngster red handed. I had two choices: (1) write a referral and be done with it or (2) telephone the black boys parent thereby avoiding the automatic three day suspension when the kid would not be able to make up academic work (another half-ass rule). I chose to execute the latter.

Now telephoning the parent was a crap shoot. Will I get a parent who wishes to use the situation as a teaching moment and appreciate the suspension avoidance or will I get a sensitive black parent with a predisposed attitude about 'whitey.' That's correct, that shit does cut both ways if you have not noticed. Bottom line, I did what I thought was right for a kid. On the incident, the 'grandmother' of the youngster was at my office in a heart beat and was on that boy like stink on a skunk.

I saw that young man some 18 years later. He mentioned that incident to me and shared with me that he worked with the Department of Children and Family Services; A happily married father of three.