Canyon Day Junior High Year 2

Back to school, and it's been a whirlwind so far. A third of the staff was cut or moved on, including our special ed. teacher. So we have only one special ed. teacher. We also lost our alternative school teacher temporarily, so there currently is no alternative school or in-school suspension. I didn't like the idea of alternative school at first, but when there is one student in class who disrupts the learning of everyone else in the room, as well as threatens the sense of safety, alternative school is the place for that student. This year, due to increased class sizes and extremely spirited students, some teachers have several menacing and disruptive students in one class. My friend and co-worker today was telling me how a kid was pretending to hit him and swung a chair in his face, and all he could do was calmly tell him to set the chair down.

His quote: "I realized that I'm now in a position where I feel comfortable with the fact that I have several students who could harm me." It's now a day-to-day thing. And it's not just about size; it's the knowledge that one or some or all of these kids might snap, any day.

Safety feels like a huge issue this year. We've already had at least three fights in the past three weeks. And school opened with one of our hallways closed, so the kids had to walk around outside the building. It was ridiculous, because there was no way to see or protect all of the students while they were walking outside from one class to another. Fortunately, we passed through that phase unscathed, but the fact that we started school with a closed hallway shows how administration seems rather clueless about serious safety concerns that exist in our school.

But along with the fights and the discipline issues comes an increased energy in the classroom. The kids seem more vivacious: they ask questions, answer questions, volunteer for projects, dance at the dances, cheer and scream at the pep rallies. And throw eggs: the 8th graders threw eggs at the 7th graders at the pep rally that we just had. We teachers shake our heads, grimace, grind our teeth, shudder and then chuckle.

This is going to be one hell of a year!