Yesterday was one of those head-shaking, questioning reality kind of days. It was an "and THEN" day. Here's what I mean by that:
The student who I kicked out of my class on Monday for telling a male teacher who I was talking to to "grab it" (referring, of course, to me) was back in my class on Tuesday. But now he's suspended for the 2nd time in 3 weeks.
After the fight in the courtyard during lunch on Monday (a fight that went on for about 3 minutes before being broken up), a mother of one of the girls' involved called and asked to speak to her daughter's social studies teacher. Mom hates Ms. T., because Ms. T. didn't put her little precious on the basketball team. A student aid put the call through to Ms. T, and mom starts chewing out Ms. T. over the phone, despite the teacher's protests that she was in the middle of class. Ms. T. finally says sharply, "I can't discuss this right now. I'm teaching," and hangs up on mom. And then, Mom shows up at the school to chew out our vice principal, angry that Ms. T. dared to hang up on
her. Our V.P. says, "You had no right to call a teacher during class time. You need to make an appointment to speak to
my people!"
And then, Mr. F. tries to line up his honors math class to go to the computer lab, and three of his 8th grade girls ran off down the hall, marker in hand, and tagged the computer lab door. Their class has been banned from using the computer lab. These girls are hoping to go on Friday's ski trip. Ha!
And then, about 6-7 kids were busted for ditching.
And then, of course, 26 kids were checked out of school yesterday and another 25 or so didn't show up because of the high-school girls' basketball playoff game. They won, which means that our school will be over half empty tomorrow. The games are in Flagstaff (3 hours away).
And then, there was an away boys' b-ball game for 7th and 8th grade, so the boys missed 6th and 7th hour yet again.
And then, the girl basketball teams were called out 5 minutes before the end of 6th hour (at 2:40) for games that started at 3:30 (7th) and 4:30 (8th). Why not wait until after 6th hour to dismiss 7th grade only? The 8th graders were sent back to their 7th hour classes, which caused additional confusion and disruption.
And then, over 50% of my 7th hour was absent because of basketball.
And then, after 15 minutes of class, I open my door to see one of my students sitting with another student right outside my door. I asked him why he was there and not inside, in class. He starts complaining about his ankle, and our V.P. walks by just then, so I tell him that we need a wheelchair brought down for the kid. The student goes to the nurse's office, complaining and refusing to take off his shoe because of the pain. His mother's called, and her response is, "Well, I don't get off of work until 5." The nurse presses, and mom agrees to come pick up her kid early and take him in for an X-ray. The dismissal bell rings, and the kid jumps out of the wheel chair and miraculously runs to the bus. We find him on the bus and try to get him off to go home with his mother who is on her way. He refuses.
And THEN, an hour later, the V.P. and I are standing in the school lobby during the 8th grade girls' game, when this woman with a baby in her arms and the look of generations of incest on her face, walks in, looking around, lost, confused, deer in headlights. We ask if we can help her (rather than her approaching us. I mean, we don't look like we work there at all being dressed professionally and
--ahem--white. Very few Apaches work in the schools.) She says that she's looking for her brother who hurt his ankle and ran off. We literally had to explain to her 5 or 6 times that he was on a bus and left; we saw him on the bus; he got on the bus; he left the school on a bus. She finally gets it and leaves. (This family is a curiosity. Both mom and dad have jobs--that's something here where there's 75% unemployment--but that could just mean they have tribal connections and can't get fired. It doesn't mean that they actually do any work. Their son--and daughter from the looks of it--are special needs, but with a file dating back to early elementary school, they have always refused to have him labeled and get him the extra help he needs. So instead he ditches, almost gets in fist fights with teachers--yesterday at lunch--and fails classes.)
Oh, and also the men who were here to fix our boiler were smoking up in the ceiling while working, so our whole school (SCHOOL!) smelled of cigarettes. But what do they care?
And then I went home and went for a walk down to the river and enjoyed the desert sunset and moon and stars and vented and laughed and shook off the craziness of the day.
And then I fell asleep, completely exhausted, at 9 p.m.
