Remember these ladies?
Imagine a similar group of women, without the 70’s hair, sporting school ID badges and Expo markers.
It’s Charlie’s Angels…Teacher Version.
Today, a couple of kids at my school got a taste of what it’s like to have not three, but four teachers on patrol, searching for law breakers.
What happened, you ask?
Well, I’m more than happy to share.
See, it all started a couple of weeks ago when, during third period, someone from the hallway randomly hit the you-know-what out of my metal classroom door.
I went to the door, but the person had hightailed it out of there.
This happened again the next day, and despite my best “mom run,” the perpetrator eluded detection.
This continued every day; however, during the last few days, the episodes had increased to two or three times during the class period.
I was ticked off, let me tell you.
Because the door is metal, the sound was like a gunshot, startling my hard–at-work students (students, I might add, that it took me months to corral).
A couple of days ago, we got proactive. My friend, Barb, who comes into third period to help me out each day, planted herself in the back hallway so that, the person would encounter her by surprise should he or she decide to ding dong ditch and run again.
The person never showed up.
Today, during my planning period, I went looking for another teacher who also has the same planning time as me. She’s on the other side of my building. As I approached her classroom, I noticed three teachers standing in the hallway in front of the boys bathroom.
I asked what was going on.
Well, the person had struck again, this time knocking on an English teacher’s classroom door.
He messed up, though, because two of the reading teachers were in the classroom across the hall, and when they heard the sound, they turned, catching sight of the gentleman’s head and gray-clad arm. They noticed that he was also short.
They knew he’d gone into the bathroom, so they waited, which was where I found them.
Because we’d just had a reading team meeting the day before, everyone was familiar with what had been going on.
We were all determined to get down to the bottom of it.
Finally, one boy came out.
I knew him.
I’ve been calling him “The Wanderer” because he’s ALWAYS out of class, wandering the hallways. I see him often during my planning.
He claimed he had no knowledge about what had occurred.
He was tall, so we ruled him out.
There was another gentleman in the bathroom, but he wouldn’t come out. Finally, after we ordered him to, he did.
He looked bewildered and claimed, after being asked, that he had no clue what we were talking about.
He was short, though, but not wearing gray clothing.
He was, however, out of dress code, which we busted him for.
He returned to his classroom.
Meanwhile, we had called for an administrator, and the principal walked in.
I can’t imagine that he was too happy. Administrators are a busy bunch these days with teacher evaluations coming due soon.
In addition, the principal is responsible for ninth grade discipline issues.
Yep. His plate is full.
Still, we shared out story, and off we went to track down the kids and make sense of the story.
We knew the ding dong ditcher was one of them.
We found the out-of-dress-code kid and pulled him out of class.
Once again, he faked knowledge.
However, the principal questioned him further.
We learned that the student had been out of class without a pass or a bathroom key.
We keep the doors locked.
Don’t ask.
So, the principal asked how he’d gotten into the bathroom.
“My friend,” he said.
“How’d you know he had the key?” asked the principal.
“Because he came and got me,” the kid said.
“How’d he get you?”
“He looked in the window in the door,” the kid continued.
Oh boy. This was getting good. It got even better.
The student admitted that his friend, upon pulling him out of class, said, “I’ve got an idea…”
That’s where the story stopped.
Bet you can figure out what’s coming next.
The other student was not in his classroom when we went looking for him.
He did, however, show up a few minutes later.
It didn’t take him long to admit that he’d been the one hitting the doors. Because he’s tall, he would duck down as he knocked and run quickly to the bathroom where his friend would stand with the door open, waiting to let him in quickly to avoid detection.
Why?
Because, in his words, “It was for the adrenaline rush.”
Oh my.
It was a little funny.
The principal took him to the office.
Before the principal disappeared, he looked at our little crew of crime fighters, and I think I saw a flicker of admiration and the slight nod of his head.
I’m fairly certain that he’s secure in the knowledge that our building is being well taken care of.
I think we sent a message to the students today.
Don’t mess with the reading teachers.
Especially don’t knock on their doors and run.
We will find you and restore order.
Yep. I love my job.
Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 3 Comments »
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