Ironically, the evening before Thanksgiving break three students were scheduled for expulsion hearings before the School Board. Expulsions hearings in our district are the final destination for students who have violated school rules. I dislike these hearings... not only do I feel like "Elmer Fudd" trying to figure out when to add the legal mumbo or when to simply explain our case, but it has always made me feel like I was giving up on a kid, simply throwing them away.
Most people go into this profession with a nasty need to save the world, or maybe just make it a bit better. Either way, when we have totally exhausted our limitations as mere mortals then we must trust the School Board to decide their fate. When expelled, these kids are removed from district schools and shipped off to the county continuation school for a period of time.
This evening we took three girls who committed felony assaults on girls because they refused to join their gang (crew) Gangsta Little Girls. The first hearing was was Cassandra. Cassandra was the hardest of the three. She followed a girl home through the park and beat her up, hitting her, kicking her, spitting on her and when the girl lay bleeding on the ground she took a marker and wrote "GLG" on her jeans and stole her cell phone. This happened in one of the safest cities in America... scary huh? She was told by the Board that she would never return to Royal, she was expelled for the remaining semester, and could return to another district school following semester. Secretly, I wished the Board could find some magic law which would allow them the throw her in an isolation cell and throw away the key.
The next two girls, Vanessa and Jasmine, also members of GLG didn't like the way a girl was looking at them, so after PE class they opted to knock her to the ground and kicked her until administration found her lying on the ground in front of the Gym. By the time they had reached the nurse's office with her, she was fading in and out of consciousness and was transported to the hospital by paramedics.
Vanessa seemed aloof before the School Board as her mother struggled with a Spanish interpreter to understand the proceeding. Jasmine told the Board that she wanted to be a lawyer as she called her "witness" which argued the fact that she did not hit the girl from the back, but attacked her from the front. (Note- did nothing to impress the School Board) Jasmine denied being a part of GLG although I had clearly found her nickname and "GLG tagged in her notebooks. When I suspended her I attempted to voice my concern with her nickname to her mother.. and was finally rescued by a Spanish speaking counselor. I vividly remember the look of sheer terror on the face of her mother as I explained that her daughter was bragging about being sexually active at the age of 15.
After Jasmine was recognized as one of the fighters, I went to her classroom to escort her to office... while the ambulance was sitting in the parking lot with her victim inside. When I questioned Jasmine about the incident, she arrogantly remarked, "Yes, I hit and kicked her because she was mad dogging (hard looks) me." Seldom in my job, have I felt emotions so acute I had to walk away, but this time I had to hand her off to my colleague, Barbara, until I could contain my own rage. Couldn't this kid see what she had done? Why didn't she care that she was sending another student to the hospital... all because she had given her a bad look??
The School Board expelled both girls and informed them after a year when they could return, they would never come back to our school. Although all three girls showed some measure of remorse... I couldn't help but think, too little, too late. The first victim and her parents moved out of state, the other is struggling with truancy issues that she attributes to being fearful to come to school. To know this community and school this seems so absurd. I feel perfectly safe walking in the evening and many residents still leave their doors unlocked. How did this happen in this Norman Rockwell-like community? If it is happening here, how about those "rough" neighborhoods "over the hill"?
What are we to do with these kids, short of giving up on them? How did they become "throw away kids" ? How is society failing these young people? Do we do enough to save them? Are the laws too weak to provide a deterrent for this behavior? I have heard more than one police officer and probation official explain the system is simply too backed up to make a difference and too often than not cases are dismissed because they didn't "shoot" anyone. This statement is usually followed by "The school" has a harder bite than "the system" which makes my blood boil!
Unfortunately, I have seen too many kids cuffed because they lack common respect for police officers. If our kids do not respect the law... what do they respect? I wish I had a quarter for every kid who has told me "I don't respect anyone, until they respect me first." WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?? I try to explain to these confused children that "respect" is due a person simply because of their age or position in society. But unfortunately, this off-spring of Generation X simply doesn't get it... where did we lose the simple niceties of society?
This is very frustrating forme... and it makes it very hard on those of us who are determined to save the world! But we will save the world, perhaps taking it kicking and screaming if we have to...
