The week of semester finals… administrators typically love this week because there is little or no disciplinary issues. It is hard to make stupid decisions when there is a two hundred question final under your nose! It is the perfect time for me to begin my least favorite time of the year… TESTING SEASON! For three days, I had been counting fingers and toes to ensure that all testing/instructional minutes were equal so that I didn’t violate any state mandate or union rule.
I managed to stick my head out from my “Pammy Pity Party” long enough for one of our Campus Supervisors to inform me that he had just been given the names of a couple of kids who had drugs. Drugs? During final week… no way! So… since I was buried up to our eyeballs in data and testing schedules, I asked my colleague if she could help me out. I couldn’t ask for better support system than my co- Assistant Principals… they know when I need a hug and when I need a swift kick in the pants!
When I had finally hammered out a final draft from “Revision H,” my colleague had finished searching one of the boys. She found no drugs, but $170 in his pocket. She knew that he did not have a job and most kids don’t carry this amount of cash in their pockets… unfortunately, there wasn’t anything she could do, even though we knew that he had probably obtained the money selling drugs. I did call his probation officer and request a drug test.
She also had located the other student, Diego (remember him from earlier journals.) Now my colleague has many talents, one of which is being able to calmly handle this young man without hanging him up on the ceiling by his toenails! I do not possess this ability! This is one of the most incorrigible young men I have encountered in my career! She had searched and found marijuana paraphernalia and was about to suspend him when I noticed our Marine Recruiter in the Registrar’s office. This special young man had once been a lot like Diego and with some firm guidance by his school counselor he was able to turn his life around and learn to serve others. I whispered in his ear that Diego was in the office and that we knew he was interested in the Marines.
What transpired after that was truly amazing. This young Sergeant shared his story with Diego and offered to spend a couple of days with him during his suspension in order to show him he could have fun another way. My clever colleague agreed to reduce his suspension if he would take him up on the offer. Diego agreed.
In just a few minutes I witnessed this hardened teenager soften to the Marine that took enough time to invest in his life. I had given up on this lad weeks ago, dismissing him as another candidate for juvenile hall, but my colleague saw the potential in him. Only time will tell if he will truly make a change, but somehow I feel that she was able to make Limeade out of the Lemons that this day had thrown to her and society will reap the benefits of her efforts.
