May 19, 2008 - How Far?

In the movie the Untouchables, Malone asks Ness, "How far are you willing to go to win?" I guess the same applies to the last days of school for the semester, and especially the school year. Today I had two students brazenly skip my class, one in second period and another in third. Both students I had seen earlier in the day. One claimed that he arrived to school late, the other said he left early. Mind you, neither of these students have the grades to pass their class and both have always had the potential to be sneaky. As mentioned earlier, the weapons in my arsenal are numerous. A simple greeting is an important weapon. If a teacher sees their student at some point in the day, a simple "good morning" is enough to get them to come to class later because now they know that the teacher has seen them. On the other hand, deliberately withholding a greeting can be just as powerful a weapon. Today, but not saying "good morning" to either student when I saw them in the hall, they thought that I had not seen them. As a result their temptation to skip class was all the greater, and they followed through. Another important tool is location. In the real estate game they say location is everything, the same can be said for teachers. This being my 12 year at my current school, I know all the good locations where to catch students. Not that I know where the students go when they are skipping, but more like where to catch them later on in the day: the bus parking lot. All students who ride the buses exit the building through two doors and filter down to the parking lot via my trailer area. All I simply have to do is step outside to see many of my students, including those who skip my class. This afternoon I caught two, and I let them know as much. They can expect a referral to their Assistant Principal tomorrow.

If there is one thing I cannot tolerate above all else, it is lying. I consider myself a fair and reasonable teacher. I remember a time when I skipped Mr. Posess health class to deal with a girlfriend problem. When I saw him later in the day he confronted me about not being in class. His response was simply if I had told him ahead of time he would not have minded. So, having learned from that experience, I consider myself pretty reasonable. On the other hand, when a student has already proven themselves to be shady, sneaky, maybe even a cheat, then I lose all patience for them. For me, being sneaky, skipping class is akin to lying. Somewhere along the way, the student will fabricate a tale to say where they were. I have zero tolerance for that and will go to great lengths to track that student down and make sure that they are punished for their infraction.

So just like Elliot Ness, I will use any and every legal means within the law to make sure these students do not get away with their sneaky, lying behaviors.