Middle School Mania

Life continues to be humorous/challenging/eye rolling/exasperating/fun at Maplewood Middle School. Survived last week's full moon but, as always, middle school life is always interesting.

* "If you mess with the bull, you'll feel the horns." Fransisco, 6th grade

* Dr. Suess books can make a 6th grader smile.

* The police liaison officer stated that bullying is reported 3 - 10 times before action is typically taken.

* Something is amiss when children are not afraid of being sent to the office. One student, when pressured to work, flounces off to the office. Okay.....why is he comfortable doing that?

*A boy who intentionally broke a 6th grade girl's finger received a 3/4 day suspension. Now, I am not privy to any police citations he may have received but less than a day of suspension seems lightweight to me.

*A student called a secretary a "fucking c--t". The secretary was informed that the student was really sorry. No punishment.

*A student spit in a paraprofessional's cup of coffee, unbeknown to her. He was suspended until he could be tested for any diseases -- the testing was at the insistence of the parapro. This boy is the brother of the above mentioned boy who likes to go to the office.

*Vince does not have a bedroom. He sleeps on the couch and often comes to school tired because he is awakened when people come home or kept awake by his brother playing Wii in the living room. The natural question asked -- the mom can afford Wii but not a bedroom for her son?

*D.K. is a follower. He has stated he acts up and doesn't do his work so he can be "cool" like a few other boys. His mother tells him he doesn't need to serve after school detentions and doesn't need to apologize for bad behavior. He has also told us him mom throws chairs at home. I don't want to meet this woman.

*L.B. hates school. She is an A student, well mannered/behaved, the kind of student I love. She hates school because in each class she must put up with immature, undisciplined, students who talk out, don't do their work, and are disruptive. She doesn't receive any positive reinforcement because too much time is spent reprimanding (ineffectively) the unruly students. The icing on the cake yesterday was the substitute in 1st hour allowing the behavior problems to work together but not allowing the good kids work together. I didn't get it either.....

*The middle schoolers raised $2000.00 in an African Benefit fundraiser last week. A worthy cause, indeed. It was mentioned, however, that the the general school population has a high poverty level, so why don't have a fundraiser for ourselves? We have students who have worn, torn, old clothing, not enough money for school supplies, etc. So....maybe a fundraiser for the locally disadvantaged would be a good idea.

I know that most of these paragraphs seem negative. But, this is a typical day with our typical students.