He kicks. He hits. He happily plays, but then he pins a boy and socks him — hard. He’s not an easy kid. Natural pugilist might be the best quick description of this young boy.

Oddly, this post will be about meetings. In my last post, I called meetings the runaway freight train of education. I thought afterwards that many corporate readers might simply shrug. Everybody seems to be in meetings, no matter what they do. But as I watch “Christopher,” I know those meetings are not merely wasting time.

Meetings often — although admittedly not always — waste time. They also waste energy. They divert resources and create opportunity costs.

Let’s look at Christopher and the teacher with four meetings in one day. That teacher’s frazzled. She has to have lesson plans and class activities prepared. All her plans are supposed to be up on the board. Depending on the grade she teaches, she may have to have all her Common Core objectives on the board for the kids and admin to read as well. She has to communicate with administration, fellow teachers and parents. She has spreadsheets and documentation to prepare or update daily. In particular, she has to document Christopher’s behavior. Before most school districts will even consider screening a child for special education, a teacher must build up a backlog of documentation. She has to write down the many transgressions of Christopher, hoping to get him a special education placement or at least a one-on-one aide. She knows this work is necessary. The other kids are already afraid of Christopher and they need her help. His teacher next year needs her help.

This teacher is living out the Year of Christopher. A few years earlier, maybe she survived the Year of Freddie. I thought about using a girl’s name in my last sentence, but opted for honesty. Most ADHD kids are boys. Most natural pugilists are boys. Political correctness aside, the studies back up these observations, although I will also observe that I believe we miss many of our girls with attention-deficit issues simply because they are making messes with paper and glue instead of punching fellow students.

But here’s the problem with those meetings: Christopher’s teacher is already short of time. She went to meetings this year instead of being given time to set up her classroom. She goes to meetings throughout the day, meaning she has to come in early or go home late to set up elaborate activities. Those meetings may shut down some elaborate activities. It’s not easy to lug in all the dirt, shovels, spades and seeds for plant life cycle work. Time that once might have been spent carrying microscopes into a classroom may become a set of Google slides purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers instead.

If time was air, Christopher’s teacher would be turning blue right now. She’s desperately short of time to ready her classroom for daily activities. Endless meetings are worsening her situation and, unfortunately, Christopher himself is worsening her situation.

When Christopher punches Andrew, she has to break to talk to the boys. She may have to write up what happened. At worst, somebody will be sent to the nurse. Chunks of time are slipping away because of this one boy.

Eduhonesty: Let’s see if I can get my idea over the plate.

Last night, my husband annoyed me furiously by wanting me to clean up the front room before I went to an art show. His desire to clean the room was not the problem. He was right. The room needed to be picked up. So why was I upset? I needed to pick someone up and get to another suburb within less than thirty minutes. I felt I did not have time for an emergency front room. I picked up anyway, and discovered I had had plenty of time. But my frustration levels soared for a few minutes.

In the past, when meetings did not run vigorously one after another in the foreground, Christopher’s teacher had extra minutes during the day to address student needs. Christopher represented a big challenge, but that teacher had expected challenges when she entered education. Christopher might even have seemed like an opportunity to save a child from himself and make the world a better place.

But this woman’s frustration levels have been soaring, as she tries to meet many new administrative and government demands that eat up minutes. She does not feel she has time to sacrifice to Christopher’s behavioral quirks. Every time Christopher misbehaves, he eats up minutes she no longer believes she can spare.

Time stress is reflected in her tired, brown eyes. She mostly looks at Christopher with exasperation — even when he has done nothing wrong. I can see she does not like the boy. I am sure he can see this, too. I suspect he would behave better if he did not sense her frustration and impatience. But Christopher’s a smart little fellow, and he can see her eyes are much softer when she looks at Nathaniel.

A great deal has gone wrong in this picture. Christopher needs help. I believe his teacher would spend more time helping him, too, if she were not gasping for free minutes just to get ready for her day.

Education’s accelerating meeting freight train needs to be stopped.