From: (An assistant principal who always meant well)
Sent: (Before COVID)
To: (Around fifty teachers and paraprofessionals)
Subject: Referrals are in

Referrals are in, referrals are in!!!  I only order (sic) 2500 since the past two years we haven’t exceeded 2400.  They are in my office for pick up, please feel free to stop by and pick them up!

(An assistant principal who always meant well)

(Name of Title 1 school)

(Somewhere in the Midwest)

Eduhonesty: Found this while cleaning old email. I remember we ran out of referrals in the spring. I am sharing this because the number is worth a moment’s reflection. Currently, the school has closer to 600 than 500 students, but those are hardly large urban numbers. It’s a little smaller than the US average. (Table 5. – Average public school size (mean number of students per school), by instructional level and by state: Overview of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools and Districts: School Year 1999-2000 (ed.gov))

I stopped to think about this, reader. Let’s do the math: 2,400 divided by 180 = 13.33 referrals per day. Except we ran out of referrals. Let’s say the number turned out to be 14 or 15 referrals per day. Let’s also note that school policy had teachers managing many behaviors without use of referrals. Teachers were to manage lesser infractions such as the random swear word or “tardiness of less than 5 minutes” etc. That “Prior Action Taken by Teacher” on the form is all about avoiding office referrals, and I don’t want that to seem a criticism. Teachers should not be bombing the office with every kid who decides to drop an “F” bomb when he hears his ex-girlfriend may be seeing a new guy.

The numbers will not be in yet, but I don’t personally know a single teacher who does not think that behavior is worse post-pandemic than before. For one thing, we have added a whole new category of infraction: refused to mask/distance/follow COVID protocols. Changes in routines alone are throwing off even the go-along, get-along crowd, many of whom want their old schools and their old lives back.

I only want to make one observation here: Admin may be struggling but those well-meaning assistant principals and deans must step up to the plate right now. Teachers are too busy to manage afterschool and lunch detentions. They may even be covering for a colleague at lunch. Deans and others who are part of the disciplinary process may want to let the little stuff go because of the sheer volume of referrals, BUT THAT MUST NOT HAPPEN. The kid who gets away with stealing an extra hour of game time on Tuesday will try to steal two hours on Wednesday. Kids naturally take advantage of weaknesses in policy enforcement, and if a kid gets away with cursing at his or her teacher once, that behavior may even be pushed pushed pushed just to find a limit — or find out there isn’t one, not really.

I am reading all sorts of “should I quit” posts and even “I am so glad I quit” posts on social media right now. Many say things like, “the kids are awful this year, worse than I have ever seen in my (10-20-30) whatever years of teaching.” “I can’t handle this anymore.”

Depending on their location, kids may be experiencing whole new levels of stress, unlike anything in their earlier lives. Their behavioral shifts are understandable. They are suffering from rapidly changing routines and expectations, leaving many nervous, angry and confused. Some have suffered family job losses, illnesses and even tragedies. This fact leaves administrators and teachers feeling a natural compassion and desire to go easy on off-the-charts behavior.

But we cannot afford to be too understanding. Student behavior has always been a major component in how teachers view their jobs — probably the major component — and teachers’ working conditions must be prioritized. A teacher shortage is coming, a fiery comet blazing in our sky. In some areas, the comet has entered the atmosphere. Schools are tapping district office secretaries and IT support people to teach in classrooms. Palo Alto High Unified School District asked for help from parents to help keep schools open Palo Alto schools recruit parents for support as teachers, other staff call in sick amid omicron surge (mercurynews.com). I wouldn’t be surprised to find a few maintenance and lunchroom employees helping to hold the line. Staying firm on student misbehavior will help keep teachers in the classroom — and students on track academically.

I see many changes coming, including better pay for teachers eventually. Shortages push up salaries. That’s still in the future, though, and right now this country needs to support and nurture teachers. That means letting them send kids out who are disrupting the learning process. It may mean taking advantage of recent steep climbs up the remote learning curve. Suspensions can include time logged for learning from home. Yes, some kids won’t log on, but while we don’t seem to be watching a planet-killer of a comet yet, that post-impact tidal wave may not be far away. School districts are seeing educators leave profession at alarming rate (kktv.com)

Eduhonesty up: With all of our recent educational changes, figuring out where to put our energies will be tough. One major item to prioritize stands out, however: interventions to manage student behavior must be positioned front and center. Strategies for behavior management must also be created with the understanding that teachers cannot add hours to their day to manage those behaviors. Too many are already drowning as they try to juggle home, family and job requirements. Too many keep finding themselves with 36 hours of work to do in a 24 hour day.

School administrators need to step out onto the front lines to manage this problem. If next year’s curriculum meetings don’t happen because of today’s disciplinary challenges, last year’s curriculum should become the default move. Business cannot continue as usual. Teachers who feel unsupported, or even isolated, are choosing to move on. I know a fair number currently who are only hanging on to reach a critical point in their pension benefits before turning in retirement forms.

Discipline should be the central topic in those schools that are struggling with surging disciplinary infractions. If thirteen office-managed disciplinary infractions have crept up to twenty-some infractions, classroom learning has already been badly impacted by those behaviors. Teacher morale is going down rapidly, too. I absolutely guarantee this. Teacher morale is DIRECTLY tied to student learning for most teachers.

All eyes now should be watching our teacher exodus. We can recover from many forces undercutting education. We can’t recover from a widespread, permanent loss of dedicated teachers.

Antibiotics for 20 Days

Small sick one sneezes

all over wet sub papers.

I want to go home.

Not in the Gym though She’d Like to Be

Broken young humans

wear boots and casts to walk.

Humans break easy.

In Self-Contained at the End of the Hall

Dan who cannot speak

moans, waves hands that cannot grasp,

runs and talks in dreams.

Eduhonesty:

One thing about “Dan” that people may miss. Not all our Dans and younger children can tell us if they are sick. That 20 days on antibiotics was real, and I walked right into it. I’d been sitting beside “Alex,” this nonverbal little guy all morning, smiling at him as his large dark eyes watched me. It wasn’t until he took my hand when we walked to the bathroom that I realized how hot he was. Heat was baking in silent waves off that little hand.

Kids don’t get the same cues adults do and they don’t always understand those cues. They throw up all over their desk and the classroom floor because they don’t see it coming. Or they know they feel nauseated but they don’t know exactly what to do next. This is not a bathroom emergency for which the protocol is clear. Should they ask to see the nurse? Interrupt the teacher? Do they feel that bad? Before a kid comes up with a working strategy, breakfast may spew all over everywhere, and suddenly the custodian is doing biohazard duty while the teacher is heading off future teasing and managing excited eruptions throughout the classroom.

As to that girl missing gym, that above haiku contains another truth: Kids will go to school injured, and older kids especially will also choose to go to school sick. They don’t usually get on the bus or in the car when aching and feverish — although that happens — but humans, young and old, are masters of rationalization. “It can’t be COVID. I don’t feel that bad.” “My allergies are so bad right now.” “If I don’t go, mom won’t let me go to Erin’s party tomorrow.” “I promised Mark I’d meet him at lunch. I don’t want him to go to lunch with Marta. I know she likes him.” Children and adolescents tend to live in the present, with friends and fun trumping any other considerations.

Even parents rationalize away illnesses. Or ignore them. I got pink-eye twice from a bank vice president — or, rather, her daughter who turned up in class with eyes that shouted, “Doctor, please!”

Eduhonesty: This post is in support of teachers who are asking parents and others to understand why they don’t want to be in the classroom when children are demonstrably getting sick all over the country. I’d like to take a moment to praise those Chicago and other students who are raising flags about health and safety. No, some schools at this time are not safe. For those schools, a remote option should be available.

This is not convenience. This is health. The evidence has been piling up that not everyone who gets COVID can expect to be well in two weeks — or even two months. A close relative of mine lost her sense of taste and smell to COVID and still has not recovered those senses; it’s going on one year and two months now and counting.

“When you have your health, you have everything. When you do not have your health, nothing else matters at all.”

Augustin Burroughs

Schools are not little corporations filled with adults who understand expectations and protocols. They are often old, too-airless buildings filled with kids who look like sardines while navigating passing periods. Most of those packed-in kids remain hazy on germ theory, although they know much more than they did two years ago. And, oh my, can America’s students be slimy. I have wiped so many noses in my past and watched at least as many noses get wiped on handy sleeves. Sometimes kids with bad allergies just run around with snot on their face for months. That’s kids, especially in winter.

I understand the fierce desire to open school doors. This is education, and for many children education works best inside a classroom. Opening those doors is a tough decision, one which has to be informed by numbers, but what I want to emphasize is this: NUMBERS ARE NOT ENOUGH!

The plans we make also must take into consideration KIDS — KIDS who are not now and never have been little adults. Numbers from a mostly adult population don’t truly apply to groups of children in closed spaces. Children cannot be treated as inputs into a plan that ignores childhood.

I don’t know how we got to this place, this angry place that has many parents and others demanding a return to the education of 2018. I understand fully the desire to go back in time to a simpler time. But simple plans can be too simple and bold policies can be too bold.

Let’s try to put this in a nutshell: Government leaders and school board members are creating and implementing strategies that rely on the diligence and caution of people who still believe in Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy. In middle schools and high schools, those plans expect circumspect behavior from adolescents. “Circumspect adolescent” is a perfect oxymoron — a case of clearly misunderstood use of exact estimates which somehow end in an only choice that is no choice.

When transmission rates are too high, I believe we must shut the doors. We don’t have to shut those doors for the year or maybe even for the month. But we must be ready to shut the door until the wave passes:

1) For the sake of the grandmas and grandpas who may end up coughing and feverish, shots or no shots. My boosted mom is doing pretty well after a week with COVID, but her bedrest likely created increasing problems with a clot in her leg.

2) For the sake of other family members whose “sick leave” may have already left and whose income may not allow them to skip work. US businesses now often have a vaccine or weekly test policy, but omicron is managing to break through the vaccines. My mom is a symptomatic break-through case in a memory care facility. It’s worth taking a moment to think about places where employees are tested weekly. If Tom is tested every Wednesday, what happens when he gets sick on Thursday? The answer will only sometimes be, “Tom takes time off and goes to bed.”

3) For the sake of the kids who do not need the guilt of thinking they made their family or friends sick — or worse. For the sake of the kids who may get sick — yes, the percentage of truly ill children with COVID is extremely small, but a small percentage spread over millions of kids will result in many very sick kids regardless. And when “Dan” starts getting really sick, he will struggle to communicate that fact. Our schools are filled with vulnerable kids. At the start of the year, a teacher is given a list and there is nothing strange about finding students with diabetes, immunosuppression from medications, or chronic lung disease. (These kids should have a remote option regardless of the state of the pandemic.) Obesity is an established risk factor for children and is rampant in the US today.

Plans for outbreaks should always include well-thought-out options for closing the doors in worse case scenarios.