Shaking my head in disbelief

Last year, I had a student come to me as a transfer from another 6th grade team. It was determined that James might do better in a new environment. James was well-known on campus for all the wrong reasons. Even though he was a 6th grader, he was believed to be a gang-banger and a thug. I heard about him from the other teachers who had taught him, so I was well aware of his "rep" before he walked through my classroom doors.

Anytime I get a student from another team, I always meet with the student prior to them starting my class. The day before James was to come onto my team, I talked with him. I told him that regardless of what had happened with his other teachers, now was his turn to start fresh, and make the rest of the year a good one. I try very hard not prejudge any student, figuring that every child deserves a fresh start.

James started off doing pretty good. He was a smart kid whose size and brain-power obviously made him a valuable asset to his gang-banging associates. When James turned in work, participated in class, and behaved like all the other students are expected to behave in my classroom, he was praised. I even wrote notes home telling his parents that I was proud of the work he was doing.

Then something happened. I think that he became a full-fledged member of the gang or something to that effect, because James shut-down. He stopped showing up for school or if he did show up, it was only to come fight rivals. There were often times when I would mark him absent for 4th and see him at lunch hanging around with his buddies and find out later, he had not shown up for 5th period.

My team-teachers and I set up a conference with his parents. Mom and step-dad showed up to the conference. We were all very frank with his parents that if James didn't start showing up for school, we would recommend retention. Afterall, we had been assured by our district that this year retentions would not only be recommended, but also enforced. His mom wringed her hands saying she didn't know what to do with her out of control son, confessing that her older son was already serving time for gang-related activies. Step-dad pointed fingers at mom saying that she was too easy on him, buying him stuff like a cell phone even though James didn't deserve it.

All the while, James sat there not saying anything, with a bored look on his face, waiting for the conference to be over.

We set up a behavior and attendance contract. Our administrator told his parents that if he failed to follow the contract, James would be recommended for expulsion.

James' solution was to stop coming to school, breaking the attendance contract. When I asked what could be done, my administrator told me that if I saw James on campus, I should write up a referral, effectively throwing the "problem" back into my lap. James would sometimes show up for 1st and 2nd, skip 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and then show up for 6th. It was never the same pattern, but if he didn't make it to my class and I saw him on campus, I would give him a referral for cutting class.

I probably became James' worse nightmare, hounding him when I saw, telling him that I knew what his potential was and why was he was throwing it all away. I've never felt so strongly that a student was headed for either an early death or jail before, but this is the path I felt James was clearly headed and it saddened me immensely. I wrote referrals on him, called home to talk to his parents, talked to my administrator and nothing changed.

Finally, the last quarter of school came around. James showed up in class and I welcomed him into my classroom. It quickly became apparent that James hadn't shown up because he was making another go at getting a good education, rather he was there to provoke another classmate. Before it escalated, I had to send James outside and sighed as I had to write yet another referral, which included a suggestion that perhaps James be placed on independent study for the remainder of the school year.

Independent study was put in place and his team-teachers put together a weekly packet of work. The agreement was that his mom would come to school to get weekly packets, returning old packets so that James could finish 6th grade. After the first packet went out, we made a second packet which was never picked up, nor was the first packet ever returned.

I thought at this point that a recommendation for retention would not only be strongly made, but also followed through on. Imagine my surprise this year when I saw James strolling across the school yard on the first day of school. He was now a 7th grader, even though he did perhaps one-third of the 6th grade work and missed about three-fourths of the school year.

I've already heard his name come up in conversations with his 7th grade teachers. The conversations remain the same, even though the players have changed. And, yet again, we've been told that our district is going to get tough on retentions.

**You may have noticed that I never made mention of having James go to see any of our school counselors. This is because in my 3rd year in this district, all middle school counselors were laid off and have yet to be hired back. We've been told that the district is hoping to rehire middle school counselors sometime this year. I'm not holding my breath.**