Dad On Duty #54

The Boss was out today. For me and the new AP, it was our first day together to operate this mess.

And it was little bumpy. Ok…a lot bumpy.

Today’s blog is a glimpse of the sausage making of public education. All through the day today, I’m sure kids learned great things, made real learning progress, had epiphanies.

I didn’t see any of that.

Here’s the good news; your kid had a great day. And learned a bunch of stuff.

Me, and the AP…….not so much

So grab your favorite beverage and settle in.

Sorry, this is a long one. It was a really busy day.

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Today was the fourth day, out of five, that the kids had indoor recess. The weather has them pinned in. Everybody is getting really stir crazy. To make it worse, the kids are probably not getting much outside time at home either.

It really shows.

The kids are loud, fidgety and difficult. The new AP is trying to cover both the cafeteria and the gym; I’m by myself in the hallway. More than once, she walks out with her eyes as big as saucers “man……” is her one word assessment, shaking her head. Every time I look into the gym, she’s got a kid pulled aside, for a little counseling session. To their credit, it’s a different kid each time. But still….that was a really long day for the AP.

We shoulda bought her a drink or three.

*********

Some outside contractors pull up out front in a huge truck. “Roofing” it says. They don’t know how to get in the school and are stuck in the foyer (that’s a good thing btw, means our process works). I walk out and meet them.

Joycelyn tells me they’re here to fix a leak in the gym. “It’s over by the garage door” she tells me. Despite the word “roofing” plastered on their truck, I’m thinking the leak is down low. We walk into the gym and Coach Nick meets us and walks us over to the leak. “It’s up there” he points.

It is at the juncture of the wall and ceiling. In the gym, that’s about 40 feet in the air. From here, it looks like 100 feet. The roofers ask “how do we get on the roof?” Well, heck if I know….

We walk outside and find a ladder system, that leads up from somewhere inside the building. Coach Nick used to be the custodian, so he knows. “Get Mike <the current custodian> to unlock the office closet. That’s where the ladder is”. Sure enough, voila; roof access. Up they go with their stuff.

Now I realize I have a problem; there’s no way to run these guys through the background check system.

There are now un-vetted adult men in the building. That’s a problem.

I decide I’ll just directly manage it. As long as they are on the roof, all is good. Not gonna run into a kid up there.

I tell the guys “if you come off the roof, do not leave this room unless I’m with you. Just holler at one of the office ladies to get me. But you cannot leave this room without me. Understand?”   I’m obviously *deadly* serious. “Yes sir” they reply.

I’m doing this totally by myself, and making it up as I go. I have no idea if this is the proper procedure, but I’m quite sure it’s the way I can manage it.

At one point, I pass the AP and she asks “what’s with the big truck out front?” “Fixing a leak. There are dudes on the roof, in case somebody asks you. They’re ok to be there.   Truck is moving. I got it”. “Good to know” is her somewhat puzzled response. But she leaves it be.

*********

Walking back down the hall, one of the office ladies steps out and is waving at me. I meet her about halfway. “You gotta go upstairs. One of your boys is just wandering in the hallway, acting out. The teachers have called for help”.

Up I go.

He’s very upset. His emotions, and behaviors, seem out of his control.

I intervene and talk with him once, twice, three times…and yet again. He seems better, but far from ok.

A few minutes later I find my boy is now in the office. Apparently my interventions didn’t stick.

He’s acting out at the AP. “No sir, you will not be disrespectful to her” I bark at him. He stops. The male voice issuing the order cuts through the emotional fog.

The AP talks with him and he seems ready to go back to class. I walk with them both and we make it no farther than five steps down the hallway, and he acts out toward her.

I wrap him up in a bear hug. The three of us are standing in the middle of the hall now. I’m engaging him as intensely as I possibly can. He responds. He starts talking, loosens up, acts more appropriate.

At one point I tell him “and you’ve got to apologize to her <the AP> for acting a little crazy” to which he answers, smiling, “a little?”

There ya go. That’s my boy.

I smile back. “Yeah, you’re right. A *lot* crazy”. He laughs. We talk a bit more, an inch apart, in the hallway. He turns to the AP: “I’m sorry for how I acted. I shouldn’t have done that”. She accepts and praises him.

He’s smiling now. We go back up to his room.

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Earlier in the day, I checked on one of my other boys. Asking his teachers how he’s done this week, they say “ok”, but not great.

I bump into him in the hall and pull him aside. “I really need you to do good today, make good choices. I need your help this afternoon with a couple projects”. “Ok” he says. “Really dude; stay outta trouble, please. I need you”.

About two hours later I pass him on his way to the office. “What…?” I ask. “I got in trouble”.

I was *this* close to yelling “s#%^!” really loud in the elementary school hallway.

It had been a long day already.

We talk through what he did, how he needed to make better choices and very specifically what those better choices were, and then I take him back upstairs.

I kinda did all that on my own, just passing the issue briefly by the AP. She nodded and waved in my general direction. Go forth ye, and do some mentor stuff….

…..and get the hell outta my office. There are two more kids in line to talk to her.

*********

Right in the very middle of the first kid meltdown, when I had been dispatched to deal with the kid wandering in the hall, I get great news. I’m in the classroom, having just coralled the kid back to his desk with some semblance of order, and am talking with his teacher about what we should do next. It’s upsetting and very taxing.

Right then, Joycelyn comes over the PA and announces “we will be doing rainy day dismissal for car riders today”.

Without thinking about it, I bang my head…literally….on the teacher’s desk. It’s a loud noise, and rather startling.

She coughs/laughs and rubs my back “that’s bad, huh?” Oh…..my……lord. You gotta be kidding me.

Rainy day dismissal means we keep the car riders in the cafeteria and parents either come to that door, or stay in the car line, and we que the kids up and walk them out to to meet them.

It’s way harder than regular dismissal.

And it’s much more difficult to maintain security.

We require that a grownup walk every kid to the door of the car and eyeball the kid getting in the car. That way if there’s anything out of sorts, we’ll know right away.

But with rainy day dismissal, there are only a couple of folks outside. Today, it’s really cold and sprinkling. Borderline freezing rain.

Ms Askew (bless her heart) takes her usual post down on the loop calling kids names over the radio. She’s got no protection at all from the weather.

Coach Nick has crossing guard duty.

I take the rest of the sidewalk. As kids come out, I confirm their ride and walk them to their car. Which would work fine, except that they come out 6 at a time. And once they see their car…while standing in freezing rain…they’re in a big hurry to get in.

I’m spending a lot of time sternly saying “stop. Stop right there. Do not move. I’ll come back and get you in a minute”. Parents are crossing outside the cross walk, ’cause it’s freezing raining on them…..but I gotta block traffic so nobody gets runned over (which would get us on TV, and that’s bad….)

It’s 15 minutes of crazy intense activity.

And then it’s over.

I want to just collapse on the sidewalk, but that would be a bit dramatic.

********

It’s time to go. I haven’t seen the two girls I’m now responsible for, at all. No idea where they are.

Head into the office, and there’s their stuff by my desk. Along with a 3rd girl’s stuff, that I don’t recognize. Huh.

“Anybody know where the girls are?”   Shrugs. Nope. “Who’s stuff is this? Do I have another kid I’m supposed to take home?”   “That’s Ms Griffin’s daughter. And no, I think you’re supposed to leave her here”. Ok, I’m fine either way. Take the kid, don’t take the kid. Whatever. Pile ’em in the car.

Ok, so I bet my girls are with Ms Griffin’s daughter. They ain’t outside, so I’m guessing they’re in Ms Griffin’s classroom.   I go there. “Do you know where our collective girls are?”

“Nope, but they’re somewhere in this building” she tells me. Ok, that’s a start. I check all the usual areas….no girls.

Aha, the library.

Sure enough, there they are. They’re playing a board game, laughing and giggling between the book stacks.

They are perfectly safe and comfortable.

And they genuinely feel at home, in this school and especially in the library.

We must be doing something right after all.