Tough Lessons for an Administrator

Yesterday was one for the books. I got to the office by 6:45, trying to beat the early birds. (We don't start until 8:55.) Working quickly, my data analysis reports underway, at 8:15, I get a call on the radio...."Admin needed in girl's bathroom....a fight!" I respond to find two of my alpha females at each other's necks -- literally. It took myself, our In-House staff and the principal to clear all the girls out, and the rest of my a.m. to clear up the mess.

Two suspensions and parent meetings later, I return to my office to find my campus security guard with three 6th graders. I begin my investigation and search of belongings. It was much like pulling the loose thread... I begin to find more and more. Three bags of weed later, I'm finding out we have a little drug ring at our school.

I'll admit it's one of the saddest things in the world to see a 6th grader be hand-cuffed by a school cop, cited, and then yelled at /threatened by their less-than-stable parents. I've even heard parents tell kids they wish they'd never given birth to them. And we wonder why they might turn to drugs? It nearly breaks my heart in two to have to then suspend them and arrange an expulsion hearing. Though, marijuana is still illegal and there are laws we must follow. I do try to present the picture of the "whole child" in the panel hearing so that the best decision will be made regarding these kids.




While in my teacher preparation program at BYU, a very wise professor once told me, "Kristie, even the good Lord couldn't save them all." I feel that only now, sixteen years later, I'm beginning to understand the meaning of that statement. A study done last summer by the CA Dept. of Education, states that 1 in 4 students will drop out of school before graduating. Similarly shocking data comes from the ACE Study done by Kaiser Permanente and the Center for Disease Control...perhaps the largest scientific research study of its kind that analyzes the relationship between multiple categories of childhood trauma (ACEs), and health and behavioral outcomes later in life. (Take the Study)

Maybe my professor was right. Perhaps we can't save them all, but we certainly can wear ourselves out trying. Identifying warning signs very early on and never, ever giving up on them. Even when it seems that everyone else has.