Friday Blues, Part 1

Decibals walked into my room 6 minutes late, as usual. Today, however, she was completely out of uniform. Instead of wearing the required white collared shirt and khaki pants, she showed up in blue jeans and a red shirt. I was in a strict mood, so I told her to go get a late pass and return in uniform. She was wearing khaki pants when she returned, but she lacked a pass. I told her, once again, to retrieve a late pass. She walked into the room anyway.

I blocked her entry. She shoved me out of the way with her arms. As she forced her way in, she told me to "get out of my f***ing way." As I began to admonish her, she said, "Don't you f***ing talk to me."

Well, that was that. I allowed her to sit down, but I immediately called the school police. Decibals was removed from my class in short time.

I generally don't have those sorts of problems. I expect my students to treat me respectfully and kindly, and they generally do. Even my most obnoxious students do not curse at me. And I have never been assaulted by a student.

Thankfully, I dealt with the situation quickly and with minimal disruption to the rest of my class. Nonetheless, I am really bothered by the incident. I don't like that Decibals would treat me (or any teacher) so disrespectfully. We've been having problems for a while, but certainly nothing should have caused her to act the way she did.