School's Out for Summer!
posted: Jun 29, 06:43 PM
I have to thank Alice Cooper for my title, I appreciated his song of the same name when I was a kid and I think it is safe to say, I still do. I particularly warm to the line “School’s out forever”.
It’s been a tough year. I’ve enjoyed it, grew through the challenges and am optimistic I’ll enjoy the coming school year when it arrives. Right at this moment though, I just want to sleep. And then, sleep some more. I am as tired as tired can be.
I doubt I am alone with being tired. I know my colleagues are tired. It’s pretty easy to tell when everyone has run out of the energy needed to survive in a high needs school. There’s less laughter, more griping in the staff room, people like me avoiding the staff room in order to survive the last few weeks. Probably the hardest weeks for us all.
The 27th of June was our final day. The 26th was a day without students. The average teacher used this day to clean up, pack up and find closure with colleagues who were moving on to other schools or jobs other than teaching. I spent the day creating a spreadsheet of the needs of incoming, and returning, students. The other special ed. teacher and I worked solidly for 8 hours compiling the information we needed, breaking it down, creating the chart and then completing the chart. It was a lot of work! I felt like I was locked up in a hot room being tortured.
My partner in this creation and I are optimistic our time and effort will not be for nothing. We have 76 students on our joint caseload. These students have learning disabilities, academic gaps, inappropriate behaviors, anger management challenges or a combination of each.
These children need support. More support than she and I can offer. We have a 60% guidance counselor, a 50% student support teacher and a 50% student support worker. We have recommended students who should work with each of these other staff members, in addition to working with one of us. But the reality is, there is still too little support.
5 of the students who are coming to our school are coming from a special program. A program where children who cannot maintain within the conventional classroom are placed. These children are physically violent towards their peers and to their teachers. Restraints are practiced within this program. They are transitioning to junior high without extra bodies to support them or us. One of these children has been referred for an in patient treatment program, because out patient programs have not been able to meet the child’s needs. Interestingly this child is on our caseloads as there are no other options available to meet the child’s needs and the child is entitled to an education.
This child regularly exhibits violent behavior in the classroom setting. How safe are the other children in the classroom going to be? How safe will the classroom teachers be?
This child has 4 peers coming from the same program whose needs are equally high. I feel sad for these children who are so lost. I feel scared and sad for the other children who are trying to get an education and follow through with what is being asked of them by the adults. I feel frustrated for the teachers who want to educate their students; who are making every effort to meet the diverse learning needs within their classrooms; who are managing behavior which would have netted the culprit a suspension or expulsion when we were in school, but barely merits an in school suspension today.
I feel concerned about my ability to meet the needs of the students on my caseload. I have 26 children who will be returning for grades 8 and 9 and 15 who will be added from the incoming grade 7s. These are only the students I know about now. There will be children who’s needs become evident in the fall or who are new registrants.
I have 11 students returning in the fall who are on individual program plans and I’m not sure how many who are on formal program adaptations. I remember how very tired I am as I write all of this for you. I know I am writing this in an effort to unload. To forget my responsibility to these children just for the summer.
This is why teachers need time to regroup, rejuvenate, relax and as the Princess says “recenter”. All students need a fresh start in September. An opportunity to begin again, write a new story of who they are, where they will go, who they will be. They need adults around them who are refreshed and excited about the possibilities the coming academic year will offer.
Happy summer!
Gemini