Sorry...

if yesterday's post turned anyone off teaching! That was not the intention... Anyway, today was not any better - you might want to stop reading if you're getting discouraged by my recent posts...

A boy that we have had a lot of trouble with brought a knife to school and stabbed another boy in the leg. The wound was fairly minor, but this is by far the worst student behavior we've ever had in our 1.5 years of existence... by far. Apparently, the boy showed off the knife to classmates throughout the day - even in Science class, unbeknownst to me! - but the kids didn't say a word to any of us. I asked some of them about it in afterschool today... they said they were scared, and one boy said he'd tried to tell another teacher about it, but the teacher told him to go to class. I told him sometimes you just have to put on your most serious voice and insist that you get heard. Anyway, this kid is a handful, bullying, disrespectful, etc. but I never would've imagined him bringing to school and actually USING a knife against a classmate... The other boy's mother doesn't want the headache of pressing charges, which is fine for her, but is going to make it harder to expel the boy. Expulsion from our school is probably not what's long-term best for the boy with the knife, but this has gone too far! Best of all, the boy's father tried to somehow shift the blame to us, telling my principal that we are just trying to kick him out... hello? Your son brought a knife to school and actually injured another student with it!!!