Behavioral problems are not void at an affluent, private, school. Dealing with troubled youngsters is a new thing for me. Not that I thought kids would be perfect, it just somehow flew over my head when I accepted this job that I would have little kids crying and fighting on occasion.
The “You Hit, You Sit” rule has been applies several times with a certain student while out on the playground. Sadly, his relationship with another girl has turned domestic. Her Mom says at the conference, “I’m not sure I’m comfortable with them being friends…if she was a teenager I certainly wouldn’t want her to have a boyfriend who hit her.” This might sound dramatic but it is an interesting point. Kids wail on each other all the time, but is it more poignant when it’s a mixed-gender battle? At what point does it become a really big deal to hit a girl? Perhaps it’s because it is within a school setting that makes this problem more distressing. After all, my brother and I were constantly beating each other up. But, it’s entirely unacceptable to smack your buddy on the playground during recess. Plans have been drawn up, the leash is tightened, and the child sits in the advisor’s office during the rest of recess. I feel further and further away from this boy, as if all the psychology mumbo jumbo I am so unfamiliar with has created a wedge between us.
Yesterday the students were gone and we met with parents all day. Students who have two working parents and no nannies are dropped off for all-day care. The entire faculty met for lunch. While we were eating the librarian saw one of our students climb the playground fence, hurl his body over the edge, and land on the sidewalk. He took off running. What a commotion! Several of our male faculty members were soon chasing after the boy as he fled school property. They caught up with him several blocks away. He was escorted back to school and placed in the vice-principal’s room; Head of Security guarded the door while the little boy played for FOUR HOURS until his Mother finally came to pick him up.