Thank God, and I do (thank Him, that is), that this is the last day of my work week. Tomorrow is a scheduled snow make-up day and since we haven’t had any snow this winter….three day weekend for me! I couldn’t be happier after the week morning I’ve had. I had to rearrange the whole seating chart on my bus. Too many kids were complaining that so-and-so was being mean to them, the back of the bus was out of control and yesterday a father asked me to move his son away from some kids. Sigh. I hate changing seats around. I spend hours wracking my brain for what I’m sure is going to be the perfect arrangement, the one that will magically make the kids little angels. Yeah, right. More often than not I end up with a bunch of pissed off, pre-pubescent, rugrats. Today was no exception. Most of the kids did actually take it in stride, but “D”, my problem child, bawled all the way to school. Now before you go feeling all sorry for D and hating me, let me fill you in.
D is in 5th grade, the last year of elementary school in our district. D is a bully who picks on the other kids. D does not take discipline well. Nothing is ever D’s fault. Either D didn’t do whatever it is at all (even though caught red-handed) or it is someone else’s fault that D is misbehaving. D also has a problem with control (or impulsiveness). Bus rules are pretty clear and simple: Stay seated, talk quietly, keep your hands to yourself, face the front and no eating. There are others, but those are the main ones we try to enforce for safety reasons. D is rarely sitting down or facing forward. D has one volume, LOUD. D’s hands manage to reach out and touch someone else fairly often. D is disrespectful of authority and seriously mouthy. Every single time I’ve had to correct D, the woeful tale of how I pick on D travels home and D’s momma gets involved. She has at one time or another, called my boss, called the principal, written me letters and once even put D on the bus and then followed me through the entire route to corner me at the school and basically rip me a new one in front of God and everybody for correcting D. Fortunately, my boss knows D and always backs me up. It doesn’t hurt that D has problems in school, too.
Anyway, in changing the seats I tried to clear up as many of the problems as I could. One of those problems was who D was sitting with (a neighbor and D’s best friend, J). D and J are the best of friends, but they are a lot alike and they tend to get, uh….rambunctious. I seperated them to avoid ending up having to write them up. I did not isolate D. I put D with a younger sibling. Close as they are, that arrangement didn’t please either of them. So, I moved both of them to seats with one of their good friends. I just refused to put D back with J. I tried to explain to D that it was not a punishment, that I was trying to prevent having to report poor behavior, because if D is written up one more time, D will be suspended off the bus. D is with a good friend, but still bawled all the way to school and refused to talk to me so I could try and explain. I warned my boss to expect another call.
On to happier things.
FTS posted the link to an awesome clip of Dallas sportscaster, Dale Hansen, speaking about character and integrity in the NFL (Dallas in particular), but it really applies to all professional sports. It’s a few minutes long, but watch the whole thing. It’s worth it.
In case you didn’t notice (or hear) I have a new toy over on my sidebar. Thanks to ChesneyGirl for the link.
I was going to ask about D’s parent - but I see now hehe. Poor you - hope she doesn’t make life too hard!
Comment by Rachel — March 30, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
This is D’s last year on my bus. I’m hoping it will get better next year, but the younger sibling has 3 more years and Mom just had another baby last summer. I hope I’m not still driving by the time that one’s old enough for school.
Comment by Stacy — March 31, 2006 @ 7:45 am