Three New Students

After more than a week of school, I got three new students. New enrollements at a charter in DC are never a good sign. Unless they live directly in the area, kids only go to a charter if some crazy stuff has gone down at their old schools. If you are a high-performing charter school with a long wait list, chances are the kid is coming because their DCPS school was a disaster for that child. If your charter is and average, no-name charter, kids seems to only come because they either 1) acted so crazy at their old school, they had to leave or were forced to leave, or 2) were so low performing that they were referred for SPED and their parent didn't want it, or were so low performing that they were retained and the parent switched them out so their kid doesn't have to repeat a grade. Two out of my three new students definitely fit this stereotype.

New Student 1: Is the loudest, most violent student in my class. He has been the only one to start a physical fight, not just a shove or one hit, but punching and kicking. He even beat up a girl today because she was trying to collect his paper. The girl was punched repeatedly for not letting go of his paper. It was his second day so I decided to spare him the suspension he was sure to get and made him make her a "feel better, I'm sorry" card. He hated every second of it. He also had to say nice things about the girl in the card, like, "I am glad you are in my class because I think you are nice and smart." To top it all off, I accidentally sat him next to one of my SPED students. I didn't know anything about how big of a bully this kid was. He teased and bullied him all day and called him stupid. Ironically, he reads at a first grade level while my SPED student reads at a late second grade level. Next time this kid puts his hand on another child, he will be sent home. I'm guessing it'll be next week.

More to come on the other newbies.