Who Will Stand Up For You...

There is a little boy in my class...I think I have referred to him before as the Demon Slayer. Awhile back, he knocked out Shawshank when she was about to shank me with some safety scissors. As irritating as he can be, he is one of my favorite kids. He has an amazing smile that is only made more attractive by the fact that he has lost all of his front teeth. He speaks with a lisp. He always, even in the hottest Miami weather, wears a torn leather jacket. The torn jacket used to drive me mad, then I realized that he wore it to comfort him. He has never missed a day of school.

Until yesterday.


The day before I called his father. Demon Slayer had been acting strange for awhile, not that he doesn't act somewhat strange on a regular basis. He was not bringing his lunch, uncontrollable in class to a point where it was getting out of hand.

"I ll take care of it." was all he said and then he hung up.

The next day Demon Slayer did not come to class. I am sad to say that I was a little relieved. With all the other demons in the class, I really needed a break.


The next day he was back. Just as I was trying to put my attendance in the computer, he walked up to me.

DS: Ms. Green I was not in school yesterday.

ME: I know, DemonSlayer, what happened?

Mind you, at this point I have not looked up from what I was doing.


DS: I could not stop my mouth from bleeding so I stayed home.

At this point I looked up and noticed that his lip was split.


ME: Well, what happened?

DS: My dad beat me because I did not behave in school.

My heart dropped. I was the reason this child got punished so harshly. I had to hold back the tear. I made a vow at that point that I would never EVER call his house again.

The rest of the day was a blur of calling social service ( as I am required to by contract) taking to administrators and a child protection agent from downtown. I explained to everyone in no way did I want to get anyone in trouble. I know that Demon Slayer is spirited and it just might be that he was getting a spanking and maybe got a bit wild and fell. OK so I am pushing it, but it can happen. The next day, he did not come to school. There was no answer at home.


What have I done!!!!?

Monday he came back to school with the announcement that his mother told him that he could not speak to me anymore. This mandate from his mother obviously has him believing that he can do as he pleases in my classroom. Today (Tuesday) he has been out of control.


I am sure that his mom and dad had to answer questions that were embarrassing and made them angry. Neither has called or come to the school yet. In a way I am sorry that I called. But then again, if I hadn't maybe something worse would have happened. Someone has to stand up for our kids even if it may be over reacting. If I were in a situation and I really did not know how to stand up for myself, I would hope that someone would man-up and stand up for me.

I pray that my call did not make things worse. But take a moment and think, if you were in trouble, who would stand up for you?