Saturday, March 05, 2005

Bad Brandon

Brandon frequently acts like a jackass. He refuses to do any work, espouses the ethic that paying for grades "wouldn't hurt anyone", and stubbornly insists that he has low grades because the white teachers don't like him. The other day, a colleague of mine was attempting to teach Algebra when Brandon, as usual, arrived to class 5 minutes late. If he had sat down quietly, she would have ignored the interruption, because she (and we) have tried and tried to get administration support in reducing tardies to class, but have found that the administration will not do anything about the problem. But Brandon did not enter quietly and sit down. He was disruptive and loud. So my colleague turned to him and said, "Brandon, stop acting like a jackass." Now, you have to know that this particular colleague is the most professional, most dignified, and least likely to curse of all of the teachers in our building. She even apologized to Brandon, despite the rightness of her remark. But that wasn't good enough for him. No, he insisted on seeing the principal. My colleague wrote him a pass and the next thing you know she is in the principal's office being asked what she can do to rectify the situation. She says, "Well, I already apologized, so I don' t know what else I can do." She is told that there will be a conference the next morning to discuss the issue. She is also told that Brandon can't stand to be in her class anymore because of her obvious contempt for him. She she and the rest of Brandon's teachers mull over how he can be moved to the other math class. This is difficult because of the various levels of math and science being taught. It can't be done. The option of moving him to the other "family" -- the other set of core teachers -- is raised. Seems like a good solution for everyone. The next morning, she is sent to Brandon's class to retrieve him for the meeting. Brandon expresses complete surprise. No one has told him there is a conference. She and Brandon go to the meeting, and strangely, Brandon's mother is not present. My colleague points out that Brandon is late for class every single day, and not just a minute late, but a full five minutes every day. Brandon responds that he doesn't have any idea when class starts. He has gone to this school for two and a half years, there are clocks in the hall, and, oh yeah, the halls are empty when class starts, because pretty much everyone else does know when class starts. But this doesn't faze Ms. Tipover, the principal. She hands Brandon a copy of the schedule. No consequences for his obvious lie, or for being tardy so many times. So then, my colleague mentions the idea of moving Brandon to the other set of teachers, but Brandon says, oh, no, he has no desire to leave her class. He doesn't know what she is talking about. You might think that he would be moved anyway, because clearly, he has a problem with my colleague. But you would be wrong. No, Brandon gets his way in all matters.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home