Apparently, it's the third time this year he's done that, in that specific class. He's had no other trouble in school so far. He is not a disciplineary problem. Other teachers like him. He is the kind of kid who still takes out the lawnmower and mows the neighbors' yards for extra money so he can go to the local arcade and play a couple of games, but he is more likely to save the money so he has enough scratch to buy his sisters gifts for Christmas.
He's a good kid.
But he fell asleep in algebra class today. It is a class he hates and a teacher that he finds, in his words, "boring."
It's the only teacher he describes in these glowing terms.
The teacher, apparently, extends the same love and affection for my son. For the infraction of falling asleep in her class, she has used the Full Extent of the Laws of the State of New Jersey.
She called the principal. She called the cop assigned to the school.
She said that his falling asleep was "just cause" to use the state law against my son, as she suspected that surely, this sleep was caused by drug abuse.
Yes, drugs.
Why else would a learning disabled child fall asleep in algebra class? It can't possibly be because she has him seated in the back, far away from her; it can't be because it's a class that he finds tedious and has trouble conctrating on; it can't be because she has failed or he was bored or that he was simply being a 14 year old.
Nay, friend; she says he fell alseep because he must surely be high or drunk.
He was suspended for a day. It will be reflected on his
(drumroll, please)
PERMANENT RECORD.
He was also sent, by law, in the custody of myself and my husband, to the local hospital for immediate drug testing.
...there we were, in the waiting room of the hospital (in the future to be referred to as the 'Group W Bench"), waiting for what turned out to be a full physical and drug screening. My son regaled us in how when he first reported to the nurses office at school the kids there basically asked him
"so what're yo in for, kid?"
"drug testing."
...and they all moved over on the bench, and made room.
"are you Muslim? I think they only test the Muslims, the white kids never get tested."
"...no, I'm not Muslim, I'm Christian."
They moved away.
"..but I AM hispanic."
...and they all moved closer again, and had a grand old time, talking about how they got a day off of school for falling asleep, until the Principal discharged each one of them in the care of their pissed-off parents.
...you know, I think that if they were half as good as screenignout the actual drug pushers, and half as good at finding weapons...well, we wouldn't have had that stabbing last month in that school, or that heroin bust after an overdose last year, that made the news, which involved a bunch of the rich white kids.
...but there I was, in the hospital, watching as my son blew a .000 on the alchohol breathalyzer, and watched as the doctor checked behind my son's kness for trackmarks that did not exist.
Because he fell asleep in algebra.
I'm waiting for the 8 X 10 color glossy photographs, but even the doctor at the clinic said myson was the cleanest kid he's ever had tested there. He just kept shakling his head as he examined him.
...and you can get everything you want at Alice's Restaurant.
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Comments
(spell checker addendum: it wanted "horseshit" to be "horseshoe")
What training did that teacher have to recognize the effects of drugs on someone's system?
I would say I can't believe the cop got that involved, but in a place where they took down some sort of heroin ring, he or she was probaby in full "CYA" mode.
This is what goes on in schools these days, eh? I'm less than a decade removed from high school myself.. nothing like that ever happened to me or anyone I know for falling asleep in class.
I think the teacher and the principal need a good ration of shit, and while they are at it they can shove a zero-tolerance policy or two up thier asses. Calling the cops on a kid for falling asleep.. come-the-fuck-on!
--Vinnie
Jesus Christ on Acid. If they had pulled that kind of shit while I was in high school, I'd be peeing in a cup three times a day. I used to put my head down at the beginning of physics class and the teacher would tap me on the shoulder at the end to let me know everyone else had left. I also got an award from highest grade in the class at the end of the year. Guess I knew my stuff.
Our society is doomed. I'm really sorry your guy had to go through that. It had to be humiliating.
And don't think there weren't dozens of stoned and/or tripping kids in school that day.
*ducks*
He WAS humiliated to has to raise his pantlegs so the doctor could check for track marks.
I have spent my day calling lawyers, all of whom say there's nothing I can do legally. All I can really do at this point is shame them, and I plan to. I hear I can get so bad, that I can actually make people cry.
I shall begin as soon as I know for certain they have the results of their testing.
The shitheads.
Hahaha you fucker :p
I think you should just write up a nice piece similar to what you did here, but more appropriate for publication in one of yer local rags.
Having gone to private school I can also confirm that the drug-users were all RichWhiteKids. None of the inner-city kids on scolarships or the middle-class kids I knew did drugs.
Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.
This is how she treats the "A" students. I shudder to think what she does to the failing ones.
Speaking as someone who is LD...
Go to the principal. Argue the fact that the kid is LD, and have other teachers (who are tenured, of course) speak on his behalf.
Is he classified as LD and identified as such to the school?
This is OBVIOUSLY a failing of the teacher, and not the kid. His permanent record is the grade in the teacher's class, and it should be reflected that way, not a "possible drug-related suspension".
I mean, if the teacher is boring, you aren't a good teacher! Period! I know algebra is stale. Can the kid get someone else to teach him?
I'd go abso-fucking-lutely ballisitic here.
Or you can just hire your contractor to do a little "extra work on the side".
All I can really do, is shame them into stopping by bringing attention to it.
I'm crafting a letter now; in it, I am outlining that despite the fact that he's LD, he's getting a fucking A in that class!
You have a LD, A student in your class who gets A's despite your being a crushingly boring teacher. You put even the hyperactive kids to sleep. Rather than look at the problem, you punish teh child by sending him for a complete drug screen which includes LOOKING FOR TRACK MARKS BEHIND HIS KNEES.
Idiocy. Sheer idiocy.
This is a bad teacher. not a bad student.
I am instucting my son to combat sleepiness by quietly standing every time he gets sleepy. Since by some miracle she only puts him to sleep once a month, this won't be much of a class disturbance, and will give her an immediate, visual aid to show her when she is putting her students to sleep.
If this is unacceptable, perhaps the school can let me know how they will be accoodating my LD son--a child classified as LD by this particular board of education, and his neurologist.
Here's a news flash, maybe the kid falls asleep and is bored because he is smart and already knows the problems being presented to him?????
I also learned today that the teacher sent in to help him in-class, the special ed teacher for math--YELLS at him and the other kids.
Yells, at her charge, the "A" student.
How can a spec.ed. teacher YELL at a spec. ed. student?
This isn't a classroom, it's a hostile working environment.
She sounds like one of those teachers who is monumentally pissed off when one of their students *dares* to be more intelligent than they. Imagine her gall when she looked at his chart and found that he's smarter despite the LD. Good thing it's math - she has less of a personal touch on his grade.
Other idea: find evidence of a pattern with this "teacher" via other students.... maybe take out a big 'ol ad in the school paper. Have fun shredding this bitch.
-yet another AT lurker
Your son was suspended? For what, exactly?
"Suspicion of doing drugs"? I'm not sure, but even with zero tolerance I don't think they get to do that.
Mind explaining?
Think about it: you're suspected of drug use. You need to be removed from the school to a hospital clinic for the testing. You are not allowed back into the school for a period of 24 hours:
1: so the preliminary results can get sent back to the school
2: so that if you ARE on drugs, you are not under the unfluence of drugs in school.
No mattrer what--whether you are actually under the influence or not--you must remain out of school until the preliminary results are sent back to the school. This is a 24 hour period.
This 24 hour enforced absence is the 1 day suspension--at least that is what it is referred to in the student handbook.
First off, "24 hour"? So if your son was kicked out at 1:00pm he has to wait to come back until 1:00pm next day? Doesn't make sense.
Secondly, a suspension is a punishment. It has to be justified... in writing... how did they do so?
He was sent home during 4th period, and was told that he could not return until 4th period the next day: 24 hours. When fourth period arrived the principal called our home to tell us it was OK to send him back; I prefered to wait until the next day, to reduce his "embarrassment factor."
It is counted as a suspension. Any forced absence is counted as a suspension.
He was sent with an order for drug screening, to be turned over to the hospital upon our arrival.
This is how it is done in our public school district, and ours is considered one of more lenient ones because it is in suburbia and not an inner-city.
Are you having difficulty understanding why the school would do this, or do you feel that I am being dishonest in my accounting of the facts as they happened?
of all related documents). If you are willing to go public in this way, and if I could obtain interest from a significant media outlet, I'd send you an address you could send a copy of this material to and I'd call you for a formal interview. We can continue this discussion if you are interested by e-mail (chetly@comcast.net).
I do have the results of the preliminary drug screening, and the results were as I expected to be: he had nothing in his system.
I am awaiting the official response from the board of education here regarding my letter but wish for his personal school life to return to normal as soon as is possible. His development and education are my immediate priorities, not making a broader statement about the state of the school's disciplinary system nor to cast attention to his specific school. After the media goes away, he still has to go to school there--not you, not me, not anyone who would read your article.
I am not working on a cause nor wish to comment on the state of public education. All I want is to raise my own children; they are my priority.
Threfore, I respectfully decline your offer.
My rule is that any sleeping student is woken up. If I cannot keep them awake, they go to the office with a referral (or to the nurse, if she is there). I have seldom been described as boring, but students do fall asleep. It's the ones that do so repeatedly that I worry about. Almost all the persistently sleepy students have turned out to be heavily medicated (not necessarily illegal, some were cold medicine). But I'm not a medical person, so, not being qualified to make that judgement, I do refer.