It has pushed me to really examine the possibilities with Darren and other difficult students in my classroom, and I know that we have not done everything we can to help Darren succeed. The rest of the team has given up on him, and his behavior gets worse in their classrooms while it gets better in mine. Somehow my teammates are failing to admit or see that they have the responsibility to look closer, to see what they are doing that might be creating some of their problems with students. Yet I know his behavior is a response to the way he is treated, and he knows how and what his teachers feel about him. If Darren leaves the school, he will attend another middle school in the neighborhood.
Fighting is the norm at that school, and academics are nonexistent.
If he were being transferred to a school with smaller classes, intensive counseling, or other support services, I could agree. However, we are tossing him aside like so much trash, glad to be rid of the clutter. He is being set up to fail not just in school but in life. By any means necessary I have decided I will use any means necessary to keep him at Turner. I have already talked with the principal, and she agrees that he needs to remain with us.