Unemployed...got escorted...

[marko138]

Sorry Leigh. Hope things work out for you.

[OTB]

Originally Posted by Lon D

Yea seems weird but I also doubt that he'll get UI... So where is the much touted teacher's union in all this? Couldn't you have filed a grievance for the lack of an assistant? I wouldn't want that job but if you love it, I might swallow my pride and go back and see if you can patch things up...

Non-union. Private school...

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by OTB

Non-union. Private school...

ahhhh...I see. Well, good luck, sir, I'm sure that a man with your education, experience and intelligence will land on his feet!

[Papa_Complex]

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the for-profit social work that you folks have down there. A friend of mine worked for Three Springs.

[z06boy]

Originally Posted by OTB

Some of you know what I do (did) for a living.

For the last 3 years I have been the culinary teacher in a Level 5 school for kids with behavior problems in Baltimore. I taught both life skills (how to cook for yourself) and vocational training (how to cook in a restaurant or institutional setting, how to get a job, how to keep a job, ect).

Pay is the same a Baltimore Public teachers, except we work 12 months (most of these kids have mandatory summer school because they are so far behind) Baltimore works 9 1/2 months....same pay.

I taught kids that had been tossed out of the regular school system for constant fighting with peers, assaulting teachers, sexual predation, and general assaultive behaviors. The next step for most of these kids is institutional hospitalization or prison. Most have long criminal records.

I their "defense", most have been abused sexually, physically or both, or abandoned during infancy. One of my students had been set afire by a parent, another sold into prostitution at the age of 5 to support mommies crack habit. Several suffer from chronic lead poisoning (which not only causes developmental issues, it makes the kids highly aggressive) Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Fetal Cocaine Addiction,.............you get the picture.

As you might imagine, security and staff safety are issues; since starting there in school year 07, I have been to the ER 4 times; once for a wrenched back while wrestling a kid to the floor, once for a stab wound (a pen) , once when I was bitten (no medical records on the kid, so I spent 6 months on "the cocktail" and held my breath once a month for a year when I went for my AIDS test..), and once where a kid surprised me from behind with a wicked kidney punch...pissed blood for a week.

So when I found myself without a teaching assistant for the last week (everybody teaches in pairs, that way someone can watch your back) I was concerned, but not too afraid; I've been there long enough for the students to know that I'm not going to mess around and I always give a lot better than I get.....

But, like I said earlier; without an assistant, no bathroom breaks, no lunch breaks, and four weeks ago they added an extra class, so I didn't having a planning period to do the massive amounts of required clinical and legal CYA paperwork required on a daily basis, things were starting to bug me.

Add to that an arrogant and thoughtless supervisor; being spit on by a student that day, being investigated by Admin (a student who didn't want to take a test claimed racism... I have to show that I give the same work and grades to white vs non white students), and then a call from my wife in the middle of it all that a collection agency called and was threatening her because the school hadn't paid the workman's comp claim for October 08 (the stabbing) ,...... sent me right around the bend....

I don't think I've ever lost it that bad. Usually I am able to set things aside long enough to calm down and get resolution.

I doubt I'll be able to get unemployment: calling your supervisor "a stupid c**ks**ker" and "a little pr**k only concerned with covering his own ass" usually are appropriate grounds for separation......even if they're true........

Geez...what a story !! I can understand why you "lost it" but wish you hadn't...at least in that manner...even though the pr**k definitely deserved it.

Hope you find something and bounce back.

No one should have to put up with that.

[HokieDNA01]

My sister is a Special-Ed highschool teacher that deals with similar things although her kids are still in school and are more verbally aggressive then physical although she does break up her fair share of fights. She is looking to move to Annapolis to be with her boyfriend and has heard horrible things about MD's school system. Hate to hear about this OTB. I know from her just how hard that job can be.

[smileyman]

This incident reminds me of that old comics tune 'It's a great Day' to kick somebodies ass' Somebody search youtube for a link...I'm on my phone...

[OTB]

Originally Posted by HokieDNA01

My sister is a Special-Ed highschool teacher that deals with similar things although her kids are still in school and are more verbally aggressive then physical although she does break up her fair share of fights. She is looking to move to Annapolis to be with her boyfriend and has heard horrible things about MD's school system. Hate to hear about this OTB. I know from her just how hard that job can be.

All the bad things you've heard of about most Maryland schools are true...with the exception of Anne Arundel County (which is where Annapolis is located).

Baltimore is worse than you can imagine.....

Free fire zone....

[jtemple]

My mom teaches the same kind of kids. It really takes a special kind of person to deal with them. Best of luck to you!

[OTB]

I wasn't aware that they had those kinds of kids in Nebraska..
And yes, the people that I worked with were amazing...........