The Student Who Was Not There

Monday, third period. I was in the learning center. 

The learning center is a room for special ed kiddos to come and take tests. Some special ed students need an alternate location for that. It's also a room with fewer distractions, and some students can use the room on days when they need that. 

So, basically, I wasn't expecting to have any students. (Some days the room is empty. Some days there'll be several students in there.)

The phone rang. Mr. R asked if the student he had sent to the room had arrived to take a test. The student had not. 

So, I was surprised when this student arrived a few minutes later. 

He explained that he had been in the learning center earlier. He had finished his test. 

I was confused. Had he taken the test the previous period? Because, he had not been in the room during third period. 

When I got to the room during the passing period, it was locked. The room was empty. I had been alone for a while. There had been no other student there, so this boy claiming he had been there... 

I mean, I can think up instances of him being in the room and me not seeing him. Perhaps he found a learning center in an alternate dimension. Maybe he figured out a way to turn invisible. But, actual real world scenarios? Nope. He was not there. 

The boy asked if I could call Mr. R and tell him he'd arrived, so I did. But as he had not been in the room when he was supposed to have been, he was still in trouble. Mr. R asked me to send him to a different room to see a counselor, so I sent him on his way. 

(He returned a short time later, saying that the counselor said he couldn't stay. I let him and wrote it all down for the teacher I was covering. If he was lying, he's in worse trouble now. If not, well, Mr. R is kind of a jerk, so there was no point in making him angrier.) 

I was just so flummoxed by how certain this kiddo was that he'd been in the learning center that period. I tried to find out where the kiddo had actually been. But what I wasn't considering was the obvious: he was lying. 

Because, really, that's what this was. A lie. Where had he been? He wasn't telling. And he was going to keep repeating the lie that he had completed his test in the learning center. (Kind of have to admire him for picking a story and sticking to it.)

A Change of Venue

Wednesday. Fifth period. 

For my extra period assignment for the day, I was assigned to the learning center. This is a pretty easy gig. Any students needing a quiet room for a test are sent there. Many days I spend the period alone.

I got into the classroom and settled in. 

The door opened. Three teachers and a student entered. "We're doing an IEP meeting..."

Uh. Okay. Where do I go...?

This sort of thing happens from time to time. The learning center is an empty room, and they appropriate it for meetings on occasion. 

Of course, I knew of a classroom that was empty that period. And I even had a key for it.

It felt like cheating. I could sit in the classroom I'd been in all day, but this time on an actual prep period? And getting paid extra for it? 

Yeah, that's too good to be true.

As I headed back to the other room, a student headed in. He had been sent out of his biology class to finish a test from a previous day. Well, that's the class I was covering, so I told him to follow me.

Just when he and I got settled, the phone rang. A co-teacher needed to bring her students in because it was test day. (In co-taught classes, the special ed teacher may pull their students out to test with them all in a different room.) Well, that's the class I was covering... 

And it no longer felt like cheating. But that's cool, as I was getting paid to cover that extra period.

Funnily enough, three students in the class had been in the Spanish class that day. One girl had just been in fourth period. 

It's still an easier period than some extra periods I've covered. 

Looking for a Way Out

For sixth period, I was in charge of the learning center. This is the place where the kiddos go when then need a quiet room for a test or if they need a little extra help with an assignment.

However, sometimes certain students are enrolled in that class, and on this day I had two. I was told one girl wouldn't be a problem. The second girl, however, had a slew of instructions...

...[Nicole's] ONLY responsibility... is to be on time and in an appropriate seat... she is to sit there and be quiet and not distract other students. 

She is not allowed to go to the restroom or anywhere on campus unattended. This includes the: nurse, psychologist, counselor, etc. She will try her best to leave class, please do not allow this... 

Oh, goody.

Happily, Nicole arrived with her one-on-one aide, a man I've met many times. He knows his job, so I wasn't too worried.

But Nicole immediately tried to get out of class. She wanted to see the psychologist.

I know how to play this, however. I said sure, let me just see if she's available. And then I went to the phone to call.

I got her voicemail. This means she was out of her office (so unavailable to meet with Nicole) or not answering her phone (so unavailable to meet with Nicole).

I told Nicole she wasn't there. So, then Nicole asked to see the counselor.

Again, I went to call. This time the counselor picked up.

I asked the counselor if she could see Nicole, but, "If you're busy right now and can't see her, no problem, I will tell her that". Since Nicole had her one-on-one, sending her out would have been okay as she had supervision. 

The counselor was busy at that moment with another student. So, Nicole was denied again.

After that, she settled down, entertained by her one-on-one.

I got busy helping a student with his test (more of a reading through it with him type of thing), so the period passed mostly uneventfully. But at about the last five minutes of class, there was a flurry of activity of students packing up. I looked around, and Nicole was gone.

Another student volunteered to run out and bring her back. Nicole returned a couple minutes later, poked her head in the door, told me there was a minute left of class, and left.

Sigh.

I informed her teacher of this. The teacher told me that they're in the process of finding Nicole another placement (probably in the emotionally disturbed program), but they need documentation.

So, I wrote up Nicole's defiance and sent it to the teacher. Because when a pattern emerges, it makes it easier for the administrative team to put a student like this where she needs to be.