Over a period of about a week it was brought to our attention that one of our children's family (the boy, mom, and his siblings) were threatened by his father who just got out of jail at gun point. The dad threatened to kill the whole family right in front of his kids. The cops were called and the dad was arrested. Turns out that mom is on house arrest and is somehow managing to care for her five children? To top it all of he spends time at his grandmother’s house who hits them with shoes when she is mad. But don't worry "When she his me I hit her back so hard she cries"- First Grader
Over the weekend one of my children’s grandmothers was shopping before a family BBQ when the store was held up at gun point and the grandmother was shot. She died.
I learned about gangs from watching movies. Growing up my idea of a gang was something like from West Side Story, where the boy falls for the girl but cant have her because she is from the "wrong" family. That may be true and all but around here being in a gang is a bragging right. Students get in trouble for wearing anything gang related or talking about it. But the sad part is when the little ones are bragging about their siblings getting in trouble. It is hard to stop the cycle if they think it is cool to be getting in trouble.
We have had 2 incidents where there were suspected guns in the school. The police come and do random searches for the upper grades. It was scary the first time I saw them with their wands in the hallway but now it doesn't seem so weird. Last week we had a girl bragging about having a knife to little kids, she was over heard in the hallway and I believe was suspended. It is shocking how often students are suspended or getting disciplinary actions! Seems like on a weekly basis there is a list :(
-Miss Hansen
It is not certain that all of these things are true, but it is true that our children live in a violent neighborhood and probably see much more violence than you or me. That is why we are here to be a constant, positive, daily presence in their lives. We act, not only as teacers, but mothers, fathers, counselors, mentors, etc. We want school to be a positive place where they want to come and be the best they can be without the outside world interfering which , often times, is very hard to do.
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