Three Stories From The Classroom [View all]

[rustysgurl]

Last edited Tue May 2, 2023, 07:29 PM - Edit history (1)

My bro-in-law teaches high school science in a suburban Kansas City school district. In his 28th year of teaching he’s seen a lot. Students who attend his school are from predominantly lower socioeconomic households, single-parent families and families struggling to make it. The school district’s budget is low and teacher/student ratios are high. He is a counselor and mentor as much as a teacher. Here are 3 recent “stories from the classroom.”

Those kids not wanting to go to the lunchroom tend to hang out in Mr. C’s classroom. They sit and talk and he usually eats his lunch while they visit. Kids also know that Mr. C keeps bottled water and granola/multigrain bars in his cabinet. One day a student walked up to him, “Mr. C, could I have one of your granola bars? I’m really hungry.” When asked why he didn’t eat lunch, the student said, “My folks don’t have any money to put on my account and we won’t have any groceries in the house until next payday.” Other students don’t eat because their parents are checked out and neglectful. Now each day students who don’t have lunch gather in Mr. C’s room where there are always peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, bottled water and granola bars. And you thought teachers just bought school supplies?

A female student came to Mr. C, asking if she could talk to him about something “personal.” Always willing to listen, my bro-in-law asked her what was going on. Crying, she said “my parents are in the middle of a divorce and my Dad is demanding that me and my sisters live with him and go to other schools. I don’t like my Dad. He’s mean to us, doesn’t know or care anything about us. He just wants to get back at my Mom for leaving him. I can’t go to the counselors here because they will just call my Dad and make things worse. What do I do?” Mr. C (who used to teach in the county’s juvenile detention center high school) has contacts in the court system and offered to get the girl in touch with CASA. He told her she did have “a voice” in this and that the folks at CASA would help her. Fast forward -- The parents’ divorce is now finalized and the girl and her sisters are living with their mother and still in school.

One day a female student came to Mr. C asking for extra work. He was puzzled as she was a straight A student and was also doing extra credit assignments. He asked her why she wanted the extra work and she started crying. She said, “my family is moving back to Mexico and I know I won’t be able to stay in school there. I will have to work. But I want to keep learning. Can you give me any papers or handouts so I can keep learning on my own?” Mr. C hurriedly gathered what he had and gave it to her. She thanked him, and pausing at the door said, “Thanks, Mr. C. I will never forget you.”

My brother-in-law is a great teacher. He’s also a great person. I understand families going through difficulties (divorce, multiple jobs, etc). The thought of students sitting in class hungry because their parents don’t care or don’t have the money for food makes me crazy. School lunches should be free … period. Counselors who actually care should be available for students going through personal issues. We are letting down an entire generation if we stand by and do nothing.