Every morning, I arrive at school about 15 minutes before the bell. One of my students depends on me to get there in time so she can get her math book and get on the bus to our other campus in time for her first period class. Usually I make it; some days, I advise her to start keeping her books elsewhere!
Today, the moment she came around the corner and caught my eye, just as I was unlocking my office door, she started to sob. Her friend, a former boyfriend of hers and a former student at our school, has been struggling with a very serious medical condition that has required multiple brain surgeries, and she had been told that he had taken a turn for the worse.
I held her for a little bit while she cried, and then she gathered her books and went to catch the bus, leaving me a little stunned in her wake.... but I too gathered my books and started my day.
1 comment:
Last year, we had to send a senior girl home under suspicion of an eating disorder - mere days before graduation. She wound up getting medical clearance and coming back, but it was a really difficult day or everyone. The girls who brought it to the administration really struggled with their decision; the teachers who supported sending her home felt torn. She lost several good friends because they did the right thing, and she wasn't ready to hear it. And it didn't even really help because she was back in 3 days with sketchy medical clearance. That was a day sort of like the one you're already having. You were there, and sometimes that's all you can do; sometimes, it's enough.
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