Lesson learned

I had an interesting experience this week that reminded me just how much trouble teachers can get into if they’re not careful. At our school, teachers that don’t have a 4th period class have to do lunch duty. My job is to keep watch over the kids who have been assigned to lunch detention, which is called the “Penalty Box” and is held in a large furniture storage room next to the cafeteria. Most students have to serve five days, and there is a list of rules that they must follow. We’ve had some repeat offenders, but usually once they get done with their week I don’t see them again.

On Wednesday I had just one female student, and it was her first day. She was polite and quiet, but not what I would call shy. We went into the detention room and I told her to pick a seat. I asked her what her name was and if she knew what the rules were. She gave me her name, told me that she had a sheet of paper with the rules on it and that she had been assigned three days. She took out her lunch and some study materials and the rest of the lunch period passed in silence (students are not allowed to talk). When the bell rang at the end of lunch she gathered her things and left.

The next day I received an email from the assistant principal who had assigned the student to the Penalty Box. She wrote that I needed to switch lunch duty assignments on Thursday and Friday with another teacher, who happened to be female. I thought it was a little odd but said ok, fine with me. After lunch on Thursday I caught up with the AP and asked her what was going on and also asked if she had saved me from a possibly bad situation. She said yes and then told me the story.

It turns out that after school on Wednesday the student went home and told her mom that she had been forced to spend lunch in a smelly storage room alone with a man. Of course, the mother called the school to complain. I certainly didn’t like the sound of that, but the AP told me that the situation had been handled and the teacher switch was all that was needed.
I was relieved that it was over but also realized again that we need to be careful and keep ourselves out of trouble.