Open Mic….

I'm here to vent… Let me just tell you guys about our SkillsUSA Adventures. We took 23 amazingly talented kids to Atlanta for the SKillsUSA State Championship and I was sure we'd bring home some type of medals but we didn't. Not one, but 3 kids to be expelled. We have worked with these kids for months, stayed after school several times a week, prepped them during class, had countless talks about expectations, behavior, and the way that our school is represented. I don't know if it's some March Madness or what but we had some serious issues. The first night we started the night off by going over rules and expectations before giving the kids some downtime to themselves. They knew the rules, but leave it to teenagers to push the envelope. We had 3 advisors present and monitoring students all through the night. I have a hard time sleeping so I was up until 2:30 that morning checking on the students but that didn't stop them from being sneaky and breaking not only our rules but SKillsUSAs rules. We had a female student sneak into another schools boy room. This is a nightmare no advisor, parent, chaperone, wants to have to deal with. All students involved were sent home. It's hard not to be disappointed when you expect so much out of these kids. It's not like we open the bus door and let the first 23 on go to championship, these are kids we teach, kids we respect and trust, kids that normally make us proud. I felt that i did everything possible to prevent this but this was totally out of my hands but it's hard not to feel guilty and disappointed. After a long morning dealing with the situation we had competitions for the rest of our students. We had to suck it up and push forward, guiding these kids to where they needed to be. If you've ever been to State you know how hectic it can be…imagine running on a few hours of sleep. Sadly, the chaos wasn't over. The very next night we had 2 of our other kids sneak off to the balcony to smoke. Really, At this point I'm ready to lose my mind. I seriously wanted to cry. We spent the rest of the night and morning dealing with that situation. The kids were upset, parents upset, and advisors all upset. It was a nightmare. I don't know if this is normal teenager behavior or what but I wouldn't wish that kind of weekend on anyone. I feel so sorry for the kids because stupid mistakes really messed up the rest of the year for them. All 3 students involved were expelled for the rest of the year. Have any of you had to deal with trouble like this?? Please tell me I'm not alone in this...