Bullies are people too

Been a while. Mostly due to Thanksgiving break. I don't tend to post during breaks because a) I don't really think about pertinent topics to blog about while I'm not in school, and b) more importantly, I'm lazy. But, now for a fairly meaty post.

First of all, there was a significant incident during my first period, a sped math class. I didn't hear exactly what was said, but they are pretty much always talking and taking jabs at each other. Today, student E (who is constantly talking, and somewhat mean) said something about student M. M probably ignored him or didn't hear him and continued working on his warmup. But then, student D repeated what E said and kept going and M got really upset and started going for D, looking like he was going to hit D. I stepped in and M backed off, but a few minutes later left the room without saying anything. Normally, these students are not allowed to leave the room, ESPECIALLY without asking permission, but it was obvious that M was distressed so we let him go. I had to ask the aide in the next classroom to make sure he was in the men's bathroom, then I walked him to his counselor's office. After several minutes, she came back to the room with M and asked to see D. I saw her later, who told me D got two lunch detentions as a result for his behavior. When the counselor came into the room, she and the classroom teacher had a quick lecture to the students about how serious bullying is, including verbal bullying, and cited the Rutgers suicide case as an example. Evidently bullying will be against the law soon, and as it is now, every school I've ever heard of has a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying. As they should. Apparently D (who heard it from E) said something about M being homeless, but it doesn't even really matter what he said. The point is that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" is untrue.

Also, amusing anecdote that is not at all related. The principal called me out of class to tell me that another aide had overheard students say I wear low-cut tops. Um, really? News to me. I am very deliberate in NOT wearing things like that to school. I mentioned this to the principal and she said she was surprised to hear that too. She thought maybe I bent over too far or something. (I was wearing a turtleneck sweater at the time.) It was quite odd, to say the least.