Nowhere to Hide

On Thursday, I went to take attendance (we do that online now) and one of my students' status (often Illness, or Excused) popped up as "Juvenile Hall."

This isn't the first time this has happened. After all, I do teach in the inner city. Sometimes my students get into trouble. Many of them are already on probation by the time they reach us. It's not that unusual.

But seeing that pop up on D's attendance was like being punched in the stomach. D has a good heart, and he's come a long way in the three years he's been with us. He's a star on our football team and a nice boy. I later heard that D's mom was on campus, crying. She's a good mom who has worked hard to keep her son from becoming a statistic.

Thursday night, I dreamed that Scott and I were hiding D. We hid him in our home, and people with guns came and found us. We ran to the woods (which were right by our house??) and people came with guns and found us. We were driving to some other location, and people with guns were in the car next to us, pointing their guns at us. I woke up at 2:00 am and turned on the TV to distract my brain. It took another hour for me to go back to sleep.

I'm not Sigmund Freud, but I think that's pretty easy to interpret. We think we can save our kids. We think that school can be a safe place for them, and for many it is. But then they go home, and they have to live around people who are constantly pressuring them to make bad choices. Their parents must feel the same way.

For many of our kids, particularly our boys, there is just nowhere to hide.