"Buck it, up."

That's what the assistant vice principal's secretary said to me when I found out my slut student was denied transfer to the continuation-alternative school. I was so happy when she said she wouldn't be returning after the Christmas break, but it looks like I'll be putting up with her for another three weeks. UGH!!!!

Then there's my MIA student who's been ditching class for about 50% of the semester. She has 16 reported truancies, 4 reported tardies, a police contract and a court contract to stay in school during school hours, and there are three weeks left in the semester. She will not pass my class. She already knows this, so she's going to sit in my class and do absolutely nothing. According to the VP, she uses also crack and is possibly pregnant with child by her eighteen-year-old-high-school-dropout-boyfriend of two months. In teenage years, two months is deep intense love.

I hate the false ideas I have to give to a particular student who is in special education. She has expressed intent in trying to get her grade up in order to be mainstreamed into regular classes next year (without the special education label). She has to pass my class to prove that she no longer needs special educational services. Currently, she is in special education, so I have to follow her IEP and modify her work and grade her differently. I find this to be a problem because it's a vicious catch-22. According to this plan, I have to change homework assignments so she is not overloaded with work, and I have to grade her on a different scale with different standards. I have to do all this in order to fit her special needs so that she can pass this course. This is a huge flaw because she'll pass my class with the false idea that she can do regular work, which she is not capable of doing. Then the special education program will think she is no longer "special ed" and take her off their resource list. Next year, she'll go onto regular eleventh grade English without an IEP, so her assignments will not be modified. Can you guess what will happen? She will drown in the work and she will fail miserably.

I'm an advocate for "let them make the choices." If a bad grade or stupid choices affects these kids lives in the future, I'm all for it. It's a hard lesson to learn when they realize that the they can't change their past mistakes.