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| Dax Johnson 10th Grade Arizona College Prep |
| July 20th 2015-First day of School |  | |||
| Trey and Derek getting ready to head out to school |
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| Trey Johnson 1st day of 1st Grade Mrs. Condos Hancock Elementary |
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| Zaiden and Derek 1st day of 6th Grade |
I was hoping Trey would enjoy 1st grade more than Kindergarten, and Derek would not have to worry about the Jerks from 5th grade. Trey came home very happy. The first day went pretty smooth for everyone, but I have to give some background story.
When school got out in May, I got a phone call from Derek's 5th grade teachers Mrs. Barutha and Mrs. Doerneman. The 5th graders had an assignment to write something to the incoming 5th graders. Derek's teachers were concerned because Derek had written such a negative letter. We were on our way to Mexico so I never actually spoke to the teachers we just kept playing phone tag with each other. I asked Derek what it was about and he said he wrote how the kids were mean and 5th grade is terrible and Derek doesn't have any friends.
All year long Derek had been complaining about this kid, Jack, and his friends being jerks to everyone, Jack calls everyone freaks and other names, picks on everyone, and really is a big arrogant jerk. Derek can have a bit of a temper and he also told me how he would walk up to Jack, get right in his face and say "You Suck Jack" This made me feel that although there was some animosity between the two, Derek wasn't completely innocent either so I didn't think much of it. Although he did continually complain about Jack. All summer long he would tell me how when he goes back to school he is going to beat up Jack.
In the mean time as friends came to play this summer and as I spoke to their Mom's this kid Jack randomly kept coming up. I heard the exact same complaints from these other kids (and Parents) that Derek had been telling me. I finally realized that this Jack is a big bully and a problem to everyone.
A week before school started, when the teachers had gone back to work, Derek's 5th grade teachers called me back to discuss this letter that had been written back before school got out. They were very concerned about Derek, I was impressed that they still called me back after all this time. We discussed it and I told them I talked to Derek etc. and I understood the situation. They made sure that Derek would have a friend in his 6th grade class, so they made sure Zaiden and Derek got put in the same class. I was very grateful they were looking out for Derek and that they did that. I told them I thought the real problem was this bully Jack, and I told them I had been hearing about him from other kids and parents. This had been going on for a few years. They took his name and said they would let the administration know.
When we went to meet the teacher we were happy that Jack was not in Derek's class, but two of his minions were. Derek was still dreading school, the Bully and his Gang. We assured Derek that the school had been notified, and if he still had a problem Curtis would go in and take care of it.
This first two days of school were ok, no drama from Jack, by Wednesday it was back to the same story. Thursday morning I called the principal, Mrs. Hull. She said she was made aware of it before school started and they had made changes so they wouldn't be interacting with each other. I told her it was happening on the play ground and there was a big group of them. She suddenly realized why we were still making a big deal of this, and the things they had done were not enough. She said they would be watching.
On Thursday Derek didn't come home from school at his normal time. I went out to find him and he was outside the house in tears. He said they were picking on him again and he can't bear to go to school and deal with this anymore. I finally got him inside so we could talk about it (it was hot outside I didn't want to be out there anymore, it was hard to get Derek to budge he was so upset). He really did not want to go back to school as long as Jack had not been dealt with.
On Friday morning Curtis went into School with Derek and met with Mrs. Hull and Shari Ballard, another administrator. Derek went in with a list of about 15 names, all of Jack's friends that had been harassing him. They had a good discussion. Before Curtis and Derek went in to meet with Mrs. Hull, we told Derek if he didn't feel safe or comfortable with the situation after the meeting he did not have to stay at school.
Curtis came home alone (a good sign) he felt they had a good handle on the situation and it would be handled. Later in the day Curtis got a call from Mrs. Hull saying she had talked to Jack and he admitted to everything Derek accused him of. Jack said he would work on changing. Mrs. Hull also talked to Jack's mom, she was embarrassed and said she would also work to improve this behavior.
It felt like a victory for Derek. Although, one of the minion friends still picked on him once he got back to class.
On Monday Derek went to school and two of the minions (in his class) apologized to Derek. He said he also overheard Jack's friends saying that Jack had In-school suspension. Curtis told Mrs. Hull that since Jack started this whole bullying thing with his friends it needed to end with Jack telling his friends to knock it off. It seems to be working.
Derek never saw Jack all week. I don't know if he had in school suspension the whole entire week, or if they were just never in the same place at the same time. Either way we are happy it was dealt with. Derek is much happier at home and going to school now. That first week was rough.
Often times I had heard that Hancock had a bullying problem and they don't really care to do anything about it. I agreed with that. Previously Dax had been bullied and it wasn't really handled that well, but we also never took it to Mrs. Hull. I know Mrs. Hull is tough on bullies and she will end it. She has earned that A+ rating for a reason. Our home is much happier now.
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