Who You Find in the Hall- Kayleigh Robb

There was not anything uncommon in this particular sight. It was that teacher voice, that responsible one, that pulled me towards the boy, seemingly alone and a little out of place. He looked a little confused, but happy as can be.

A little background: I had seen this student before, he had come charging into my classroom on occasion during prep times and once during my guided lead teaching. He had a look of wonder on his face as he looked at all that my classroom beheld, each and every time he came to say hello. This happened, well, not too frequently, meaning not enough so I can remember names, but enough to say that sometimes we have visitors in 103. You see, the wing of the Elementary school that my kindergarten class is located in also houses two first grade classrooms and Walshs' Elementary resource room. From the resource room is where we get the majority of our visitors, and often, these interactions truly brighten my day. However, today I witnessed something concerning.

I dug through my brain trying to remember the student's name but names of my students, their brothers and sisters, their parents, were all I could summon. So I mustered up a, "Hey, honey! Whatcha' doin' here by yourself?" instead.

He looked at me, smiled and blinked. He muttered something I couldn't quite understand and then ran into the schools' "T-Mobile Lounge", an area designated for students, but where I still make most of my copies and teachers and resource teachers gather for assessments and one-on-one time with their students. Knowing that this student was a resource room student, I assumed he might be going for testing or some kind of learning activity that was set up in the lounge. I let my concern falter and continued taking some of my students to lunch as I had been.

A few minutes later, after opening what felt like countless ketchup packets, I went back to the lounge, curious to see how my friend from earlier was doing, and, what, exactly he was doing. I saw another intern in the lounge and greeted her, smiling. She was turned toward the boy, asking the same sort of question as I had before, "What are you doing in here, sweetie?"

In the corner, pretending to be onstage, singing his heart out was the boy. No one was supervising him, stimulating him, assessing him or trying to get him to come back to class, no one. However, two staff members were sitting casually on the couches, having a meeting and clicking away on their laptops, not paying this boy any piece of mind.

"Honey!", I said loudly toward the boy. One staff member looked up, looked at the corner at the boy, and then quickly back to their laptop. "Oh honey, that machine, its broken, we can't use it." I walked over.

"Oh you're such a great singer!" I said, after my first attempt to get him to come back to the resource room with me was unsuccessful. This kid really doesn't know me, I though, so why would he trust me? I tried a different approach, "Can I sing a little with you?" He shook his head yes. After a quick few, "la-la-las" and "do-re-mis", he lost interest after he really could not get it to work. I continued to walk around the room, full of toys, and tools and stimuli, trying to gain his attention and to get him to come back to him room with me. My fellow intern is trying to assist me too, both of us are trying to persuade the boy to leave the lounge.

Now, mind you, this is my lunch hour but I really could care less at this point. All I am wondering is Where is this student's teacher? Why aren't these staff members helping us? How are we going to get him back? Why didn't those staff members help him while I wasn't present? While my mind was buzzing, my fellow intern suggested that she would stay with the boy while I found his teacher. I knew where the resource room was and would have no trouble sending her down that way.

When I got to the resource room, I asked the teacher politely if she was missing someone. She looked overwhelmed, and I would have been too. All to herself she had about 7 students, all of various levels of cognitive development, age and grade level. No one seemeed to be listening, no one really seemed to be "under control" but, this is not your classroom, Kayleigh, you don't know what it is like to teach here.

I told the teacher, who, come to find out, is a teacher's assistant, that, Ian, the boy I had found and that she was looking for, was in the T-mobile Lounge. "I'll stay here if you want to go get him." I said. She looked at me with one eyebrow cocked and said, "You sure?". I nodded and smiled as she went and then gulped nervously as I turned and cheered, "Hi everyone! I'm Miss Robb. Can I stay here a little while, I want to see what you are all doing here."

And I was met with the biggest grin and hugs I had ever seen. I was only there maybe three minutes but one student was trying to get me to sit with her while another was pleading with me to read with him. All I kept doing was smiling and scanning, hoping Ian and the TA would walk through that door but also wishing I could spend more time in this room. I do get here early enough that I am usually jut making copies during my prep time...maybe I could...

The TA ran into the room. "I don't know which room is yours." she said. I kind of frowned then and said, "Ian's in the lounge." I wasn't going to forget that name. Ian. Ian. Ian. "I'll get him, I will."

Twenty minutes have elapsed by now. I am feeling nervous and sort of upset. Upset for Ian, nervous because my lunch hour is almost over and I've got a lesson to teach in exactly 3 minutes. Out of the corner of my eye I see a staff member, one I have observed is great with Ian, and I ask her in passing to please come to the lounge when she "gets a sec."

This is all resolved when her familiar face finally comes for Ian and we both walk him back to the resource room. I see one of the students I had met earlier and he comes up with a sheet. He shows me that he's been tracing his name. I tell him I am so proud and I get another hug. You have no idea how much I needed that.

So, I am upset. I am upset that this student was alone. I am upset I left him alone for any period of time at all. I am upset that two staff members did not have enough sense or compassion or even the little whisper of that "teacher voice" to tell them to help Ian out. I am upset he was alone in the first place.

But I know why this happened. Or, at least, I think I do.  A new TA, feeling overwhelmed loses track of a student. Surely, because she can't leave the others behind, someone will find him and bring him back, that is what they promised when they left her all alone at lunch time, didn't they? The other teachers in the resource room are stretched thin, some are subbing, some are in the middle school resource room, everyone is trying to make up for the absence of the main elementary resource room teacher as she is still on leave. These teachers did not asked to be moved, they didn't ask to leave, but sometimes budgets don't leave room to hire so many subs, and that is when the administration takes them from the resource room. Which is wrong, in my eyes, terribly wrong. These children are being under-served, in a community which is already under-served in a district and an economy that can't support them financially. But why do they have to pay the price? Aren't these children, my children, the children of the entire school, city, state ect., aren't they what its all about? I know this is super "ranty", but I said before, I am upset. This student could have wandered anywhere and been in danger.

So, I guess what I am trying to express here is, being a school community is a great thing, and we say it all the time, but sometimes we need to ask ourselves: "What do I do to show it?"