Last week I had the opportunity to return to the school I worked for previously to attend a closing ceremony for a pilot program I worked on over the previous year. It was great reconnecting with my students who are still cray cray (in a good way) and it was great to celebrate the achievements of the students and the program. But while I was there, I was informed that one of my program participants had not been coming to school although he was so close to finishing. No one could explain why he or his sister had not been attending. On my way to work the next morning, I decided to give this student a call to find out what was going on. He informed me that he only missed a few days because of personal appointments and then having to take care of his father (a disabled vet). After speaking with him for a little bit, I spoke with his sister (they're twins so we connected on that level) and she informed me of everything else that was going on. Her father's power was cut off and as a result, Child Protective Services was called because she has a 6 month old. Her and the baby had to go stay in a shelter and her brother voluntarily chose to join them to make sure they were safe. Despite the threat of CPS, they continued to sneak back to their father's because the conditions at the shelter are horrible at best and they caught the baby playing with cockroach.
Fast forward a week later. I'm in Starbucks about to get my Tuesday tea on and I get a phonecall from the girl twin (no names here for privacy) and she is frantic. She is having a breakdown and doesn't know what to do. She's trying to go to school but doesn't feel supported there, she's trying to take care of her child but when she looks around she feels like she is doing it all wrong, she is trying to move forward but doesn't feel like the support she needs to do so is there. After some conversation and comforting, we devised a plan for her for the day so she can feel like she has a sense of purpose. A sense that she is doing something with herself because she WANTS to be better but doesn't know how.
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Yesterday we had an all staff meeting where it was celebrated that graduation rate has increased across the district. Kudos to the increase but I couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment when we were celebrating the fact that about 69% of students graduate from HS (or from public HS). Which leaves me wondering what happens to the rest? I then think to my former students who are pretty much the rest, the ones that formal public schooling didn't work and now they're attending an alternative school in order to accomplish what they "should" have accomplished already.
We never quite talk about the ones that aren't considered "bad", the in-betweens as I call them. the ones that because of life circumstances have fallen in the cracks, the ones that aren't disruptive or troublemakers, the ones that want better but haven't been given the right support to do better. The ones overlooked because they don't fit the image we have of troubled youth. It seems like you have fall on polar sides of the spectrum for someone to pay attention to your needs- either you're a superstar youth or you are a misguided youth but what then happens to those in-between?
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As I continue to work in this youth arena, I am realizing that my purpose is to continue working with those in-betweens. The ones who voices are just above a whisper just below a yell.
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