It's great to be back at school this week, though physically, it has been tough. The kids missed me and I missed being there and with them.

However, the joy is overshadowed by DR. He is my thorn this year. I have tried and tried with this young man, but somehow, the shell cannot be broken through, at least not by me. He has had a tough life, granted. He & his sister live with his grandparents, who admittedly are not thrilled to be raising a second family. DR has been in trouble with the law on more than one occasion. The last time was for breaking & entering and larceny.

All that really doesn't matter to me, except he is making consistently bad choices in my classes. I have the young man 1st, 2nd and 3rd hours. He is often late to class, seldom has even a pencil, and comes in with a flair. He is much more interested in the females of the group than academics. In math class in particular, unless I am hawk-eyeing him constantly, he is throwing something, usually erasers broken into tiny pieces, passing notes, making crude comments, or otherwise causing grief to others around him.

Today was the clincher for me. He and a young lady were passing a note. I have taken a lot of notes away from students over the years, some innocent, some cute, some hilarious, some sexual in nature. However, this note was the crudest, most disgusting sexual reference I could even image. The young lady was suggesting doing something to the young man I would never even consider consider considering doing. I was appalled, embarassed, speechless. I am no prude, at all, and little embarasses me. I love a funny (Ok, even crude, and inappropriate) joke as much as the raunchy construction worker or sailor. But this note was over the top disgusting. And she is 12 years old.... and there was even a plan for where and when and how...

I referred them to the principal who gave them lunch detention, TOGETHER.

What now????