Another First

Yesterday was quite an eventful day at work. I was in my office before classes because I had to make a few phone calls so I wasn't in my normal area when the bell rang for the day to begin. That's when all the trouble started. After I was finished with my phone calls I started my usual walk around the school. Before I could make it halfway down the hall one of my best students runs up to me and tells me there is a really string smoke or gunpowder smell in one of the hallways. When he said what hallway I heard him wrong so I went the long way around to where it really was. As I walked I remembered I was walking by a science room so I stopped in and asked the teacher if she was using a burner for something. She told me know and I continued down my planned path. As I was turning the corner to the hallway I needed to be down one of the students yells, "There's smoke coming from that locker!", then proceeds to open it and smoke filled the area around the locker. I would rather had him not open it since there could have been actual flames, but there wasn't so there was no risk. He was trying to be heroic.



Upon finding out whose locker it was I was able to start the investigation. The victim said who it was in his statement, but I had to find other sources. I still interviewed the original suspect. Upon our first interview the suspect told me that he had entered through the side doors (lie #1), gone into the cafeteria (lie #2) and sat until the bell rang talking with s few other students (lie #3). As I had him writing his statement I was looking at the cameras around the time he said he entered the building. He actually entered through the front entrance and went straight to his locker. After receiving his written statement I talk with my principal. We sat and watched the video together for a few minutes then I went back to my office to continue my interview with the boy. I asked him if there was anything he wanted to change about his statement. He said no and I continued telling him that I know he is lying since I am watching him on the cameras come from the front entrance. Again, anything he wants to change? Again, nothing. After about five minutes of this he decides to change the entrance he came into the school from but nothing else. After spending a whole morning hearing many stories from many people I finally just decided that all the 8th graders were going to spend their DEAR time writing what they did that morning from the time the bell rang to start the day until the time they entered their first period class. I got a lot of kids that wrote what they did from the time they woke up until I came into their classes. It made for some pretty interesting reading.



After DEAR I read through all 75 statements sorting through the ones that looked like they could lead somewhere. The rest of the afternoon I was calling all the students out of class to ask questions regarding their statements. Some kids shed an inkling of light while others were duds. It wasn't until the last group of kids came in that I was able to get some concrete evidence. Three boys came to my office and one boy sat in one of the chairs and immediately raised his hand saying that the suspect told him that he was the one who had done it. I asked him why the confession was not on his statement and he told me because the kid confessed after DEAR as they were standing in line for lunch. He said he asked the suspect what kind of firecracker he had used and the suspect replied that he used some cheap Mexican firecracker. When I asked why he didn't come to me he said he thought that I already knew after reading another student's statement. I had read that statement but wanted more evidence. After speaking with my principal that night he said what we had was enough and to call the suspect's parents.



The following morning I called the parents and told them what I had. They set an appointment to come in at lunch time when they both could get away from work. Thankfully, they did not show up until a little after lunch. I had a pretty good feeling that this was the kid who had done it, but I wanted that last nail - in - the - coffin statement. I wanted someone to come forward with more info. Right after middle school lunch a seventh grader comes to me saying that he found a note on the floor of one of the teacher's rooms and that it had info about yesterday's firecracker. As I was reading the note and came across a part that was saying the suspect told a specific person that he had done it, that person walked into my office. Perfect! I asked the girl what the suspect had said and had her write her statement. As she was signing her statement the suspect's parents showed up. I talked with them about the situation and they told me they had been in Mexico for the holidays and had shot off fireworks. They were highly apologetic and very hurt. They pleaded their case against expulsion but in the end the safety of our students is our number one priority. I spoke with the guilty party and asked him why he lied to me. he said he didn't think I actually had him on camera and that I was bluffing. The sad thing, he showed no remorse, no regret, no fear about what could happen. Hopefully, people now know that they will not get away with a slap on the wrist when they are caught. That kid is gone and it will be the talk of the school for the next few days after vacation. I wish him all the best. Hopefully he has learned from all of this and will not try the same things at his next school. Good luck kid!