She did NOT say that?! Oh yes she did!

I've decided I hate teenagers--- at least I do today.

I wrote a demerit on a kid today. Writing a demerit is about the worst punishment any teacher can dole out. While this doesn't seem like a big deal, it really is. As I've mentioned in the past, I work in a school that's like a reform school so the kids have to earn privileges. Getting demerits causes them to lose privileges. And won't let them participate in extra- curricular activities. And if they get enough demerits then they can end up in "Friday school" which is an extra 3 hours of school instead of having free time off. So, it really is a big deal. And if a kid is a brat or has a bad day or is a brat (did I mention if a kid is a brat?) then s/he can get a bunch of demerits during the day from various teachers for various things.

In the building there are teachers who are known to give out about 5-10 a DAY. I think that's stupid and to me it shows the teachers have either given up or, more likely, have ZERO classroom management skills. There are 4 steps a teacher can take before handing out a demerit and I think a demerit is the lazy way of disciplining a student. The other 4 things involve TIME and PATIENCE while a demerit is easy.

Because I'm the librarian I don't have 4 ways to discipline a kid because our discipline program is set up for teachers. And, frankly, it's really a non-issue because I very VERY rarely have issues with kids in a negative way.

I'm supposed to give demerits for overdue books but I usually do something different and use this as a last resort. I have overdue books at my public library and that doesn't usually ruin my entire week so I hate to do that to the students. I find if I have to give a demerit for an overdue book it's because I've asked the kids for the book about 3-4 times, I've given them written "reminders", I've asked their fellow housemates to help them find the book, I've done a locker search, and I've talked to the adults who oversee the house where the kids live. After all this, if the kid doesn't give me the book, then I will write a demerit. In the year I've done this job, I've given 7 demerits for overdue books. I will also give a demerit if kids behave in a shitty way toward me about their overdue books- I wrote 1 for this. So in one year and 2 months, I've given 8 demerits for overdue books and each kid knew it was coming.

Now, as far as writing a demerit because of a discipline problem... well. I've done it one other time. Yes, one. And today made twice.

The girl student was pissy with her classroom teacher and brought her crummy attitude into my library. And she was snippy to me and I let it go. "Feh" I thought. She got a book. She sat down. She read (or stared at the book, pretending to read). Her teacher gathered the class and girl student made some nasty comment under her breath (that I didn't hear) to her classroom teacher. She smacked her library book on the counter. I picked the book up and handed it back to her and said something like, "hey be nice to the books. They didn't do anything to you." And she proceeded to throw the book AT me (I ducked) and she yelled at me, "SUCK IT!!!" and she flounced out of the library.

Oh yeah, she said that.

Oh yeah, I wrote a demerit.

Guess who now has Friday school? She can suck that.

Mean Maggie