Parent teacher conferences are fun (#sarcasm). They’re especially fun when parents leave and your room smells oddly skunky.
Weed. Marijuana. Pot.
That parent was definitely smoking the reefer right before he came into my classroom.
An interesting parent.
And rude.
And missing most of his teeth.
He walked into my room, abruptly sat down and asked,
“How’s the f***er doing?”
How am I supposed to respond to that?
I asked him which student I was looking for. He looked at me like I was speaking to him in German. It was my first year in the school and I didn’t know the parents; clearly, he was insulted by this.
Gruffly, he replied, “Billy (name changed for privacy)?” Almost like, “duh, you should have known that.” (facepalm emoji)
I pulled up Billy’s grade. He was receiving a B.
Dad: “Wow. He’s that smart, huh? Or is that a pity grade?”
Me: “No, Sir. Billy is a very good student. He works hard, hands his work in on time, and produces high quality work.”
Dad: “Wow. He’s really not that smart, you know. Is he cheating?” (angrily) “You tell me if he’s cheating. I’ll beat his a**!”
Me: “No, Sir. He’s not cheating. He is doing the work all on his own and he truly is a very good student. I thoroughly enjoy having your son in my class.”
Dad: “Well holy f***ing sh*t. I don’t know whether or not I should believe you. Seems like someone’s not being truthful. Billy is stupid.”
Me: “Well, the semester isn’t over so I guess we will have to see how his grade changes by the end of the semester. In the meantime, do you have any other questions or concerns for me?”
Dad: “Yeah. He behaving himself ok?”
Me: “Yes, Sir, he is.”
Dad: “He better be. You let me know if he’s not and I’ll whoop his a**.”
Me: “Will do. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. Please feel free to contact me if….”
By then he was out the door.
He walked out. I breathed a sigh of relief and immediately walked down to my principal’s office to ask her what was up with that family.
She told me a story:
Billy lived in a trailer home on the outskirts of town. The home was in complete disrepair and should have been condemned. She thought it might have been condemned in the past but was not sure. Either way, during the summers, the family basically let their home go back to nature. That sounds so weird, I know, but they removed all the windows and doors. They claimed that they were “letting the fresh air in.”
She asked me if I ever noticed how bad Billy smelled. Of course, I had. Billy was such a kind kid, but no one wanted to be friends with him because he smelled so bad. She said their home didn’t have laundry facilities, so it’s very possible Billy’s clothes hadn’t been washed in weeks.
Beyond his clothes, she said since they basically let their home to go nature in the warm months, the floors are covered with animal excrement.
She told me a story about how one time Billy woke up in the morning, rolled out of bed, and during the night, he had killed an entire litter of bunnies. Apparently, mama bunny had her babies on his bed and he didn’t realize it when he climbed into bed for the night. During the night, he rolled over on the entire litter and killed them all. She said, knowing the parents and the home, probably no one cleaned up the dead baby bunnies and they could have been in his bed for weeks.
Hearing this blew my mind. How could someone live like this? How was it that Billy was still living with his parents? How did the system not rescue him yet? My principal’s answer to my question was, “The system is broken.”
Sad.
I went back to my classroom to finish conferences. I was very broken-hearted and my heart hurt for Billy.
I went back to my classroom. I went back to my desk. I sat down. And I waited for the next parent to come in.
Before I could get lost in my thoughts, my next parent walked in and asked,
“Why does it smell like weed in here?”
This was clearly neglect. Like my last story about Kevin, this is a form of child abuse that wouldn’t come to mind when claiming someone was being abused, but living in the conditions Billy was living in was definitely neglect. It’s was very sad. Very sad indeed.
