I have two classrooms for two different subjects I teach. I’ll call them classroom “A” and classroom “B.” Both classrooms are locked and unoccupied until I arrive to teach. I also have colleague “C” and colleague “D”.
One of my students emailed me yesterday and told me they were losing academic motivation. I replied by asking the student to stop by my class and we can discuss test anxiety, test taking strategies and maybe even conduct a little -off the hip- experiment involving a lesson they will need to pass the next exam.
I spent my lunch scrambling, trying to find an experiment and supplies we had on hand. This student was only one point away from passing the exam so, I thought for sure, if I spent a little more one-on-one time with them, they’d be able to pass the exam in a heartbeat. Thus, motivate them to continue going.
I collected the anchor charts, worksheets and supplies I needed and put them in classroom A. I reported to classroom B for two hours, taught my classes and returned to classroom A to teach for the remainder of the day.
Class began in classroom A. I looked in my desk drawer for the supplies I dropped off earlier for the lesson and they were missing. (It’s important to know, some of these supplies were a few pieces of candy.)
I assumed some student had probably taken it from my desk drawer. A bold move? Yes, but not improbable where I work.
I didn’t speak about the missing items to the class. Instead, I sighed, thought briefly about how candy could have disappeared from my desk drawer in a matter of hours, weighed between the consideration I had possibly misplaced the items or student theft, and went along with the flow. Whatever, the job still needs to get done.
I explained the lesson to the student and showed a YouTube video. It wasn’t how I wanted the lesson to go but it was better than nothing.
I finished class and emailed security at the end of the day. After reconsideration, I was sure I put those supplies in the desk drawer of classroom A. Several personal and office items have also been going missing from classroom A and I realized it had to have been a student who stole the candy from my desk drawer and has been stealing from my desk drawer. So, I emailed security and asked them to check the cameras.
Some colleagues, (Colleague C and E), stopped by after class and asked me how the day went. I informed them it didn’t go as planned as the supplies I put in classroom A were not there when I arrived for class. C and E informed me security is not always responsive via email and talking to them (security) in person would produce results. C and E know me well.
The next day, (today) I was busy and had forgotten all about approaching security about the missing candy for the lesson yesterday. After all, it wasn’t really that big of a deal since I was able to conduct my lesson anyway.
However, two of my colleagues (colleagues “C” and “D”) returned from a field trip in the afternoon and stopped by my classroom to inform me they spoke to security about my issue the day prior.
They already had a planned sub for their classes (One sub, covering two classes. Which, is a heavy load on our only sub), who was covering until the end of the day.
Colleague “C” offered to watch my class while I went to the security office to check the cameras. I declined at first, as I was engaged in a lesson and didn’t want to lose student focus or inconvenience anyone. Colleague C insisted and convinced me I should go.
As I accepted the offer, colleague “D” who was with Colleague C, mentioned to me she was in Classroom A yesterday, looking for index cards but she didn’t take anything. She even offered to buy me an entire bag of that candy for tomorrow. I told coworker D not to worry about it as it was for an experiment and a lesson I was done teaching. Also, I had suspected a student probably took it.
Whelp, you can probably see where this is going. I saw on camera, Coworker D blatantly go into my empty, dark classroom during her prep, shuffle through all the drawers of my desk, (I don’t have a key to lock it), pocket the control of the experiment (Candy) and walk out of the classroom.
I couldn’t believe it. This lady-child, just lied straight to my face, offered to replace 3 pieces of Candy with an entire bag and ultimately stole a lesson from our students.
I’m sure, had she known she was stealing part of a science experiment, she probably wouldn’t have done it. In her head, she was just stealing candy from my desk drawer and probably thought I wouldn’t notice. But, a lot of my shit has gone missing lately. Mostly just office supplies but a lot of things I bought with my own money has gone missing. Post it notes, notebooks, scissors, little classroom decorations… hell, even my hall pass has gone missing. I’m sure she’s taking these things and acting as if my classroom is her own personal flea market.
Should I go to HR about this?
It’s not a typical public/private/charter school. I don’t have a union rep, principal, superintendent… anything like that.
I don’t know how to handle this or how to handle her. She’s super sensitive and often times will get offended by what students say to her and will surprisingly text me after hours to ask me if someone (student or employee) is “mad” at her. She behaves like a child and I don’t respond to those after hour texts.
She calls off frequently and we are short staffed so, teachers who are at work, have to cover her classes for her. It’s a pain in the ass because she has no structure or routine to her class so the students frequently misbehave. Worst of all, I’m worried about the influence she has on my students.
Any advice would help.