Absenteeism

Sorry to all my "fan" that I have been absent from the Chalkboard. The month of December is just crazy. Progress reports go out. The kids are extra...uhmm....energetic. Assemblies are planned and put on. It's exhausting. Good exhausting. But, exhausting. Also, I felt like I was blahging about my students and that's not the point of the Chalkboard Warrior. I want to highlight the policies and laws that contradict each other and interfere with the teaching process.

Here's a new one. 12 year old students who are hospitalized in psychiatric wards now have the right to sign or not sign "Request for Information" forms. An RFI is a form where doctors and schools sign agreements to share each other's findings. This is in the interest of collaborating with experts to provide the best care and environment a student needs.

Well. Let me refresh your memory. My student, Ismael, is a well known "wannabe"--a kid who wants to be a gang banger. In my experience, every wannabe I've met succeeded in becoming a gang banger. So, really, a wannabe is in the community college stage of gang banging. But, I digress. Ismael is the student who pretended to first stab, then shoot me, then feigned a woman screaming as she died. Then, when after the big "help Ismael" was organized, he refused to go to the hospital and was eventually taken there in handcuffs because he had become so belligerent to the police. Ismael then spent two weeks in the psychiatric ward of a local hospital. Now, I have had students sent to the hospital for psychiatric reasons who were sent home that day and never saw the psychiatric ward. I have had students sent to the hospital who were then enrolled in the hospital's day program in the psychiatric ward. And I have had students sent to the hospital who were committed for two weeks. Rarely. But, it happens. And when Ismael was taken to the hospital, he stayed for two weeks. He was in bad shape.

When he returned, he was a different kid. The sweet side of him shined--he stayed in his seat, raised his hand when he wanted to speak, came to school in uniform and followed all the rules without question. He was obviously on medication. Not so much that he was "drugged out," but on the amount he needed to help him focus and succeed. The release form from the hospital, which is always sent to the school, had absolutely no information on it except to say that Ismael had indeed been in the hospital and his absences were excused. No information about medication. No information about therapy. No information about how the school can help support Ismael.

So, the case manager called the hospital. According to the hospital, there is a new HIPAA law that states anyone TWELVE years and older gets to sign the RFI and Israel had refused. A couple weeks back into school, he stopped wearing his uniform. He started "tagging" in his note books--that's the new fancy term for graffiti. He's shaking hands with fellow wannabes in the hallway, complete with the Raza R, the local boys club. I mean the local gang. So, the case manager called again, just in case. No go. Israel determines his post care.

Now, I have not done sufficient research on this law just yet. So, I will continue this post once I find out more about this HIPAA law. But, I ask you, should a CHILD be in charge of their medical care and the coordination of their medical care with their school system. And, if you think, well that sounds about right, I was mature enough when I was 12, let me put it this way: Should a TWELVE year old child who has been hospitalized in a psychiatric ward, who has a history of violence toward adults, be charged with their medical care. Because, I can assure you, a twelve year old wannabe charged with that much responsibility and that much history of violence and instability will one day be charged with a crime. Or end up in a morgue. And that is terrible. And society will pay for failing this child. And my heart breaks a little bit more as my hands are tied tighter behind my back.