This is a difficult situation because it involves student trust, school policy, and legal is-
sues. I faced it a couple of times a year. I am not making a general recommendation. You
must use your own judgment and decide based on the situation and based on your con-
science, ability to take risks, and goals. If I know the student and have confidence in his or
her judgment, I will approach quietly and explain that if I report seeing him or her with a
knife he or she risks suspension and arrest. However, if I report that I found a knife on the
floor and turn it in to school authorities, no further action will be taken. The student has to
make an immediate decision. If the knife is on the floor, the situation is over. Twice, over the
years, the knife was not found on the floor. On both of those occasions I notified security
personnel and the student was removed from class.
Rachel Gaglione—My response depends on who else knows and what else is happening. You
can get into serious work trouble for not reporting an incident like this, especially if students
have made threats. I have had two experiences similar to this one and handled it differently
each time. We went on a senior class trip to Washington, D.C., and a few students bought souve-
nir knives from a street vendor. A parent chaperone witnessed this and informed staff. Later,
one of the students set off a metal detector while entering a building. We asked students for the
knives, but no one turned one in. When we returned to the school, the teachers decided to report
the entire incident. The second time I was involved in a situation with a knife, I was escorting a
class out of school at dismissal time. A boy pulled out a small knife and started cutting his nails.
I spoke with him, realized he meant no harm, walked him home and told him never to bring it
back to school. Although the safer thing to do in these cases is to report it, that may not be the
right thing to do.
- Your school has a zero tolerance policy toward fighting. You witness a fight in the
hall and know the participants. If you report them they will be suspended. Should you
break it up, report the students to school authorities, or both?
I do not condone fighting, but I also know that sometimes conflicts between students go
too far and confrontations become physical. As a preteen and teenager I was involved in
some fights in school and in the street. My policy is to give combatants and their friends a
chance to resolve the situation. If I know the students, I step between them. If they are
grabbing or hitting each other, I try to pull away the student who is getting the worst of the
encounter. While I have him or her, I turn to the crowd and give their friends a choice. If
they can calm them down, get them out of there, and prevent a reoccurrence, everything is
over and done with and we can all walk away. If their friends cannot stop the fight or if it
starts again later, the entire incident gets reported to school authorities and everyone gets
suspended. - What if what I say or do turns out to be the wrong decision? Should I report a poor
judgment or an inappropriate action to school authorities?
No one said life or teaching is easy. When I started working as a bus operator at the New
York City Transit Authority, the union shop steward recommended that we admit nothing,
avoid putting statements in writing, and, if pressed for a formal report, ask for time to think
about what we wanted to say. I think it was good advice. In the work world I learned not to
lie, but also not to offer more information than was requested. I found that lesson made
sense in schools also. Sometimes, however, you need to talk about an incident or a question
with someone. If you have a good relationship with a senior colleague or with a supervisor,
you can often have an “off-the-record” conversation that will help clarify issues. That is prob-
ably your best bet. If an off-the-record conversation is not possible and there is a union in
the school, you should consult your representative. What you are obsessing about is proba-
bly not such a big deal and has happened to many people in the past. If it is a real problem,
the union representative will advise you how to proceed. In some circumstances, if it is al-
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS FOR BOOK II 177