To Explain the "Fightin' Preggy Emily" to the Left:

Get ready for QUITE a tale... [From my report to the school]

September 11, 2007
Incident Report

(all names have been removed for privacy)

At the end of third lunch today, I was in the girl’s bathroom on the second floor, near the English Department Center. A student and two of her friends were in there, talking, but left shortly after I entered. While I was washing my hands, the second girl involved in the fight entered the bathroom, followed by just Student#1. At first, I paid them no attention. I thought they were friends having a normal conversation. Within a few seconds, though, it became clear to me that there was tension between them. I stepped up to Student#1, who I have in class, and asked her what was going on. She began bad-mouthing the other girl, who I moved in front of to physically block. The bad-mouthing only came from Student#1, and soon escalated to swearing. Student#1's two friends entered the bathroom, took one look at me, and told her that she’d better stop swearing in front of a teacher. The girl behind me still said nothing. Student#1 paid no attention to her friends’ advice and continued to use foul language in front of me. I warned her that she needed to stop, and that I could get her in trouble for swearing in front of a teacher but that I didn’t want to have to do that. I encouraged her to turn away and walk out. Her friend told her she could get written up and she said, “F** that. What does that matter to me?” Her friends began pulling on her arms to get her out of the bathroom, laughing nervously, and it looked like they were going to succeed. At this point, while there was tension, Student#1 wasn’t physically moving in to fight. Neither was the other girl. When enough room was between the two girls, I turned to the other girl and asked her to come with me. I told her she wasn’t in trouble, but that I wanted to get her away from Student#1, and she needed to follow me. We exited the bathroom together while Student#1’s two friends continued to hold her arms and ask her to stop.

Once in the hallway, I took the other girl to the stairwell just outside the restroom and brought her to a corner out of sight of the bathroom. I was just beginning to tell her that I was proud of her for not rising to Student#1’s comments and that we would go down to the office together to report Student#1, when Student#1 charged up from behind me, reached around me, and attacked the girl. She knowingly initiated the physical fight with me right there, putting me in physical harm as well. At that point, the other girl fought back to defend herself. Student#1’s two friends charged into the fray, but only to continue trying to pull her away from the girl. At this point, I ceased trying to intervene, knowing I was not physically able to do anything to break it up. I yelled down both directions of the hallway for teachers, then stuck my head into the English Department Center to ask for assistance. When I returned to the fight, other teachers had arrived on-scene. The other girl was pulled off of Student#1, who was being held on the floor by her two friends. Other kids in the area were backed off, not contributing or egging it on. At this point, the second girl, while being held by two male teachers, tried to dive back in and get a hold of Student#1, but was prevented. Both girls were escorted separately to the office and I went along to give this report verbally to the Principal.

In addition to the fighting, I would like to reiterate that Student#1 willingly used extremely foul language in my presence multiple times and willingly attacked the other girl in my presence, putting me, a teacher, in harm’s way. (I am also 7 months pregnant, which Student#1 is aware of.) I am, therefore, not comfortable with the idea of Student#1 returning to my classroom. If she can so blatantly disregard my authority and put me in harm’s way without a second thought, I don’t trust her ability to maintain herself throughout the rest of our time together.

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Ahh... Adventures in teaching...
Needless to say, I was a bit rattled, had a bit of a cry to shake off the adrenaline rush, then went back to my class (which was being supervised by a co-worker) and carried on. Now it just makes a good story.