The Minion Goes on the Run

Life has been interesting with The Minion.  

He is still coming to my room 1st period to do his work (when I can get him to do it), he's irritable, grumpy, and gets suspended now and then for stealing  and for skipping class.  When I try to get him to work, and he's not in the mood, he growls at me.  He also has reverted back to some really bad habits he had when he's younger (let's just say he has bathroom issues).  We thought he had finally grown out of some of that but alas, no.  His classmates hate him because he's weird and he smells and truly, he's not very nice. At all. (It's really sad.)

So last week, when the Bottomless Pit was sent inside to get some work, he came back and reported that "that little weird kid from first period is wandering around outside."  Uh-oh.  That's not good.  Just then the aide that comes and watches my kids for about 30 minutes so I can go use the restroom, make copies, and get a break came in and informed me that she'd seen The Minion when she came out and sent him back into the building.  (I'm in a portable in the parking lot - to get to my room, you have to leave the building and walk out there.)

Since I was going in on my break anyway, I went on in to guidance and reported this to guidance.  We did some detective work, looked at some of the video (we have cameras all over the place). And discovered that The Minion had left his 3rd period class, gone out the door he usually goes out to come to my portable, and just kept walking.  He most likely would have kept walking if The Bottomless Pit and my aide hadn't caught him.  He's figured out that no adult supervises his walk out to my room so he took advantage of it. So, I ended up writing a referral for him for being out of area, and left it with the Guidance Goddess.

Half an hour later I get a call from Coach Cool.  "Is the Minion out there with you?" he asked.

"Oh heck no, he hates me, I'm the last person he would be with," I informed him.

"Well if you see him, let me know," he said.

What ensued next was an hour of admin sending out emails telling everyone to be on the lookout for this kid, and me getting asked about a dozen times if I'd seen him.  The local authorities got involved and the search for this kid was on.  About that time, our SRO showed up at his house and asked mom if she'd seen him and she calmly responded that he was home.

What?  She didn't think it even remotely weird that her kid showed up at home in the middle of the day?  And didn't think to call?

Apparently once the aide had sent him back into the building, he went to the nurse and then left the nurse and went out the exit near her.  And started walking home.  In the middle of the street.  A former student of mine (nicest kid and nicest family ever) was driving to the high school and spotted The Minion in the middle of the street, recognized him from church and, as he told his mom, "got a bad feeling about it", and turned around, picked him up and took him home.  He was worried he'd be hit by a car, or picked up by a predator, or something.

So the Minion was safe, which was good.  However, he's also in a world of trouble.  Mom was told to bring him to school the following day and stay for a meeting.  She didn't.  She put him on the bus and sent him on his way.  She didn't get off the hook that easily as he ended up getting suspended for a few days and she had to come get him anyway.

Not sure what the ultimate decision is going to be regarding The Minion, but I doubt I'll see much of him in the future.  For one, most kids that leave school end up going to alternative school and assigned a boatload of points because it's such a dangerous thing to do.  Secondly, I think everyone has decided that it's probably not a good idea to have a kid with a history of leaving and wandering around coming out to my portable every day where he has two opportunities to bolt.

We shall see.