Dagger Growth Time Sandvichensis

At the end of every day we have Dagger Growth Time, G.T. for short, although this sounds like Gifted & Talented, it is not.  It is supposed to be like counseling or character education, mainly anti-bullying or bullying-prevention. It is about caring for the students' well-being.  It is about an hour long and comes from Obama's well-meant Race To The Top funding that the school doesn't seem to know what to do with.

Dagger Growth Time is filled with goals and General Learner Outcomes that the students can recite backwards and forwards.  What they really desire is the action of the parking lot by the state-run library that they are not allowed in during school hours  (no funding for a school librarian). 

A few Daggers tried out the new parking lot area the teachers got kicked out of--it was their new recreation area for playing and not by H-building, thank goodness, with all the middle school congestion there.

After the bell rang and the teachers went to their meeting, it was Wednesday so it was departments, there were two altercations in the newly cleared parking lot.  One boy had his shirt off and another was running away.  A girl was screaming at another girl because a boy had touched her hip.  With his hand.  The principal and security were there and also the rest of the students who were supposed to be waiting for their buses to come and take them home to their far-flung subdivisions.  Ainaloa, Hawaiian Paradise Park, Black Sands, Kalapana, Sea View.  The meeting continued with the mandatory review of the Academic Plan.  There was also some discussion about which grade levels needed the most Intervention with Achieve3000 and the Teenbiz program to practice test taking and reading comprehension.

It is only the second week of school.  I think I've seen five fights just by U-building.  It is the second week of school.

One teacher commented that the testing probably won't go as well with this year's bunch.  They work so slowly.  They need so much extra time.