Something God Would Do
by Jacqueline Walters

As a teacher at a high risk school it is not hard to become involved in the lives of the children. A young boy in my class was born a "crack" baby. His grandmother has been raising him since the time of his birth. He is at the top of the list of disruptive students. He refuses to do any work. It is not that he is not capable, but he chooses to do other things. He can be very hyper at times. He likes to get into mischief and has a problem with accepting responsibility. He likes to bully other students at times. He is not really a disrespectful child, but can be very disrespectful at times. He seems so unreachable. I show all of my students warmth and love. There are times when I give him hugs, talk and laugh with him. Academically it just seems like I can't help him. We have a mail system in my classroom. This system allows students to write one another. There have been a couple of times when I received mail from this student. In his letters he would tell me I am his best teacher and thank you for teaching him so much. When I read these letters, it really makes me shake my head.

He has been suspended a couple of times. His grandmother has been trying for a couple of years to get him classified as a special education student. With no avail from the school, nothing has been done. She came into the school very frustrated. She was very curt and said she wanted to speak to me. I chose not to speak to her alone, but asked one of the vice principals to sit in on the meeting. She shared her frustrations. She had written a couple of letters to administration making the request to have him classified. The vice principal admitted that she did, but could not find her letters. When the vice principal left the office, she said, Mrs. Walters, I am just so tired. I don't know what to do. I need help and I have been asking the school for help. We talked and the agreement was made that they would take his case to the child study team. The student was out for a couple of days. One of the teacher's aide heard that his grandmother had died. She did not know how true it was but said the school was going to try to find out. The next day we were told she had indeed passed and the funeral was that day. My heart immediately went out for this student. His grandmother was the matriarch. I knew on the inside I had to be there. I requested a half a day, sick day, personal day, whatever day, but I knew I had to be there. Well, administration found someone to cover me. I was able to go to the funeral along with his brother's teacher, two other teachers and one of the vice principals. When the student turned around and saw me his eyes popped opened. The children were sitting there crying with no one really showing them comfort. I do believe it was because other family members didn't know how to. It was a sight to see and my heart really went out to all the children. At the end of the eulogy they had prayer for those that wanted a change in their lives. They were asked to raise their hands. My student raised his hand and turned around to see if I was looking. After the viewing of the body I went over to embrace him. He was really broken. I embraced his brother and the other children. He came back to school a couple of days later. He asked me, "Mrs. Walters, how did you know where the funeral was?" I told him. I asked him if he was surprised to see me. He said yes. I believe this is something God would do. God has great compassion for the people.

Jacqueline Walters is a student at Drew University Seminary