All I Want For Christmas Is Some Discipline

ZAVET – The school was silent.

The only time schools are this quiet are during holidays or summer break. But today was a Friday and the only sound was the cleaning lady sweeping the hallway. I made my way up the stairs along with a few teachers. We had all come for the teacher’s meeting to decide the fate of a student who was about to be kicked out of school. This is a rarity in Bulgarian schools – for a number of reasons as I will explain later – and the entire school knew the seriousness of this situation, hence the solemn faces and the absence of students at school. It reminded me of that scene in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" when are the patients disappear into their rooms when someone's about to get shock treatment.

I was going to skip this gathering as most faculty meetings are an hour and a half of meaningless votes for meaningless school procedures that nobody cares about. Also, it’s all in Bulgarian and my proficient, yet far-from-fluent language skills don’t allow me to keep up. But today I wanted to see what would happen. How would our school – which operates by something that resembles jungle law – handle a student who had thrown a chair against the wall and threatened to kill his teacher.

As a result, I was treated to glimpse of who my colleagues really are and how backward the Bulgarian educational system is.

The boy under fire was Denis Yumit, an 18-year-old 12^th grader who had had several run-ins with teachers in the past. His most infamous incident occurred two years ago when he slapped a female teacher after she scolded him. He had been forgiven in the past, but this latest outburst had finally drawn the ire of the director.

Like hangings in the Old West, the accused entered the teacher’s room a little past high noon. Accompanying him was his mother and father. They stood. No seat was offered. The director, a plump woman in her mid-40’s, calmly told the room why we all were here. She pointed out the lawyer – a young, attractive woman sitting against the wall.

The father spoke first saying that he wanted to know what had happened. As he understood it, Denis had come in late. He was given a tardy. The day before a student had been late without an excuse and hadn’t been given a tardy. Denis’ anger got the best of him, but it was because he was being treated unfairly. The teacher, Ms. Petrova, referred to the attendance book. They argued for a bit, but the director put a stop to it.

The teachers were given the floor to complain about Denis. His mother finally was given a chair, as if to imply this would take awhile. Petrova started first. Then another teacher brought up an incident from last year. His class teacher then read complaints from other teachers. Denis’ mother asked why she hadn’t been told, why she was hearing about this now. The father also was angry that he wasn’t told. The local policeman who works with youth programs in town told that Denis had been caught with firecrackers after students had been asked to turn them over. He had been written a 500 leva ticket a few days before.

There was a long pause. Then teachers started to speak up in defense of the boy, that he is a good boy with an anger problem, that they have no problems with him, that there’s no point to kick him out with six months left of school. This elicited some anger from some. A longtime third-grade teacher almost broke down in tears and at one point slammed her hand down on the table. He is dangerous, she said. What will happen if he decides to throw another chair and there’s a small child near him? What will happen then?

The room was divided, or at least I thought so. All Denis could do was say, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.”

After about 20 minutes of this, he and his family left the room. It was now up to the teachers. There was more silence. No one would speak. The director asked those who thought he should be kicked out to speak. More spoke, but only in favor of keeping him. The director, who had helped fill out piles of paperwork in preparation to expel this boy, became irritated that no one was saying anything. She asked if we should vote. This sparked some controversy and confusion. Everybody started talking. Everybody had an opinion all of a sudden. Some said he could stay only if he received psychiatric help. Others said he should get an official warning. Others said he should have to promise to bring a pen and notebook to class every day (since he rarely does).

In the end, we voted to keep him or dismiss him. Simple as that. The room became quiet again. Everybody’s heads were down, but everybody was watching one another vote. It finished 18-8, in favor of keeping him. The mood lightened a bit after this, but some teachers , especially Petrova – whose glassy eyes sparkled against her ever-reddening face – sat silently.

I asked the other English teacher if he was pleased with the decision. “What can I do?” he asked. “I voted. He’s not my student. It doesn’t matter anyway.”

I left the room to get some fresh air. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. A student who had threatened to harm his teacher and destroyed school property on purpose was going to walk away as if nothing happened. I know this boy. He says hi to me every day. He had never given me any problems, but his previous actions with Petrova supersede that. Was I overreacting? Was I obtuse to think that he should pay for what he did – disrespect and frighten a teacher.

Actually, I didn’t care how it affected him. He is old enough to know better and he could always finish his education at the technical school in town. What made me sad was the example he was setting. The results of this so-called trial would spread throughout the school – from the 12^th grade all the way down to the 2^nd grade. Every child had been watching to see what would happen.

They found out. Nothing happens.