Marna sat down with the principal and vice principal for their 10:30 meeting. Marna began telling them some of the new information she had learned earlier that morning and the night before. The principal immediately started writing down kids' names and said they would follow up on every single one.
Marna asked how many recesses the kids have each day. The principal said, "normally they have one 20 minute recess and a lunch recess, but since the kids are testing they have two 10 minute recesses; one in the morning and one in the afternoon, as well as their lunch recess. Why, is something going on during a certain recess?" Marna told him that when she spoke with Beckham's teacher earlier that morning, she relayed to her how disappointed she was that Joe wouldn't be getting punished for what he had done to Beckham, because he was on vacation. The teacher told Marna, "'Joe' did get a punishment; he missed two recesses yesterday and he will be missing another one when he returns." Marna told the principal that since the choke hold incidence happened after lunch, that meant "Joe's" punishment is only two missed recesses; one yesterday and one when he returns. The principal said, "That's not true, I don't know why she told you that. He was given an in-school suspension yesterday and will miss another recess when he gets back." Marna replied, "what does in-school suspension mean?" The principal explained, "'Joe had to go to 'Mr. Ed's' class during recess. He told 'Joe' and 'Mr. Ed' that if 'Joe' behaved during recess he could return to class." So Marna was right, in reality "Joe" had only missed one recess, he hadn't been in-school suspended; she wasn't okay with that.
The principal asked Marna what she thought they could've done differently. She told him she wished that they would've communicated with her more. She wished they would've told her that Beckham was asking to go to the bathroom twice every hour and asking to call home multiple times today. She wished she would've gotten a phone call from the school when his finger was sliced so she knew how bad it really was. She said that the secretary should have called her to let her know that someone did admit to putting paper and wood chips in his ear. She wished the secretary would've called her when she could tell Beckham was in pain and was feeling bad for him. If Marna would've known that somebody had put things in Beckham's ear, she would have picked him up right away and taken him to the doctor. Instead, she thought he was making up excuses to call home, because he was bored. She also told the principal that she did not want the secretary to get in trouble, because Beckham likes and trusts her and feels safe with her. The last thing Marna wanted was for her to get blamed or to get in trouble, because she did not want anything to happen to her. She wanted to make sure the principal understood that Beckham needs her; he needs an adult at school he can trust. She told the principal that she wanted to make this a learning experience for everybody, so they can help prevent anything like it from happening again.
Once Marna had told all of this to the principal she left the office and walked by Beckham's class once more. She asked the teacher how he did. The teacher said, "he did fine during the test, but when I gave him a worksheet to do, he started hitting himself in the head. I told him that the worksheet wasn't a big deal and if he got it wrong, he could just redo it. So I don't know what the issue is." Marna's response was, "hmmmm, I don't know, I'll talk to him". Beckham's teacher proceeded to tell her that one of the secretaries had told Beckham he should go to the bathroom before class starts and that there's another break in the middle of class and then he could go right before lunch and again right before the second bell rings to come in from recess. Ever since then, he's been doing that and hasn't asked to go to the bathroom during class anymore.
Later that day Marna received a phone call from Beckham. He wanted to come home, so she went to the school to talk to him. They sat out in the hall for a minute, then went into the office. That was when Beckham went through the book of pictures, trying to pick out the third grader that had pushed him down the slide. He looked at the third grade classes and couldn't find him. Marna asked Beckham how long this third-grader had been bothering him and he told her only a few months. He then pointed to a kid and said, "he kind of looks like him, but it's not him." Marna asked the principal if it was possible the kid could have moved in after the pictures were taken. He told her that it was very possible. Beckham started to point out other second graders that had been messing with him for a while. She asked him if he thought that these kids were doing stuff to him on purpose or if it was possible that any of them had done something once or twice and it was an accident. He said there were a few boys that do stuff to him a lot and on purpose. Another boy was a one-time deal and it could've been an accident. Marna just wanted Beckham to think about these incidences and to clarify. If they did stuff to him, then they did it and it needed to be addressed. However, she thought since he was so young and that it had been going on for so long, there might be a possibility that some of incidences really were accidents. Beckham might just think everyone is out to get him and might not be able to tell the difference anymore.
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