Is there a story from an earlier season you wished they would have expanded on more?

For me it was when Jeanine was told by the parent that she was the worst teacher she had ever seen. I know that cut her pretty deep. And let’s be honest…that kid was a pure jerk in class (yes I know he’s a kid, doesn’t mean he can’t be a jerk).

I would have liked to have seen maybe if the kid got transferred to Melissa’s class, kept acting up and then escalated. Maybe even if Ava had to observe and then put the parent in her place. Figure why your son is acting out in class if he has to find another school. Stand up for her teachers. And maybe we find out there’s something going on at home that was causing that.

Was never a teacher but I had something similar happen when I was in the Army. One of my guys was coming in late all the time all of a sudden and just was performing like crap. We were on the verge of disciplinary action when he finally broke down in front of us. Dude was eating one a week maybe. He had quite a few kids (it was either 4 or 5) and had gotten involved with a pretty bad used car loan. He was also waiting on his enlistment bonus that he didn’t tell us about and was getting the run around on. Money was EXTREMELY tight for him so he was making sure his wife and kids had food. He would eat whatever was leftover which wasn’t much. So maybe once or twice a week he was getting something to eat.

He was embarrassed. He felt, as a man, that he couldn’t let us know he couldn’t provide for his family. It was heartbreaking. But we were able to solve the problem pretty quick. I took him around, got him signed up for WIC and EBT. Got his paperwork together, called a buddy and got him to the finance office to get his bonus taken care of. Another buddy of mine and I were leaving in a few weeks to another duty station. So we both cleaned out our freezers and cupboards and gave it to him. He didn’t want to accept it at first but we didn’t give him a choice. Sure enough…once his issues were taken care of his performance picked right back up. I wonder if that kid might have had something going on at home…