Hello, Bitch!

Today in the afternoon, Molly came up to me. "Mrs. Teacher, someone gave me this." She handed me this bright yellow piece of foam, the kind used for craft projects. It had something scrawled on it in blue pen. I read it in disbelief. It said, "Hello Bitch! To: Molly From: Johnny" I looked up to make eye contact with Johnny. "Johnny?" I said. "You wrote this?" He adamantly shook his head no. Molly confirmed that indeed Tommy had handed the note to Johnny to give to her. So I called Tommy over. "What is this?" I asked. He seemed confused. "Molly said you gave it to Johnny to give to her. Did you write this note?" I asked further. "No," Tommy replied. "I found it in my desk." "You found it in your desk?" I asked. He nodded. Well, it wasn't out of reach that someone could have planted it in Tommy's desk just to get him into trouble, although my class just seems too nice and too family-like to do that. But maybe the intent was that it was a practical joke. But, Tommy then spoke. "I only added that last part," he said. Well, that was Tommy's undoing. I looked at the note. "You mean you added the 'From: Johnny' part?" Tommy nodded. "Why would you want to get Johnny into trouble:" I inquired further. Johnny shrugged, and I smelled something fishy. The 'From: Johnny' part looked suspiciously like the 'To: Molly' part...I had to find a sample of Tommy's writing so I could compare the note. Now, our last day of school is next Wednesday. We have been writing a poem a day, as I always do the last coupld of weeks of school. Then I put together these collections of their poems and give them out on the last day of school. It's a cute keepsake, and I hope a treasure. But I hadn't really been good about checking off the poems to see who had turned in what...And Tommy isn't the most reliable when it comes to turning things in. So this forced me to be organized. I took my Homework basket and began to sort and check off the various poems. There were about five different poems so far. And as I feared, Tommy either hadn't turned in a poem or he'd done it on the computer. I began to worry that I wouldn't get a good writing sample. Then I hit pay dirt. There was a poem done by hand by Tommy. And sure enough. The 'H' in 'Hello' matched an 'H' in the poem. The lower case 'e' in the the 'Hello' matched an'e' in the poem. Aha. I knew I had him. "Tommy, I need to see you in the hall, please," I said. I walked out without turning around. He followed me into the hall. I shut the door to the classroom, and turned to Tommy. "Look," I said. I held the note next to the poem he had written. "It looks to me like the exact same handwriting as the note. See? These two H's are the same. And so are these two e's. Now, did you write that note?" Tommy looked down at the floor, desparately trying to think of a way out, I am sure. But he had been caught. Finally he admitted that he had written the note. "So you wrote a mean note about someone, used profanity, and lied to your teacher. Hmmmm. I'm thinking you and I will be going to the office at your recess. You need to have a chat with Mr. Principal." We went back into the room, and Tommy, who sits in the back, sat down and put his head in his hands. I knew he was crying. Basically, Tommy is a good kid. I was hoping this would make a big impression on him. I pretty much ignored him. I sent an email to his mom, who loves me. Then I sent an email to Mr. Principal. Then I was just busy doing other things. Soon, Tommy comes up to me, and he looks awful. "Mrs. Teacher, I really don't feel well. My head aches," he said. "I'm sure it does," I said. "Guilt and fear will do that. I'm glad I'm not you..." and I returned to my busy work. Finally recess came, and I took Tommy to the office, just as Mr. Principal arrived. "All right, Tommy, come on in...I read the email from Mrs. Teacher..." I left the note, the poem, and a white slip with Mr. Principal and left. It was my planning time. If all went the way it should, Tommy will think twice next time.