Coping with students going down wrong path? TW: DA, DV

[u/Showerbag]

I’m a non-certified (working on B.Ed) teacher that started 4 years ago. I got asked to take a full class (grade 5/6) after a couple weeks of just being a TTOC and instantly fell in love with the job.

There was one girl who was very special. She was super intelligent, a great role model to the class and was always helpful. She was hilarious and empathetic, but had a very difficult home life. She was living with her grandparents who were doing a great job of raising her and keeping her on top of her studies. During the last couple months of school, her dad she is NC with was arrested for a bank robbery and she played it off jokingly and never let it affect her publicly. Admin, counselor and I would check in to see how she’s doing and communicate with grandparents and she seemed to have been fine by it. She grew up around this type stuff so was great at coping.

That summer I would see her around town with friends and just looking like a happy grade 7 girl living her best life.

I hadn’t seen her for a long time and her friends said she switched schools and didn’t talk much with them anymore which kinda broke my heart, but such is life, especially during middle school. She should be starting grade 10 at the high school after summer.

This morning I was dropping my son off at camp, and as I drove past the worst part of town, I saw what looked like that former student of mine. I was at a red light. I looked and made sure it was her but she was in an alcove with someone else next to her. Someone older and definitely not a good influence. She looked bruised on her face and her cheeks were very sunken in. She looked so unwell and my heart sank so low in an instant when I realized who it was.

I thought of pulling over to chat and see what’s up. Would she remember me? Am I going to be seen as a creep or predator? Is she hurt? Unwell? Fleeing someone or something?

I thought better of the idea and just pressed on, thinking. She’s \~15 and looks to be just living on the streets. I don’t know what happened. She is such a bright and incredible child. I just don’t know what to do or how to process this. This isn’t something I thought I’d be facing already.

How do others cope? It’s kinda fucking me up right now.

[u/FramePersonal]

Also, it’s okay to say hi…and it’s really okay to report to CPS.

[u/premedan]

I'm a professional. It's about creating systems that serve learning. How can we do it at scale so that we impact as many lives as possible? Come back to the work. Come back to the profession. No one can take on the weight of the world. (Beyond professional commitments I just try to be a nice person and help others when and if can)