I purposely chose not to title this blog. I don't know what I would call it if I had.

I've gotten a new job, which is good, but can't seem to escape my old one, which is bad. I will be working in a much safer and more direction-orientated school. I'm truly excited for this. The school seems like a perfect fit. I'll let you know if it really isn't.

Finally finished with Minnesota Internship Center, I am grateful to get out of there. My lack of power and support and, especially, dealing with the incompetence among other employees left me feeling frustrated and useless towards my career and development as a teacher as well as utter remorse for the students in my classroom who did not receive what were, to me, obvious resources that would not have been difficult to provide had special education and administration took my advice seriously. It was a year of feeling as though I was capable of giving more to my students without actually being able to do so because of disorganization and a non-collaborative effort among departments and support services within the school.

This Thursday I found out a student of mine, who I had just seen last week, has been arrested and accused of murdering another teenager as an act of initiation within the Bloods. This has been very troubling to me as Leonard was a student of mine who, from the start, gave me warning signs. I advised lead teachers, security support staff, special education, social workers, mental health professionals and administration to evaluate and provide support for him. Nothing was done.

As I think about the last year, it makes me physically ill to know that one of my students is capable of such a horrific act. But what's worse, is that I knew he was, but was never heard.