The B Word

Yesterday, at the end of the day, I got a message from a parent who stated her child had been called the B word on the bus. Because one can never be too careful when dealing with elementary students, I called the parent back to clarify. Was that B word bitch? Or bastard? Or butt ugly? Or possibly buck toothed fool? You can never be certain and we always feel a little proud of students who actually use appropriate swears in the right context. So often, they don't.

In this particular case, a boy was calling the girls on the bus a bitch. And according to the mother, her child thought it was a first grader.

So, I added to my to-do list. Pull bus video. Not one of my favorite things to do as the bus drivers would rather not wait around for even 27 seconds (my best timed-test) for me to pull the hard drive to get the video.

And then there is the watching of the video. It makes my ADHD kick into 5th gear as I am so distracted by all the action on the screen. Usually, I have to rewind several times in an attempt to focus on what I am supposed to focus on.

This morning, before I could even get out to the bus line to get the drive, I received an email from a mother telling me about her first grade son coming home and asking her what a bitch was. She wrote on to explain that a 4th grade student who lives in the neighborhood was telling her son to call the girls a bitch. He said it would be funny. This mother was not laughing.

Ironically, neither was the mother of the girl who had called the day before.

There was one fourth grader at my school who had a horrible, no good, rotten day. Now I wonder what B word I am when he talks to his friends.