disorganization.

There are a lot of reasons for the chaos at my high school. Most, I would say, come with the kids. There are all kinds of behavior that they bring to the school that would not be brought to a school with a middle or upper class population of students. However, I believe a lot of the problems come from the administration.

One problem experienced today was disorganization. Today was a half day and thus restructured. The kids were only in school until noon instead of the regular dismissal time of 2:30pm. So classes are shorter and they don't attend every period. Well, there was a strong lack of communication to the staff and students and the kids had no idea what class to report to when they arrived at school. "Do I go to first period or second period?" was the chorus I heard in the hallway. I told them to go to second period which was the most logical step since on Tuesdays they usually report to second period in the morning. Other teachers were telling them differently though and there were kids scattered around the school. Some trying to legitimately go to class, others taking advantage of the confusion and goofing off in the hallways. Finally there was a long awaited announcement from the administration:

"Students should go to their first period class until we figure out what to do"

...until we figure out what to do? I couldn't believe I was hearing that. Finally fifteen minutes later, another announcement came.

"Students are to report to their second period class"