I would have told you that you were nuts..

I know i havent posted in almost a month.. Work has been crazy, and Ive been moving (again). I should go pro. But, I thought this deserved a post.. and i promise to be more diligent about posting.. I have missed it..

If someone would have told me that I would be dealing with this when I was in college.. i would have told them that they were completely nuts! here is the story.

(background information)
For those of you that dont know. I teach at an alternative High School in Milwaukee.. We have several "interesting things that happen that require unique cirsumstances.. (one of my students was sentenced to life in prison 2 months ago for murder).

Story:
One of my favorite students is a boy named, Neal (there is a picture of him a few posts back). He is 17, should be graduating in June and then going to Boot Camp. 3rd quarter went amazing for him.. Passed all classes, sent up his army stuff, was working at a pet store... really was on track.. Then, all this happened 3 weeks ago. I got a call from him saying he wasnt going to be in school for a while because he was robbed while giving a guy a ride home. (right away flags went up because he and this guy are not friends). I met with the special education teacher (her and Neal are really close too, and they 2 of us talk and deal with Neal on most of his situations/problems). We were a little weary of the story he told us - it didnt add up. Well, the file went to court and all charges were dropped because of lack of evidence. Basically, what Neal was telling them wasnt meshing together.
We immediately knew that there would be trouble between Neal and the Latin Kings (huge gang here in Milwaukee) when he came back to school. We brought him into my room to work on some stuff during a time when I didnt have any students. Word got to the halls, and we have 2 students come busting into my room trying to beat the shit out of Neal. We ended up running to get security to break them up... There were threats and yells about how Neal stole from them, and he needed to pay up or he would be paying for it. All threats aside, you need to take what they say seriousley because they mean it. After school, we walked Neal outside with security and found that all 4 of his tired had been slashed.
The next day we snuck Neal back into class when we knew nobody would be in the halls to see him. The special Ed teacher and I sat him down and told him straight out "you need to settle this drug deal before you get yourself killed".
Never in my wildest dreams would I ever tell a student to settle a drug deal.. except now, because if he doesnt.. they are going to come after his life for payment.

If someone would have told me I would be experiencing all this when i was in college, i would have laughed at them and told them no way..Im too much of a pansy to deal with all this. But, here I am.. I love these students and wouldnt trade my school for anything.. The kids may be tough.. But, most are sweethearts when you get to know them.