Friday Freak Magnet story! 2/27/09

Today's story is not so much about me, as it is about a place I worked at four years ago. This place, for the sake of confidentiality, will be called Jerry H. Springer Elementary School. Founded 1965. This school had the intensity of a hospital ER on a full moon only it was like that everyday! I really don't know how any teaching or learning could even take place there, with everything that was happening peripherally. I mean, this is a school where the student's parents would take them to see a body when someone got shot. Yes, when, not if.
The events I am about to describe took place within a span of two hours.
Starts like this, and be glad you weren't there!: A mom of two of our students, boy in 5th grade and girl in first grade, calls me in a panic saying her daughter has been kidnapped by her father and she is going to get an "Amber Alert" put out. She is beside herself, as you can imagine. Shortly after that I go to the office for something and there is said girl in there with her father eating hamburgers! She looks at me and smiles and says, "Hi!" like nothing is going on! I am totally confused and I ask the dad what is going on. He starts yelling all these allegations about the mom, how she is letting strange men in the house, she is taking her sons medication and selling it on the street! He is so worked up that food is flying out of his mouth! I was with another counselor at the time and we walked out of the office, unsure of what to do, we were both speechless.
Then the mom comes in with her boyfriend who is still wearing pajama bottoms and slippers! Even though it looked funny, he was a scary looking dude! We knew trouble was here so we called the cops. Well now it's dismissal time for the entire school, great...Anyone who has been to an elementary school during dismissal knows how chaotic this can be. So while we are trying to get the kids off as quickly as possible the cops show up.
At this point the mom cannot restrain herself from trying to attack the dad so the cops had to put her in the back of their car. Then someone sprays Mace! People are running around in a panic, no kids, thank goodness! Random people are coming up to us begging for water to rinse out their eyes. All while this couple is fighting right out in front of our school. By now, all we can do is watch the insanity.
The mom's boyfriend yells out to the dad: "You better watch out, cuz I'm a Penitentiary Niggah and I don't mess around!" OMG! OMG! This school has gone crazy! So the cops take it from there, but that was one wild scene!
Later we wondered what he meant by his statement. Did he want us to know that he has done shameful things? Did he want us to know he is not above putting a cap in someone's @ss? From that point on our Principal called him "P.N."
That was just one of the many insane days at that school!
Happy Friday! Thanks for reading.