Back to: Thoughts, Theories & Trends/Bruised & battered: a report from the front line

"I have worked with the hardest students in the district. Everyone who knows me knows what I have gone through.

On my first day of work I was bitten on the arm by a now out-of-district student. He drew blood, so I had to go to the hospital and get shots and tests. Since then I have had SO MANY bites that I lost count.

I didn't have hand pictures taken on my wedding day because of all the black 'n blues, bites, and scratches. I have been bitten and scratched on my hands, arms, chest, legs, and stomach. I have had hair pulled out. I have been pinched so many times that it is almost normal.

I have been kicked, pinched, punched, spit on tons of times. I have been urinated on and my hair has been pulled with urine and poop on the student's hands. I have filled out SO MANY incident reports and have been to the hospital SO MANY times that it is a common, normal, everyday occurrence.

My clothes and jewelry have been ripped off me (I don't wear nice things to work anymore. The district told us we could wear jeans and not to wear anything that we didn't want ruined).

I had a student eat his own feces and spit it at me (he was in a cool down room that time, so the poop actually didn't hit me, it hit the glass). I always bring an extra set of clothes to work.

I have taken so much physical abuse that when I was engaged, I would come home crying and my soon-to-be husband couldn't touch me because I was so badly hurt. My family could never touch my hands or hug me because there was always a scratch or injury. My family played a guessing game of "Where's the NEW mark on her?"

Some days it felt like no one cared. I used to ask myself, "Why are you doing this to yourself?", "Who cares?", "Why don't you just find another job?"

I have scars, but I have a lot of good memories, too. It is a small success when a student stops scratching you and uses his words to express frustration. WOW! There is nothing cooler. We have words to express ourselves, but for a lot of my students it is a huge challenge to use words; it is far easier to use actions.

It is easy to forget how frustrating it must be NOT be able to express yourself when you want to. This is the challenge they face everyday."

Share your story from the frontlines by emailing them to tsheafe@nea.org. Do not use student names or identify your school. Your name and submission will be kept confidential.