Prayer Request

Please pray for Mauro and for his parents, and for myself and Miss Patty. We have scheduled a meeting with Mauro´s parents after school on Monday.

We began enforcing the rule of 7 detentions in a week means a suspension. This has put fear into many of the kids and we are giving out fewer detentions.

Last week Mauro got one detention for not doing his homework...the following day he once again didn´t do all his homework, and now an addition detention because he did not get the prior day´s detention signed by his parents.....this continued and by Thusday if I would have written him the detentions he deserved, he would have been suspended.

How do I explain Mauro? I love Mauro like a son! I fell in love with him last year. He is a 5th grader this year. He is a good kid, gets in trouble for talking, wasting time, not finishing his goals, and not doing his homework, but inside he is a good kid.

His home life....here is an example....a month ago we had a parent night where the kids were performing dances and dramas which they had learned while Helen and Kala were here, Mauro´s mom dropped him off and went home. Then when it was time for everyone to leave, and we were picking up the last bits of our things Mauro and his cousin Wilmer were still there. I gave Mauro my cell phone to call his mom. She told him to just take a taxi home. It was dark, after 9:00, and not safe to be roaming around the streets. Patty and I took them home.

Saturdays we have school from 8:00 to 11:00 for those kids who are behind....Mauro comes to school on Saturday. Today after all the kids had gone he was still there (this is typical), he sat and talked with me while I was working on a Pace order for my class. Then we just sat and talked about movies and things while we waited on his dad. He had tried to call dad but he was not answering his phone. Finally at 12:20 (class ends every Saturday at 11:00) his dad gets there to pick him up.

If you remember from previous posts we had a tough time with him several weeks ago, trying to get him to give his detentions to his parents, because he was hiding them from his dad because he would get "hit", not exactly sure what this means in his head, but his cousin Wilmer told me that Mauro´s dad hit him with the belt when he found out about the detentions the last time.

Thursday when I realized he would be suspended, I went to Patty and we talked about what would be best for Mauro. Suspending him does not seem like the answer. So I sat down with him and told him that his behavior had earned him 3 more detentions which meant a suspension, the tears started for both of us. I explained that Miss Patty and I want what is best for him and we don´t want him suspended, but we have to get his parents involved in what is going on with him. I told him that we were going to call his parents and ask them for a meeting. He was very upset, the wall went up, the fists were clenched, and the tears were running. He said "miss you don´t know, my dad will hit me" I tried to explain to him that I want his parents to be involved in his life, in his homework, in the things at school. That we want to be a team, Me, Miss Patty, and Mom and Dad. He didn´t think it would work.

Mom and Dad are supposed to come in Monday after school to meet with Patty and I.

Please pray for us. For us to have the right words. We want this to be a successful meeting. We want his parents to be involved with Mauro, and show him the attention and affection that he is looking for.

We had a meeting with the father of one of our other students a few weeks ago. This is a student who had been suspended, he was trouble last year, and is once again this year, and he is only in 3rd grade. But he has a sad life at home. His Honduran mom abandoned him, his father is from the U.S. works at the base, drinks too much, and spends no time with him, he is being raised by the housekeeper and has numerous ones because they don´t last long due to the behavior of Joseph. We had a meeting with dad and told him how much his son needs him and wants to spend time with him. Joseph lives near me so many days I take him home after school. I was asking him Friday if he has gotten to spend any time with dad after school...no, dad isn´t home, then Joseph falls asleep before dad gets home from work. It is sad!

Please pray for the time we have with Mauro´s parents on Monday. Pray that they come, that they will have a willing heart to hear how we care for their son, pray that we will have the right words to say to his parents, and that nothing we say will cause harm to Mauro. While a spanking may be the correct punishment, I pray that dad does not cross the line. We want his parents to be involved with him, be proud of him, to show him attention. He has a brother in kinder (like preschool) and his dad googoos and goes on about the little brother while some days forgetting to pick Mauro up from school. Mauro needs that attention and affection from his parents.