I’d just gone through the new words with them, and the kids were doing a few worksheets to get practice with the words. While they worked, I’d found Brent to be distracted.
That was unusual for him.
For the most part, Brent was always a quiet kid. He kept to himself and stayed focused on his work. I wouldn’t say he was an outcast as he did have a couple friends, but he certainly wasn’t one of the louder, more boisterous children either.
Today, he wasn’t focused.
I could see that he was still working on the first worksheet while the rest of the students were well beyond that.
My gut was telling me that it had nothing to do with the words being too difficult either. Brent was one of my brighter students. I was relatively certain something else was going on.
Unfortunately, without any confirmation from him that there was a problem, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. The last thing I wanted to do was single him out, especially if something was causing him distress.
For the time being, I was going to keep my eye on him. And if the opportunity presented itself where I could talk to him privately without drawing any attention to him, I would.
I didn’t know what his family life was like, but I was hoping I’d be able to find out. If necessary, I’d come up with a project that would get my students to talk about their families. Typically, if there was something to be concerned about, a project like that could shed light on it.
When the time was up for spelling, I allowed my kids to take a quick stretch break before we moved onto our next lesson. The rest of the morning flew by, and before I knew it, I was walking my students down to the lunch room.
Once I had them all there safely, I made my way back to my classroom. I ate my lunch and tried to get through a few emails, but my mind drifted back to Brent. At that point, I decided it was best to answer only the pressing emails and leave the rest for later. Following lunch, I took a quick bathroom break before heading back to get my students. We were back in the room for only a few minutes so the kids who had lunch boxes could put them away.
My class had their special right after lunch, and today was library for them. We immediately made our way there. Occasionally, I would head back to my room, but today I decided to stick around. I wanted to keep my eye on Brent.
While I didn’t have a moment to chat with him alone, I wasn’t disappointed about it. Because while I observed the kids in the library, I noticed that Brent’s demeanor had changed from the morning. He was whispering and laughing with one of the kids he was friends with as they walked around the library searching for the book they each wanted to take out for the week.
After library, we were back in the classroom. We had a short math lesson, which resulted in me giving them one worksheet to do for homework. Following math, it was their favorite time of the day.
Recess.
“If you’ve got a light jacket, make sure you put it on,” I instructed from the front of the room. “Then we’re going to line up.”
Once all the kids had their jackets on and were lined up, I took them out to the playground. We hadn’t even been outside a full ten minutes when I heard a quiet voice call from beside me, “Miss C?”
I turned to see Brent standing there. “Yeah?”
“Is it okay if I run inside to use the bathroom?” he asked. “I forgot to go after lunch.”
My face softened. He was such a sweet kid. “You may walk inside. Come back out here when you’re finished,” I advised.
“I will.”
With that, he turned and walked back toward the building. I split my attention between my students that were outside running around and Brent. I wanted to make sure he made it back into the building.
A few minutes later, Justine Kelly came walking out. Justine was another third-grade teacher. Her classroom was right next to mine.
She walked right up to me with a concerned look on her face.
“Hey, Adele, you’re going to need to go in,” she said. “Principal Lynch is waiting for you in your classroom… with Brent.”
“Brent?” I repeated. “He asked to go to the bathroom. Is everything okay?”
She shook her head. “My students are in music class right now, so I’ll stay out here until either you come back or they send another teacher out here.”
I dipped my chin and did the opposite of what I told Brent to do. I didn’t walk.
When I walked into my classroom, I saw Brent standing at the far side of the room with his back to me. Principal Lynch walked up and explained quietly, “Justine saw him walk past her classroom before she heard him come in here. She waited a minute and he never came out, so she got concerned. When she walked in here, he was in your closet and was filling his backpack with food.”
My eyes shot to Brent.
He came in to steal food?
“I’ll leave this up to you to decide how you want to handle it,” Principal Lynch went on. “If you want to write him up for detention or—”
“No. Not at all,” I cut him off. “I’ll take care of it. Thank you for waiting with him.”
As soon as Brent and I were alone, I closed the door and walked across the room toward him.
“Brent?” I called.
He turned around to look at me. I saw nothing but shame and regret in his features. The poor kid was struggling not to break down into tears.
“It’s okay,” I immediately told him.
“I’m sorry, Miss C,” he mumbled as he looked away.
“I’m not mad,” I assured him.
Surprise came over him. “You’re not?”
I shook my head and sat down at one of the desks. “No, I’m not. But can you tell me why you snuck in here to do that?”
After a long pause, he admitted, “I’m so hungry.”
“Didn’t you eat your lunch?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I only had the sandwich,” he explained.
“Sandwich?” I repeated. “I thought today’s lunch was popcorn chicken.”
He nodded. “It was. It was the chicken, and it came with macaroni and cheese, carrots, and a banana. But I couldn’t have that.”
My brows pulled together. “Why not?”
Brent’s eyes went to the floor. “I didn’t have any money left on my account,” he answered. “So, I could only get the cheese sandwich.”
Suddenly, I was very, very angry. I did my best to tamp it down before I asked, “Did you eat breakfast this morning?”
He shook his head.
“When was the last time you ate before the cheese sandwich?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice as gentle as possible.
“Yesterday we went to church. There was a special meal afterward. I don’t remember what it was for, but we stayed after church for that.”
This poor kid.
I looked up at the clock. I was pretty sure we still had some time.
Standing up from the desk, I walked over to my desk and opened the drawer with my purse in it. I pulled out my wallet and said, “Come with me.”
Cautiously, Brent walked toward me. Then, I led him out of my classroom and down to the cafeteria.
When we walked in, the last of the kids were walking out.
Perfect timing.
I went up through the doors that led to the space where the children were given their meals. One of the cafeteria workers was still there.