Dahlia's Revenge

It had all become too much.

Mrs. Rod was known for having good rapport with her teenage students. She balanced the pressures of classroom teaching with the ever-increasing policies from an inept administration and school board that consistently piled on more work without taking anything away. She never took out her stress on the children in her classroom and gave them frequent redirections to correct their behavior before relying on help outside of the classroom from parents and principals and security. Her kids tried to live up to her expectations because of that rapport and trust she had built with them.

But they’re teens. They make mistakes. And they can be quick to turn on you. Or each other. That was something Dahlia Rodriquez had forgotten in the decades since she had been a teen. She had forgotten about mean girls.

One day everything was fine.

Then her mother had a stroke and was admitted to the hospital. Then hospice. Then two weeks later, Mrs. Rod was an orphan as her dad passed the year before from cardiac arrest. Her mother had been having TIAs for a while and no one knew. She blamed herself. She should’ve checked in on her more. The fine balance she had been maintaining with all the stressors in her life crumbled, and she lost herself.

Mrs. Rod was at work the day after her mom died. She had nothing to do that day. Her family was meeting with the funeral home the day after and making all arrangements then. She decided she couldn’t just stay home and grieve. Plus, it’s easier to teach through pain and sickness than make sub plans. It would take her the whole day to get the work ready to be out for her bereavement period. It was a mistake though. She should've stayed home. The following email was sent out to all teachers:

Subject: IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED: Flagrant Disregard for Electronic Device Policy

To the Faculty,

My recent walkthroughs reveal a disturbing and utterly unacceptable level of insubordination regarding our electronic device policy; let me be unequivocally clear, it is not a suggestion, as I personally witnessed students brazenly using phones behind their teachers back in multiple classrooms, a direct affront to rules that apply to every single classroom, without exception. For those requiring a remedial lesson in basic classroom management, students are absolutely forbidden from having personal electronic devices out or earbuds in (unless explicitly for Chromebook assignments) during class, and failure to enforce this will result in an immediate Assistant Principal visit and documentation as insubordination under local policy, serving as your final, and frankly, unnecessary, warning.

Howard Mercer

Principal

The tone of this email was very upsetting to Mrs. Rod. She was barely holding on emotionally and didn’t need a mass reprimand that didn’t apply to her. Her students respected her and followed the rules. After reading the email, she got up to monitor her students' independent work, and there she was, Lacy, one of her sweetest students sitting in a desk right in front of the door’s window playing on her phone.

“Lacy, can you please put your phone away for me please?” she asked.

“In a minute,” Lacy responded. What happened next the students referred to as Mrs. Rod “crashing out.” Initially, she tried to explain the principal’s email and eventually projected it on the screen, so they could see where she was coming from.

“Fuck that bitch,” Lacy exclaimed. “And fuck you too if you try to take my phone.”

“Lacy, I have never confiscated anyone’s phone because I have never had a student refuse to follow the rules when reminded. I certainly have never had a student just cuss at me like that.”

“Oh my god, we cuss in here all the time and you never say anything,” she said while rolling her eyes.

“That’s not true! I ask students to stop cussing all of the time, but no one has ever cussed me or another student out,” she defended herself. It was true. She would ask the class to please stop cussing and the typical response was to apologize and stop. The problem was it was so much a part of their daily teen vernacular that they didn’t realize they were cussing. In her class, no one had ever cussed another person out. Her other students backed her up on that.

“Well, I’m not giving you my phone,” Lacy declared.

“I never asked you for your phone. I asked you to put it away,” Mrs. Rod explained. “I told you why I was specifically enforcing the rule at this moment and showed you the evidence. I have never treated you disrespectfully and don’t deserve to be spoken to this way. I’m just going to assume you are having an off day. My mother died yesterday, and tomorrow I must plan her funeral with relatives I do not get along with. Now, I am asking you to please put your phone away.”

“No,” Lacy replied defiantly. “Just because you’re having all these problems doesn’t mean you can take it out on me.” Dahlia had had enough and went to her desk to call security to remove the phone or the girl and her phone per local policy.

“Damn,” she mumbled to herself.

It was at this moment, when her back was turned as she dialed that Howard Mercer looked in her room and saw Lacy on her phone and the email he sent displayed on the screen. Dahlia never saw him, and security removed a screaming, cussing, tiny, almost 18 year old, blonde student who threw her phone at the security guard after failing to kick him. Moments later, a secretary showed up to monitor her class because her AP wished to speak with her.

“Mrs. Rodriquez, two days in a row, Mr. Mercer has witnessed students in your classroom using cell phones. That is insubordination,” Mr. Summers stated. Failing to understand, Dahlia responded:

“The insubordination has been taken care of,” she explained. “Security came and removed the child.”

“I’m talking about your insubordination,” Mr. Summers informed her.

“I have never been insubordinate,” she refuted.

“You have allowed students to use their cellphones in class which is against our local policy as set by the district, Mrs. Rodriquez,” he pointed out.

“I have not!” she retorted.

“Mr. Mercer himself saw a student in your class on a phone yesterday and again just now,” he replied.

“Mr. Summers, you are the one I called to report that my mom died yesterday and know that I took the day off! If I was insubordinate by crying at her bedside while waiting for her cold, lifeless body to be transferred to the funeral home, then I just don’t care.”

“Oh, that’s right,” he responded sheepishly. “Again, I’m sorry for your loss. However, that doesn’t absolve you from today’s incident.”

“The incident where I told a student to put her phone away and she refused and cussed me out so I called security?” she asked.

“Was that this class period?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Then yes,” he replied. “Mr. Howard observed you at your desk instead of monitoring your students while a student played on her phone.

“That’s when I was calling security!” she exclaimed. He ended the conversation when the bell rang stating he would look into it. Then the following email was sent to all staff:

Subject: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! PHONES AGAIN?!

To the Faculty,

I just finished my walks, and I swear to God, EIGHTEEN of you had students on their damn cell phones! EIGHTEEN! "Disappointing" doesn't even come close to describing this absolute farce. For those of you who've been running your mouths about "documentation doesn't even mean anything," I'm attaching the policy—yeah, that policy, the one that spells out exactly how your contract can be non-renewed when you can't even manage basic classroom control. And for the pathetic few who love to read my emails to your students, make sure you tell them it's your job to follow and enforce the rules, instead of whining and blaming administration for your own colossal failures. I'll be back out there doing more rounds today.

Have a "good" day.

Howard Mercer

Principal

Dahlia Rodriquez went back to her classroom and cried. As the students for her next class filed in, they told her they were sorry her mom died and offered hugs and support which made her cry more. She did feel better though. This is what it’s about. Teaching students to be good citizens who have empathy as well as learning the content and skills she teaches. She wasn’t even mad at Lacy anymore. She had never behaved that way before, and they had a good relationship. Lacy talked to her all the time about troubles at home with her mom, troubles at school with boys and her friends, and troubles at work with her demanding manager and annoying coworkers. They chatted like friends. Dahlia decided that today’s incident wasn’t really about her. Something else must be going on in the student’s life. When she got home, she had a margarita, and then another and another as she told her husband about her day. She forgot about it all the next day while dealing with real world problems–planning a funeral for your mom.

It did not go smoothly. There were five siblings who did not agree on anything. As they bickered in the funeral home, old resentments were brought up and rehashed and the director had a hard time getting them to stay focused. There were tears, screams, and a couple of slaps. In the end, cremation with a celebration of life was decided upon. It was a simple solution that took so long, they had to send out for lunch. The celebration of life was on Wednesday, but she took the entire week oof for bereavement. There were a lot of meetings that didn’t have resolutions, and everyone was disappointed to learn that the oldest son was named as executor. He had been out of state for decades and only spoke to his mom at Christmas.

When Dahlia returned the Monday after, she read the following email from the Friday before:

Subject: ENOUGH WITH THE EXCUSES! YOUR JOB IS TO TEACH, NOT SIT!

Good afternoon,

Let's cut the crap about "arguing the cell phone documentation." I don't have to waltz into your room and babysit you, pointing out every single student glued to their phone. That's called active monitoring, something clearly missing in the majority of classrooms I'm seeing, where teachers are apparently glued to their own desks while students run wild. The documentation stands, because guess what? It's your damn job to actually monitor your students. And just so you know, it's not just me out here; the district office is doing their own sweeps. If they catch your students on phones, they'll report it straight to admin, and that documentation will hit your file faster than you can say "insubordination."

Solution? Try actually doing your job: set expectations with your students and actively monitor your classroom. It's not rocket science.

This angered her all over again. She sat in her car a few minutes before entering the building to cry. Her mom wasn’t perfect, but she loved her dearly. She had forgotten about how hostile her workplace had become and started crying again out of frustration. Just then, her evaluator knocked as he walked in.

“We need to talk,” Mr. Summers announced.

“This isn’t a good time,” Dahla said as the tears streamed down her face.

“I’m sorry but it cannot wait. I have been instructed to immediately inform you that you have been placed on a growth plan,” he smirked.

“What?” she stuttered in disbelief. She was known for being a solid teacher. Her students did well on the state-mandated high stakes tests. Her colleagues always pulled strings to make sure their kids got in her class. She had never had any disciplinary actions before. Just some directives to stop being so aggressive towards refs at student games. She just had a hard time sitting quietly when she perceived unfairness and let the referees know what she thought about them. “Why? What for?”

“It was brought to our attention that you cussed out your class and a few parents have filed complaints,” he stated.

“I have never…” she said as he cut her off.

“We already conducted an investigation and determined that the allegations are true,” he informed her.

“When?” she demanded.

“That’s not something I can discuss right now,” he claimed. “Make an appointment.” She had never had to make an appointment before. Mr. Summers had cut into her time needed to prepare for the day. She came in early, but now it was too late to make copies. She tried to quickly upload a lesson in to Quizizz, but as usual, her computer was too slow to get anything down before the students arrived. First period was her favorite class and she was looking forward to seeing them. As they filed in, she stated:

“Log in to your Chromebooks,” she instructed. “I’ll be ready in just a moment.” When her computer finally cooperated and she looked up, her students were seated and staring at her without their laptops on their desks.

“Please get out your Chromebooks,” she repeated.

“Fuck off, bitch!” one of her best students said.

“Brandon, what is wrong?” she asked, shocked.

“Just cuz your mom died, doesn't give you the right to crash out on Lacy,” another student stated.

“What are you talking about?” she demanded. While she was away, Lacy and her mom had built a campaign against her. Neither appreciated the fact that she called security to have Lacy removed from her class that day. By the time the incident was over, two SROs assisted the security guard in escorting the child who would be an adult in less than a month to the principal’s office, Lacy had slapped one SRO in the face and kicked the other one in the testicales which escalated the situation to an arrest caused her to spend the weekend in juvie. All of this was Mrs. Rod’s fault for telling Lacy to put her phone away. Lacy and her mom had told everyone that she didn’t just mumble the word “damn” but had yelled at her to “Go to fucking hell, you dumb ass bitch!” According to the duo, that was just the beginning of a degrading and cruel tirade. Lacy convinced her friends in class to go along and even paid a few to add to the alleged vitriol.

By the end of the week, the damage was done. Every student who was interviewed backed up Lacy’s claim. By the end of her first day back, Dahlia had essentially been forced to resign and not have her contract renewed at the end of the year. She would receive a good recommendation if she resigned and stayed to teach to the end of the year. Reluctantly, she accepted.

But she was livid.

When Lacy’s class rolled around and she saw that smirking bitch’s face, Mrs. Rod crashed out.

“Well, look who it is,” she said after closing the door. “The little bitch who cost me my job.” The class gasped and Lacy looked shocked.

“Why do you look so surprised?” she continued. “According to you and your minions, I cuss you out all the time. Let me tell you what I really think.” The real vitriol began.

“...and finally, get some help for your daddy issues. The boys only like you because you are so easy to use. You let them fuck you and dump you then repeat showing no self-esteem at all. All those hours you spent complaining about them just exemplified your failed attempt at manipulating anyone. Your personality makes you unpleasant to be around. I invested so many hours trying to help you be a better person, but you fucked that up. No one really likes you. Certainly not the boys who climb between your legs then ghost you until they want back in. Oh, and another thing, you are the problem at your job. Every day you complain about everyone else, but it’s you. You constantly whine and complain and try to pawn your work off on other people, and then complain about how controlling your boss is when in reality, they are your boss and are supposed to tell you what to do. All year long, I viewed you as someone broken who needed an ear to be listened to and encouragement to blossom. You are actually just a worthless piece of shit who deserves the consequences heading your way.” Then she sat down and played on her phone. She was already fired and knew there were no subs to take her place until the end of the year.

“Damn,” a student muttered.

Lacy stared with her mouth open for quite a while looking pale.

“Fuck you, fat bitch,” she finally yelled. Mrs. Rod smiled and dialed one of the SROs.

“Lacy needs to be removed from class again,” she said, smiling. This time she was much more compliant when they came to remove her. As she was walking away, Dahlia looked her in the eye, smiled, and flipped her off. Lacy started screaming and flailing and accidentally hit the officer she previously kicked in the balls.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he said as he pulled out his handcuffs.

Dahlia Rodriquez, former teacher, testified at Lacy’s trial. Her mother’s frequent outbursts caused her to be removed from the courtroom where she kicked the bailiff in the testicles.

Howard Mercer couldn’t be fired after his degrading emails had been published in the local newspaper and every social media outlet, but he was demoted to a lower paying district position where he was not allowed to be anyone’s supervisor. No one wondered who leaked the email