An Awkward Position: The New Teacher

[GuardianWolves]

John looked at the class and then said "alright, how about we take a break for a bit and let you girls get rid of some of the energy, go ahead and have some free time yourselves for a bit and then at 10:30, we'll start on the next lesson, okay? If any of you girls need to go potty, come up and tug on my shirt or raise your hand and I'll come over to you to let you go, okay?" He told them as he sat in the teachers chair that was nearby the board and let the girls have some fun on their own for a bit.

[Ishigreensa]

The girls gleefully broke into their regular groups of friends and started to play.

Erica Johnson seemed to be the only girl that didn't have any friends in the classroom, and so sat off by herself, drawing on the back of an old worksheet.

No one came up to the teacher or asked for the potty while he let them play.

Before they knew it, another class had been taught, and then it was time to teach PE.  On Monday, he was supposed to take the first graders, so he first had to drop his third graders off at the library for library time.

Then, he had to stop by the first grade class area to collect the first graders.  Now, none of the first graders were allowed to leave his sight when they were at the gym, not even in pairs, so the only way he could prevent a possible potty accident, was to take the first graders to the bathroom before PE and then again before dropping them back off at their class area....

[GuardianWolves]

John went to the first grade area and picked them up saying "Hello first graders, I'll be your PE teacher, my name is John, feel free to call me whatever you wanna call me. I think what we're gonna do is have you all take a potty break before and after the PE class, okay?" He told the class and started walking with the girls to the designated area for their PE, on the way there though, he stopped off at the bathrooms and let the girls go inside and use the potties if any of them needed to. He would then have taken them to their PE changing area and had them change into their PE clothes and meet him back outside the locker room before walking them to the PE area and told them that they were gonna be playing kickball and started dividing the kids up into two teams.

[Ishigreensa]

The forty first graders walked with him and did what he told them, going to the bathroom on the way to the lockers and then stopping in the locker rooms.  They were first graders though, and none of the substitutes had them change because they didn't think a substitute should have to supervise kids getting ready, so they always played in their regular clothes.

One of the girls stopped outside the locker room and looked up at the teacher.

"We never wore our PE stuff before," she said.  That wasn't quite true, but it had been quite sometime since they had and she probably just forgot about it.  The teacher at the first of the year, had had them wear them for maybe three weeks or so before she quit.

Another girl came out of the lockers, and she was only wearing her shirt and a pair of panties.

"You gotta come in and help.  Alyssa can't get her overalls off," the girl said.

The girl that had stopped to tell the teacher they never dressed for PE before went in and looked for her locker thinking the teacher was going to come in to help the kids.

One of the girls was trying to put her PE Shirt on backwards, and he would see that if he followed the girls in to help the girl in overalls.  It was likely that if Alyssa had needed help, she probably had not peed in the potty before PE class either.

[GuardianWolves]

John came into the locker room and went over to Alyssa to help her get her clothes off and then helped her to get changed into her PE clothes and then saw the other girl that was putting her shirt on backwards and helped her get her clothes on the right way. Once he had helped all the girls that needed help, he reminded them to use the connecting bathroom to the locker room and then told them to assemble outside of the locker room when they were ready so that they could go and play some kickball for their PE Class. Of course he would have them warm up and do some exercises first so that they could be all loose and limber and play at their very best and have fun doing it as well.

[Ishigreensa]

The girls all had fun playing kick ball, and eventually came back in to get their clothes on.

The girl who had overalls tugged at him and whispered up at him.

"I need help."

When he went with her into the locker room, if he did, he would find she wasn't the only one that needed help.  Most of the help they needed, was in many of them not yet being good at tying their street shoes.

[GuardianWolves]

John went into the locker room with them and then helped Alyssa back into her overalls and then helped her tie her street shoes and did the same with the other girls. He hoped that he wasn't gonna get in trouble for doing this, but the girls had asked for his help and since there was no assistant PE coach with him, he was gonna have to do this whenever any of the girls needed help with getting changed into their PE clothes and back again. If they had accident then he would help them the best he could where they have their accident and then take them to the nurse's office to get changed into clean clothes before coming back to the rest of the class.

[Ishigreensa]

(Luckily, today, no one wet, but he can't leave the class alone, remember?  He'd have to let the girl play in her wet clothes until he can take the whole class back to the main building and drop her off at the nurse on the way to taking the class to their classroom).

The girls didn't notice anything wrong with him helping them though, so at least for this class, he was safe from getting into any trouble.

When he had his class back together in their homeroom, and it was time to start getting ready for lunch, he saw a notice on his desk.

This afternoon, please talk to the girls about their October trip and visiting the Haunted Village.  The trip will be on the 29 this year because the 31 is on Sunday.  Tell the girls what you expect of them, and what they can and can't wear for the event.  Please, no masks.

The girls came into the room, and immediately went to the sinks installed there at one end to start washing their hands before sitting down and waiting for the teacher to make any announcements before taking them to lunch.

[GuardianWolves]

"Alright girls, I have an announcement, we're gonna be taking a trip on the 29th of October to see the haunted village, I expect you girls to be behaved and nice while you're there, be on your very best behavior and make sure not to leave any of your classmates behind no matter what. As far as what your allowed to wear, your allowed to wear your Halloween costumes, just do not wear anything that can cover up your face and or anything dangerous that could hurt someone else okay? The reason we're going on the 29th instead of Halloween is because the 31st is a Sunday so you'll be trick or treating on the weekend with your families. When you girls get back from trick or treating, I want you girls to do show and tell with the kind of treats you got from your trick or treating, so don't eat the whole thing all at once, okay?" He told them.

[Ishigreensa]

The girls squealed in delight when he talked about the Halloween trip.  The kids at the school always looked forward to that trip, and these girls, being in the third grade this year, this would be their first time of ever going!  They had only had one other trip, the one for September this year, and with the substitute that they had, the substitute was so scared of losing them, that they had to stay right next to her and couldn't really have any fun at all.  The class thought, by the way he told them not to leave any classmembers behind, that he was going to actually let them enjoy this one!

It took a bit to settle the girls so he could tell them his other expections about not covering their face or bringing anything dangerous.

And before he was done explaining things, it was time to take the class to lunch.

All eyes looked up at him as they waited to see what he would be like in getting them ready for lunch.

[GuardianWolves]

"Alright come on class, let's all get lunch, go ahead and line up 5 girls in one line and 5 in the other line, walk side by side with each other as we go down to the lunch area for you all, okay?" He told them as he was assuming that the school had a separate lunch area where they got their lunch and then went to eat at some tables that were designated for them and just waited for the girls to get into the lines that he had told them to do and when they did, he would take them down to get some lunch.

[Ishigreensa]

The girls looked confused at him.  This class had 12 girls in it.  It was a bigger class than most of the classes.

Eventually, they worked out that he had miscounted, so they made two lines of six in each line.

Then, as he predicted, they all went to get their lunch and then sat at a designated area, where he was at the head of the table.  As this was an extra large class, two girls had to sit at the other end in plastic chairs since the regular tables only sat five on each side.  Luckily, the table was wide enough, that at one end, two girls could comfortably sit side by side and eat without disturbing each other.

While eating, Donna Jo suddenly raised her hand to get John's attention.

[GuardianWolves]

John got up and went over to the girl who had raised her hands and got down on her level and asked her "what's wrong Donna?" He then waited for her to try and either whisper into his ear or tell him in front of the others what she needed. If she was gonna ask to go to the bathroom, he wouldn't be able to take her by himself, he would have to wait until the rest of the class was done and they all were gonna go to the bathroom as well. He just hoped that she wouldn't be too mad at him if this was the case.

[Ishigreensa]

Donna Jo pointed at Ericia who had her hands in her lap and wiggling in her seat.

"She's gonna wet her pants," Donna told him.  "She often wets during lunch.  The substitutes usually yell at her for it in front of the class, but isn't that mean?  Is it okay if she wets her pants, or are you gonna be mad if she does?"

Before he could answer, the whole table started to hear the tell-tale sound of water pouring over the girl's seat and to the floor around her.

"Look!  She's doing it," Donna said.  "Please don't yell at her?"

[GuardianWolves]

"Why would I wanna yell at her if she couldn't help it. I'm not supposed to leave you girls alone for any reason, even to go to the potty, so I have to make sure that the entire class is finished before I take her to the bathroom." He told her as he looked at Donna with truth in his eyes and then went over to Erica and told her "It's okay Erica, I'm not mad at you whatsoever, I know you couldn't help it. You needed to go potty but knew that the rest of the class had to be finished before you could be taken, so it's okay, I'm not gonna yell at you. But I can't take you to the nurse's office until the others are done, so even though I hate to do this, I'm gonna have to have you stay in your wet clothes, I know it's not the best feeling in the world and you wanna get out of them right now, but unfortunately I can't make that happen right now, okay?" He told her as he tried to comfort the poor girl.

[Ishigreensa]

"I.. I don't mind being wet," she whispered looking up at him.  "Only that other people don't want to be near me, and that someone might yell at me or make fun of me for this."

She smiled at him when he said he wasn't mad and talked like he understood her situation.

"I can see the nurse after everyone eats and goes to the bathroom?" she asked him.

At one end of the table, he could hear one of the girls telling some others....

"Looks like Leaky Erica did it again...."

Angela had been taught by various other substitutes, because they said nothing about it, and because they even yelled at Erica themselves, that it was okay to make fun of anyone that didn't make it to the bathroom in time.

[GuardianWolves]

"Yeah, you can see the nurse when they're finished eating and done using the bathroom." He told her as he heard the girls telling some of the others bad things about Erica and went over to the young girl and got on her level before calmly telling her "it's not very nice to make fun of others Angela, so please don't make fun of someone when your at school and in my class, okay? The reason I say that is because what if it happened to you and everyone else was making fun of you for doing that a lot, would you like it if someone made fun of you for something that you couldn't help or wasn't able to do right away because you have to wait and you couldn't wait anymore? I don't think you'd like that." He told her "so, next time your gonna say something mean about someone, think abut how they would feel okay?" He told her as he added "this is gonna apply for everyone, not just you, but if you or anyone else makes fun of someone for not being able to make it to the bathroom on time, then your not gonna be able to participate in a fun activity when the rest of the class gets to okay?" He told her as he looked at her with serious eyes.

[Ishigreensa]

"But we're third graders," Angela told him with a sad frown.  "We not apposed to do that kind of things anymore.  She not apposed to be a baby or unless she need a doctor and a diapers...."

The other girls listened to the exchange wondering why he thought it was okay for them to have accidents.

[GuardianWolves]

"Yes, your right your not supposed to do something like that anymore, but just because someone isn't supposed to do it anymore, doesn't mean that they have trouble controlling it, whether they want to or not and that doesn't mean that you should make fun of them for it either." He told her as he asked her "if someone asked you to make fun of your mom for something that she wasn't supposed to do, that she couldn't control, would you do it?" He asked her.

[Ishigreensa]

"But my mom would never do something like that," Angela said a little confused by his logic.  "But if you don't want me to tell her that it's funny and bad, then I won't do it no more.  I just thought she should know it was bad and weird to do."

The other girls listened carefully to the conversation.

"I don't wanna see the nurse," Erica said.  "Cause then my dad will find out.  Is there something YOU can do, Mister?"

[GuardianWolves]

"I wasn't trying to say that your mom would do that kind of thing, I was just trying to help you understand that it's not very nice to make fun of others for things they can't control. But just because someone else says it's okay to do, doesn't make it right, so yes please don't do it anymore, okay?" He told her as he went to Erica and said "I don't know if I'm allowed to take you to a place where I can change you without the nurse giving you a call since I could get in trouble for doing such a thing if your dad were to find out." He explained to Erica, wishing that there was something he could do to help make sure that she was comfortable again and he didn't wanna make her wear her wet clothes like that all day long.

[Ishigreensa]

"I... I understand," Erica said.

When it was time, the girls lined up hoping he was going to take them to the bathroom.  At least two other girls were holding themselves like they were about to pee right then, but somehow, managed to hold it for now.

Angela whispered with some of her frienda.

Erica wondered if there was some other way to hide what she did, and to hide from her teacher, that she didn't see the nurse, but looking at the mess in her pants, she knew that it was unlikely anyone would ignore it.  At first, they might think she peed again, but then Angela could likely point out those are the same pants and get her in trouble with the teacher.

[GuardianWolves]

"Alright, we are gonna go and take you all to the bathroom and then you all can play in the classroom before we start the next lesson." He told them as he waited for them to get into their line and and then walked them to the bathroom and waited for them as he also tried to figure out a way to help Erica since she had wet her pants and she was afraid of going to the nurse because of how she would be seen by her parent.

[Ishigreensa]

Angela waited for everyone to rush into the bathroom, and then she walked up to the teacher when she thought no one was looking.

"Erica is usually dressed in lost and found clothes when she wet wets herself," she told him.  "And I've seen the nurse when I was sick before, and I don't like the nurse.  Maybe if I go to the lost and found and get her some clothes while you are here with the class, I can get her something to change into, and we are close enough to it, that you aren't really leaving me alone.  See?  The office is right there!"

She smiled at him.

"Then you could send Erica into the bathroom and have her change her pants in there, and then, I don't know, hang her pants up somewhere to dry for when she goes home and not get in trouble with her parents for wetting at school or something?"

[GuardianWolves]

"Okay then Adriana, go and get her some clothes from the lost and found and then come right back okay? Me and Erica will be waiting right here for you, okay?" He told her as he sent her on the way and asked "did you know you needed to go before we went to lunch?" He asked her hoping that he was right about the hunch that he was thinking in his head and that hunch was that she didn't even know she had to go until she was sitting down and eating and only felt it halfway through the lunch period and therefore wasn't able to hold on through lunch until they could get to a bathroom on time.