Sunday night students were LOUD, rocks were thrown at the kitchen that evening after their evening meal was delayed an hour because of mistakes in the kitchen. Most students seemed happy with the delay which translated to less time for preps, and satisfied with the late meal but we spent all evening listening to loud noises from students through prep time and constant noise from the girls compound (right next to our yard). I went to sleep with this constant noise and both David and I had very bad dreams. I woke up still sick to my stomach with that on-edge feeling, and we heard more rocks had been thrown and staff were not venturing from their on-campus houses, or if they were, were carrying improvised weapons.

Monday is a day full of meetings - a staff meeting which incorporates all almost-thirty of us and a following leadership team meeting. Staff meeting was intense - a full hour of teachers complaints, fears, and requests regarding out of control students. So much of what is happening now centers around our problems in the kitchen, but also around David’s newness in the position of Headmaster. Students are testing him and they are testing his relationship to the staff. They are trying to turn one against another just like kids try to appeal to their Dad when their mom says no or vice versa. It’s so much harder to communicate well and stay on the same page, though, when there are 350 kids and 30 parents!

Monday afternoon’s leadership meeting led to a decision to suspend the entire s2 class for three days; effectively removing the majority if not entirety of the trouble makers for a forced “time out”. Though David called in police officers to monitor the students as they left our gates, there was a very calm departure. It’s hard to imagine that we have called in the police over our sophomore high school students, but perhaps it’s helpful to realize that many of these are males around the age of 17, big boys who have been raised with significant physical violence.

Today s2 students will return with their parents for a brief parents meeting. Some students may subsequently face expulsion for their behavior. In a boarding school where we must care for and monitor students 24/7, and where the student/staff ratio is at about 13 adolescents for every adult, acts of defiance and disrespect have to be treated seriously to maintain safety for all involved. Students who have demonstrated a clear and consistent pattern of defiance will be expelled to protect the environment for other students. All of this is touchy, difficult and of course sad. Pray for us to love families through these sad changes, to testify to the love of God through discipline. Pray for a spirit of peace to invade the campus of Christ School.

Long-term, our desire is to identify problem students early, not so that we can “mark” them as issues to be dealt with (as we informally do as a staff now) but so that we can do our very best to meet their heart needs in a way that satisfies their sadness, their angry and their disrespect. This week I met with a Mabwise who will soon graduate with a degree in Social Work and who is interested in joining our teaching staff next year with a side job in student counseling. Pray that God will guide opportunities like these and expand the “tools” in our “toolbox” for dealing with the hearts of students.