The Incident (Chase Barnes Series Book 1) by John Montesano Page A

decide if a further consequence was needed.  Lindsey couldn’t remember a day where she didn’t have to fill one out and her own personal daily record for incident reports, she told me, was seven.  Most were on Esteban but she certainly had her fair share of other guilty parties in her class of six students. 
                  Esteban’s incident report file read like a student’s handbook of what not to do in school.  He had a fight with someone on a weekly basis.  Stole portable video game consoles out of classmates’ book bags.  Threw pencils at staff and students.  Broke three windows.  Not only ran out of the class but the school building at least five times.  However, it was indicated that Esteban never got farther than the staff parking lot behind the building when he ran out.  Vandalism.  Inappropriate sexual and drug related drawings in art class.  Flipping tables and desks.  Punching a water fountain until it broke from the wall.  Hitting computer screens.  I started to see it as comical and laughed to myself.  But I tried to suppress the comical thoughts and push more sympathetic thoughts to the front.  A kid with this much anger and aggression really must have a rough home life, I thought. 
                  What I found to be most comical was what was written in most of the sections of the incident report that asked the writer to describe what initiated the incident.  I could tell, from her handwriting, that most of these were filled out by Lindsey herself.  And most of the initiated behaviors were reasons, such as: “Esteban didn’t feel like doing math today.”  “Esteban was bored so he got up and walked out of the room.”  “Esteban didn’t like the way Brandon turned around and looked at him.”  “Esteban didn’t get to go first in Connect Four.”  All very justifiable reasons for the aforementioned aggressive behaviors. 
                  Kids like Esteban have difficulties processing what others might deem to be infantile situations.  Their only way of dealing with situations, regardless of the level of complexity or frustration, is to act out violently.  More often than not the violence is a learned behavior from the people that surround the child themselves.  The kids who exhibit a gang mentality tend to have some exposure to parents or siblings who have direct gang ties.  (In this case Esteban’s older brother seemed to have a track record of drugs and possibly some gang ties.)  The kids who are highly aggressive and immediately resort to punching, kicking or spitting on someone as an initial reaction are usually victims or witnesses to such behavior outside of school.  The Right Step School’s design is to work with these students on their social and community skills and expose them to various positive community environments as a way of improving their skills.  I remember Lindsey struggling severely to fully comprehend the functionality, or lack thereof, of her students.  She struggled severely her first year at The Right Step School but through rigorous training and professional development she was able to learn strategies to handle all types of situations. 
                  It must’ve rained overnight because the grass had puddles randomly splashed around the backyard.  I was rinsing out my bowl and throwing my yogurt cup in the garbage can when my phone buzzed.  It was Lindsey.  Her text read: Esteban’s not in school today?!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    First Journal Entry:
    September.
    Paterson!                            Jake?
    7-11 Robbery?                            Where did the gun come from?
    What the hell is going on?
    When is Jake coming home?  Is he coming home?
    This shit isn’t for me.  Can we trade places?  God, what I wouldn’t give to trade places with Jake right now.
    Who’s