28- Turd Boy

It may seem like most teacher stories turn out to be a little heartbreaking, but they’re not. I spend most of my day laughing with the students, watching as they happily learn from one another (and sometimes me). There are many, many good moments, but it does seem like the times I want to write about are the times that leave me feeling troubled. That’s why today is reserved for Jorge’s story. Jorge, who will forever be remembered as Turd Boy.

Turd Boy comes from an abusive home in the projects, where he is raised by two parents who are addicted to crack. His parents do not feed Turd Boy, so he is constantly getting caught trying to steal food from other kids at school. He then hoards this food in his pockets, saving it to eat at home. Turd Boy has one friend in school, a girl named Lauren who has Down Syndrome. Lauren’s parents have sent in many letters, requesting that their daughter not associate with or sit near Turd Boy. So far, no one has bothered to honor their requests.

Although he is in my homeroom, Turd Boy is rarely in my classroom. He, just like Demarcus, has many learning disabilities and spends most of the school day in the Resource classroom. They are mainstreamed into my classroom only for Social Studies and Science. Today the resource teacher filled me in on some long overdue background information about Turd Boy.

He craps in his pants several times a week, always on purpose. This explains why sometimes I smell an awful stench in my classroom, but can’t quite figure out the source. There is nothing mentally or physically preventing Turd Boy from using the bathroom facilities. Emotionally, he is deprived of attention- specifically love. When Turd Boy poops in his pants, he receives lots of attention. It may not be a positive reaction, but he gets noticed.

Usually, when he has an “accident” the resource teacher sends Turd Boy to the nurse. If the mess is bad enough, Nurse will ask Turd Boy to remove his underwear. She sends him back to class “commando style” and then washes and dries his underwear in her office.

There are unfortunate days when Turd Boy relieves himself while his underpants are being cleaned.

Depending on what he has eaten, Turd Boy may leave presents behind. Last week, when Turd Boy relieved himself in my classroom, he was not wearing any underpants. The turds were able to just roll out of his pant legs onto the floor. Coach told me that this also happened last week during a basket ball game, and that I should be prepared for it to happen again in my classroom.

The whole situation is gross. I feel terribly guilty because Turd Boy always comes up to me for a big hug and now I don’t want to touch him. Today I just sort of patted his head and the steered him in the other direction. I talked to principal about the incident and she assured me that The Department of Social Services was “looking into it.” She also promised that I would never have to clean up turds again, and that if Mr. Love would not clean it, she would do it herself.