Anxious/need advice/ venting
Hey guys, so I work as a LTS middle school teacher in a low-income school. I’ve been working there for a few weeks now and have still not gotten an email or laptop despite repeated follow-ups. So I’m one of the main teachers who monitors recess, and since I don’t have any sort of email, I’m not told anything about whether it’s indoors, where the students are supposed to go, and if the aux gym is available. So I’m exhausted after dealing with so many behaviors during the class before I’m flustered trying to figure out where to take these kids, and the gym teacher says the aux gym is available, but I need to put the equipment away first. So I get into the gym and tell the kids to please put those balls down so I can put them away, then again, and again 6x until I’m literally yelling. Then directly after saying it right in front of him, one kid, who had been extremely disrespectful to me and the other teacher just blatantly ignores me and keeps doing it. At that point, I had enough. When I try to grab the ball off the gym floor before him, he starts yelling at me and getting right in my face trying to square up. I responded by puffing out my chest and was yelling to stop and put the ball down. The me puffing out my chest pushed him, and now he’s saying I put hands on him. I made sure to report it to the proper people, and I’m hoping the camera backs up my story, but now I’m second-guessing everything and wondering if I’m remembering things the right way. I need my job right now and like having a consistent place to go to and have been forming good relationships there with staff and students. Should I be worried? Has anyone else experienced similar events in similar schools? Note: In this school, the students are out of control, and there are fights in there at least once per week. Someone please help me out.
Posted May 6, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC