The lesson in this is learning is far more valuable than some people believe. These kids made so many mistakes that it is clear there was no thought to learning, or even to realize how much they didn’t know.

We took our students to Washington DC for their 8th grade trip. Before heading home, we stopped in Baltimore Harbor on a bright Friday morning. Love being by the water, seeing all of the boats, and experiencing an area developed for people to come and spend some time. Caught the dolphin show followed by some lunch which left us with an hour or so of shopping time.

I was standing outside the food court when I heard one of my students screaming curses. I watched two boys leap a set of bushes right in front of me, then turn jogging up the walkway. My student was chasing them but could not make the leap, so remained stuck behind the bushes. He yelled after them, “You better run,” then returned to go inside. The boys who were running came back to the bushes where I was standing, and picked up two binders with their names on the outside. Yes, I read them and had their names before they could walk away.

They also didn’t realize that we had 250 students with 24 chaperones in the Harbor area, so that I was not just an innocent bystander. I went inside and found out that one of the boys had reached into the pocket of our student right after he stuck the change in there from buying his meal.

After quickly going back outside, I tucked in behind the thieves on the walkway, until they decided to run for it. My goal was for them to leave my kids alone so I chased them until they ran across a busy street. After a 45 minute trip to report the incident to the police, I returned to the same building where another student told me the boys were back.

Walking up the stairs I saw that they were perched outside of the bathrooms, definitely up to no good again. They saw me, turned, and headed for the only other stairs which led to an exit. After sprinting down my stairs I was about 20 feet away when they came out their exit. This time they realized I was on to them.

Again walking by the water, I was able to grab a second teacher to follow them with me. Within a minute a police officer on a bicycle came along so we told him we were the ones who reported an incident and the boys were right in front of us. When they saw the cops, one boy handed something to the other one, who sprinted away as the first one tried to run but more police had arrived to block him. Apparently one thing that he had learned was that if you get caught, do not have a weapon.

Since it was a holiday weekend as the officer explained, the boy would not get out until Tuesday. Two more details. The boys were wearing school polo shirts so that the school was notified, and the amount of money taken was $1.20. This is not a typo, one dollar bill and two dimes was all that was in the pocket.

I have known students who have taken this path. Just 4 years Zayveonte stopped coming to school and was shot in Atlanta two weeks later. Makes me sad to consider where these boys are now.

Have a Happy Friday but more importantly, say hey to a kid who may not realize that you care.