Drug Culture and When Principals Smoke Crack on a Public School Campus

I have been around Tampa Bay area public school districts. And I have heard, seen, and experienced some unbelievable shit. As I previously stated, the stress of working in schools has lead me to believe that I need to smoke crack in order to be able to continue working given the existing parameters in schools. But I haven't done it. I don't even smoke weed [which I think would improve my quality of life in public education].

Hell, the students are smoking weed in middle school. They were doing it and selling it right on my campus. They didn't give a fuck. And some said their parents let them do it! They feen and vape in the bathrooms and even right in class under the desks! Their eyes were faintly red and glossy. They had the munchies...going around asking any and everyone for snacks...being slow and goofy. At the previous school I was at in Hillsborough County--an elementary school--the kids were getting contact high being dropped off by their parents in the morning in thick clouds which emanated from the cars: book bags reeked, clothing reeked, lunchboxes reeked...What is the hope for the future?

But back to the crack.

In 2007, the Principal at Van Buren Middle School on 22nd Street in Tampa (this school no longer exists) was caught buying crack on campus. He just wanted a little bit. Obviously, he couldn't wait. He was feenin. What would make someone do something like that? People always point to personal problems outside of school (which is why you shouldn't tell white folks your business at work). But what if it was just the fact that he was principal at a tough school? Is that not reason enough? And if he felt such pressure, what did the teachers feel?

I worked at Van Buren. It was my first school teacher experience in Florida. It was an "urban" school with typical "urban problems." But I had fun there. The teachers were cool. We did out of the box type stuff. The principal was cool. Maybe only cool principals smoke crack. I wish my last principal smoked crack.

Unfortunately, Mr. Crack Principal's life seems to have deteriorated because five years later, he stabbed four people of which two died; then he attacked two people with a hammer; then he crashed into a porch injuring four people; then he hit a boy on a bike with his car, twice, all in one night. This is what you call "rock bottom."

You never know what kind of people principals really are [when they are not putting on a show for the Superintendents]. You just know that the good ones are the ones who are out and about on campus, interacting with staff and students...getting to know people...smiling, shaking hands, hugging, and actively problem-solving. If your principal is always in his/her office every time you randomly pass by--like mine was--then you probably don't have a good principal. Or maybe your principal is just trying to buy a little crack.

Is your principal hemmed up in his/her office all day?