How I "Threatened A Teacher’s Life"

At Upper Darby High School, whenever you didn’t participate in gym or wear a gym uniform or sneakers you received a mark against you. The only way to get rid of these marks was to go to gym make up. Gym make up was basically an after school boot camp full of fat kids, loners, losers, and people that just don’t care. You may think I would be lumped in with the fat kids but no, I was one of the kids that just didn’t care. Gym make up was HORRIBLE. The gym teachers would make you run drills, sprint 50 times back and forth across the gym, and run laps. It was very physically intense. You’re basically making up for missing a gym period.

So because I’m lazy and hate moving around, it’s safe to assume I had lots of these marks. I’d go to gym make up and endure the pain. Depending on the teacher that day, some would go easy on the kids that obviously couldn’t. I was one of those kids that just couldn’t do 100 jumping jacks.

One day my teacher informed me I should do gym make ups because I had a few marks. So, I did and that particular day there was a gym teacher I’d never seen before, Miss Jeannes. What a lovely woman she was -_- She worked us like we stole something from her. She was TOUGH. One portly black girl started coughing a lot. She lay on the floor for a while and continued to cough. She then walked to her bag and took a puff of her inhaler. “Ok you took your inhaler now get back out there” Miss Jeanne screamed at the girl. “But I’m not supposed to be moving around once I take it” the girl replied. She was very shy, soft spoken, and still coughing. Miss Jeannes gave her a look. “Well you can participate or leave” she barked.

“I really need to make this class up.”
“You can participate or leave.”
“But I…”
“Participate or leave!” The crazy lady screamed. The girl was holding back her tears. She grabbed her bag and left.

We continued. We had to do laps around the gym and I was getting short winded. I couldn’t run anymore so my running slowed. “YOU! Pick up the speed.” “I can’t ma’am. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m fat.” “Pick up the speed or leave!” I tried my hardest but my fat ass just couldn’t do it. “LEAVE! Just LEAVE!” I looked at the clock. There was only 5 minutes of gym make up left. 

“Miss, there are only a few minutes left…”
“I SAID LEAVE!”
“Do I still get my credit for this?”
“NO NOW LEAVE!”
“But miss…”
“PLEASE LEAVE NOW!”

She was serious. Gym make up had halted as she screamed at me.

“NO! I’m not leaving! You’re not going to kick me out 5 minutes before we’re done! What the hell is that!?”
“If you don’t leave right now…”
“Can you just tell me why you’re going to kick me out when I’ve been working my ass off trying to complete this?” 

She ignored me and told the rest of the students to continue. I was FURIOUS! I know I shouldn’t have talked back or cursed at her, but I was angry. I walked out the gym and found the asthma girl sitting in the hall. “She kicked you out too?” She asked. “Yup.” I said as I walked to the door to take the trolley home. I was so upset. All I could think about was getting into a screaming match with her. I felt bad. I have a huge problem with authority but I do try to respect people. So, I did the grown up thing; I walked back to the school so I could apologize and see if I can still get the credit.

I make my way over to the athletics office. I knock on the door. No answer. I knock again. No answer. Maybe they left for the day. I slowly open the door. Miss Jeannes is the only one there. I step in to speak. Her eyes get HUGE!
“Hi. I’m John Dancy I was in your class…”
“GET OUT!” She screamed more frightened then angry this time.
“I just want to apolo…”
“GET OUT! GET OUT NOOOOOW!!” She SCREAMS at the top of her lungs.
“Woah, I’m just trying to…” She jumps out her chair away from me.
“YOU BETTER GET OUT NOW OR…OR…” She runs towards me and darts out the door. She begins walking very quickly down the hall. Almost running. I follow behind her VERY confused.
“Did I say something wrong?” I’m walking fast trying to keep up with her. “I was trying to apologize for my behavior.” She continues to ignore me and makes a dash for the freshman center. I stop and decide to just go home.

The next day, I was called down to the sophomore center (I was a junior but because I transferred, I was in a sophomore homeroom [I’ve technically never been a junior in high school]). They called my dad and (white) step-mom and told them I was being suspended for 5 days for “threatening a teacher’s life.” The idea was laughable to me but I guess as a big black man it seemed plausible to them. So my parents came up. I’d explained to them the night before the gym teacher’s behavior and even told them I yelled at her.  We laughed at it “Think about it JayDee, she’s alone in her office and a big black guy comes in. She probably thought you were going to attack her.” We laughed at it.

Me, my parents, Miss Jeannes and the disciplinarian were all sitting down and talking. He explained to them that I yelled at her during the gym make up and then went to her office and “accosted” her. My parents didn’t say a word.  Miss Jeannes then said “I felt like my life was in danger so I calmly left my office and went to get Mr. (disciplinarian).” Again my parents just stared. If my dad was white, his face would be beat red so my step mom spoke. 

“We talked to John last night about this incident. And yes, he told us he was kicked out of class. He also told us that he was disrespectful to the gym teacher. He then told us he went back to apologize and YOU screamed in his face because you were afraid.”
“I was afraid for my life.”
“I get it ma’am. He’s a big black kid. He’s pretty intimidating. But he was trying to do the right thing and apologize to you. Even when you were running down the hall, he was still trying to apologize but you ran away scared.”
“I’m in no way racist.”
”I wasn’t calling you racist. I was only saying that he can be intimidating.”
“Well I was scared.”

The disciplinarian simply looked dumb struck. He didn’t know what to say. I jumped in “Miss Jeannes, I am sorry for my behavior during gym make up but you have to understand I was working my butt off. And to be kicked out 5 minutes before it’s over made me very upset. Both of these people here have taught me to be respectful to adults, so I thought I was doing the right thing by coming back and apologizing. Maybe I should have waited until today.“  No one spoke. The disciplinarian excused me and he continued to talk to my parents and the crazy lady.

I was called down later that day and told that I wasn’t being suspended for 5 days like I was going to be but, instead, I got a Saturday detention for disrespecting a teacher. Score. So, in the end, I won!

I should note that I didn’t go to the Saturday detention because on my way, I realized I forgot my school ID. And without it, I wouldn’t be allowed in. So I ended up getting suspended anyway J