Juvenile Detention Student

It was my first year
teaching in NYC
in 1999.

In the middle of the year,
a tall African American teen
walks into my class.
He shows me his schedule 
and he is in my class.

Nothing unusual,
half my students are
African American,
the other half Dominican.

When I ask where he 
came from,
he says from Spafford.

I later ask my union 
representative 
"What is Spafford?"
I am told it is 
a junenile detention center
in the Bronx.

The next day I
ask the tall new student
why he was sent to Spafford,
he tells me, 
"In my last school,
I punched my teacher
in the face."

I look at him and say,
"Welcome to
my class."

The kid sat in the back
of class and never
gave me any problems.