My First day at work, at the detention center

By Brad Hall

I've been a substitute teacher in Duval County for four and a half years. I have taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Until today, there was one level I had never taught at, and that was at a juvenile detention center.

I had always wanted to sub at one, just once, just to see what it was like. In college, I took a few criminal justice courses. One culminated in a field trip to a juvenile detention center.

Before setting out to today's assignment, I made sure to pack my Club to lock on my car's steering wheel. I'd hate to have my car stolen, again.

I was prepared to have a bad day with unruly students and general bedlam and madness for seven hours. When I arrived at the facility, I parked my car, clubbed my car, and walked up the sidewalk to the main (massively locked) gate. On the gate were various signs and warnings, such as “lock all vehicles.” One sign said you could only venture inside with your identification and car keys, which would be confiscated upon walking in the door.

I walked back to my car and deposited my cell phone in my glove box. As I pondered whether or not to leave my lunch and copy of “The Essential Works of Marxism” (there was a category on JEOPARDY! last night about Marxism, so I decided to catch up on my Communist Manifesto, in the end I should have brought Mao's Little Red Book, but I digress) in the car, another person arrived and asked if I was the sub for the day and that I could bring in my lunch.

We walked in, I signed the sign-in sheet, handed over my keys, received a small metal token to trade for the keys at the end of the day and started down the corridors and locked doors to the classrooms. I glanced to my left at one point and saw a small cafeteria, there were students eating and talking.

During the walk, I found that this facility was built to accommodate around 25 students/inmates, but currently only 18 lived in the facility. All boys, no girls. The grade levels for those involved ranged from middle school to high school. Some students were locked up for stealing cars, others for robbing gas stations, or other similar offenses.

We made it to the classrooms. There were three portable units around a basketball court. Around the facility was a fence around 15-20 feet high, and this was topped with a set of razor wire.

At around 8AM, my class arrived, only about 9 students. There were three teachers in the classroom. Myself, another teacher, and, well, the third one I would say was more of a security guard than a teacher. My class was a combination math and science class.

The students worked mostly on a computer system, reading text and then answering questions. I had a few handouts for students who had finished their computer work or was waiting for a computer to open up. I worked with a few students on division and other math exercises. The computers were not connected to the Internet.

Before long, a call came on the radio that it was time for lunch. The guard took the group to lunch. After lunch, I received a second group of students, though a few students from the first group remained. The after lunch time seemed to go faster than the time before lunch.

At no time today did I have a problem with any student, no one whipped out a cell phone, no one complained that they had done an assignment before. It was quiet.

During the quiet, I thought. “These students probably have it better now, than many other students.” They have three hot meals every day, they're warm in the winter and cool during the summer. They have a bed with clean sheets and blankets. They have clothes.

I was told that last school year they even had a student who passed the FCAT. No, that doesn't sound right. How about this, last year they had a student who took the FCAT and got every single question right. He aced the FCAT, completely. I was asked, “How many students do you know that have done that?”

In all, it was a good day. I'm looking forward to going back.