From September, 1963 until June, 1970 I was the art teacher at Waterloo Junior Hugh School in Howard County, Maryland. Somewhere in that time we became Waterloo Middle School, and sometime later, when I was long gone, the school was torn down to make way for a new road.
Many of the experiences, and the stories I was to use for the rest of my life, stemmed from my time there. It was a great place to experience life and to enjoy teaching. I owe most of the rest of my life to those times.
I was on a free period one spring day, probably in 1965, when I wandered into the front office to say hello to the school secretary and see what was going on.
I heard a commotion coming down the hall, and I want to the office door to see what was happening. Running toward me at full speed was Mike, an 8th grader with a great sense of humor and a wiseass for sure. I liked him and was able to easily deal with him in class. He saw me and started screaming, “Help! Mr. Greenblatt, help me!” I was startled,. “What’s wrong?”
He told me that a substitute teacher, a retired Army Colonel (I think) was after him. No sooner than I had gotten him into the front office to calm him down than the retired Army officer came running, at full speed yelling, “I’m making a citizen’s arrest!”, and he lunged for the student.
The student lunged for me to protect him; I fell backwards trying not to be killed by both of them and backed into the principals’ door.
The three of us crashed through the Principals door; first there was me, falling backwards, the student hugging me and the substitute, clinging onto the student.
We were a human sandwich, and the Principal was on the phone with the superintendent of schools!
I scrambled to my feet, smiled and mouthed quietly that it was not my issue and got out of there as quickly as possible.
Many of the experiences, and the stories I was to use for the rest of my life, stemmed from my time there. It was a great place to experience life and to enjoy teaching. I owe most of the rest of my life to those times.
I was on a free period one spring day, probably in 1965, when I wandered into the front office to say hello to the school secretary and see what was going on.
I heard a commotion coming down the hall, and I want to the office door to see what was happening. Running toward me at full speed was Mike, an 8th grader with a great sense of humor and a wiseass for sure. I liked him and was able to easily deal with him in class. He saw me and started screaming, “Help! Mr. Greenblatt, help me!” I was startled,. “What’s wrong?”
He told me that a substitute teacher, a retired Army Colonel (I think) was after him. No sooner than I had gotten him into the front office to calm him down than the retired Army officer came running, at full speed yelling, “I’m making a citizen’s arrest!”, and he lunged for the student.
The student lunged for me to protect him; I fell backwards trying not to be killed by both of them and backed into the principals’ door.
The three of us crashed through the Principals door; first there was me, falling backwards, the student hugging me and the substitute, clinging onto the student.
We were a human sandwich, and the Principal was on the phone with the superintendent of schools!
I scrambled to my feet, smiled and mouthed quietly that it was not my issue and got out of there as quickly as possible.
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