Taking on the teachers, by Josh Meltzer

The week of trash-talking was enough.  The teachers felt beaten down. 

“All we’ve heard this week is, ‘Ya’ll are too old,’ ‘You’ve got arthritis,’ ‘You’re too slow’, and “You’re going down,’ says instructional assistant Deborah Graham.

To help relieve stress among both students and teachers as SOL testing and the school year near their end, Breckinridge Middle School administrators held a faculty v. student basketball game one recent morning between classes.  For the next hour students and teachers relinquish their assigned roles and become fierce competitors.

Knowing that many of their students had substantial court experience, the teachers have come prepared.  Wearing red t-shirts silk-screened with nicknames like Terminator, Hammer or Macho, the faculty knows a few plays and even has an organized cheerleading squad.

One by one, Graham introduces the students, who draw a roar of applause from their classmates, and one by one, as she introduces her fellow faculty, the student section boos loud enough to nearly drown out her voice.

The students want to win, but the teachers know they have to win.

“We have to beat them,” says Ann Swank, a 7th grade science teacher.  “That way they know who’s the boss.”

Just after halftime, as student and teachers are substituting players, faculty team coach Sue Bias, a health and P.E. instructor, comes close to receiving a technical foul for arguing a call with the referees.  She’s warned and the game goes on.

“Take it away from ‘em, trip ‘em, whatever!” yells Swank as the end nears.

As they predicted before the start, the teachers win, 29-19 in the four-quarter game.  Several complain that they’ll be sore for a few days, and technology teacher William Birdlebough is nursing a bloody lip, after colliding with a student.

For that hour, and as they line up to shake hands after the game, they aren’t students and teachers, but peer competitors, both vying for the bragging rights for at least another year.

“This makes us human to the students,” Swank says.  “Normally we’re just those people up there in front of the room.”

And in an instant, it’s game over and back to class as principal Ashia Jones takes the mic to usher the students back to their normal roles.

Add a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)