Today I had the counseling department take a girl out of my advanced English course because there is no way she would be able to pass. (If you are two books behind by the second week…. yeah, no.) I made this decision. I just decided that this person is off the advanced/honors track for my school. It is technically possible for her to get back on it later, but it is pretty rare. For the record, she wanted out and told me so–this wasn’t done against her will. But I made the call that caused this to happen because counseling wouldn’t listen to her. I just influenced her potential acceptance to college. Holy shit. I’m mostly aware that I do this when I assign grades, but I really believe that you *earn* your grade. This was a different thing.

I also made the decision to allow three more students into honors track because if they don’t go into my class they don’t go into honors. (We are terribly over-crowded.) I am allowing them to overload my class past my contract limits because I’m freaked out by the fact that I decide whether or not these children are looked at for admission into future honors/AP classes.

And I discovered last year that if a kid wants into any AP class with a focus on writing on my campus they need the approval of their English teacher. I have turned kids down. There have been several kids who have tried to get into AP classes but weren’t allowed because *I* judge their skills to be insufficient.

Holy shit. I’m The Man.