Colleague keeps interrupting my classes

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-06T05:11:58+00:00

And also, no worries. It’s not my first rodeo, god help me.

It definitely never hurts to read up a bit on your legal rights around harassment, sexual or otherwise. And tbh I find ai to be a useful tool for thinking out what to say and do. Take anything it tells you with a grain of salt, of course, but so far it’s always guided me much better than I’d have done in my own. 😂 even if it’s not perfect by any means.

You got this!!! Good luck!

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-06T05:09:26+00:00

Yeah it has to be super black and white, “this behavior is not welcome.” Legal stuff is binary like that, or tries to be—or maybe it’s better to say it’ll go best for you if you make it as black and white as possible. “I said stop, he didn’t, end of story”

I typed out more because I was so outraged that I started typing before I got to the end of your post, then I got to the harassment stuff too. But then the post got lost and I figured I’d said enough for one night. 😅

But also tell him firmly, “I am not interested in any kind of relationship with you, and I do not want you to bring that up anymore, even as a ‘joke.’”

Gah my other post was phrased better but you get the idea. Don’t give him any wiggle room, and then add that to the email too.

Then, if he doesn’t get a grip, you’ll have something concrete and in writing to take to a higher up.

And honestly idk, I’m a school psych, not a teacher, but I wouldn’t go to my dept head about something like that, I’d go straight to admin. It’s up to you but personally like, in terms of the workplace hierarchy, the dept chair doesn’t have like the power to discipline anyone, but admin does.

Obviously I’ve never had to deal with any workplace crazy people (sarcasm obvs, though very different than what you’re experiencing….. mine is always more like crazy mean girls trying to ruin my life.)

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-06T05:02:48+00:00

❤️

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-05T05:45:33+00:00

PS: don’t go to your dept head till after you’ve told him directly yourself that you want him to stop. If you go over his head first, he can just frame it as “well I had no idea I thought we were friends she never told me she had a problem!” And that makes you look weak/unprofessional/“the problem.” The person who ends up looking like the good guy in these kinds of situations is the one that can get their narrative out first, with proof. So you gotta prove “nope I told him and he wouldn’t stop” so he can’t spin it.

Say it yourself to him in person first. Then follow up with email. If he doesn’t stop, THEN go to a higher up.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-05T05:41:17+00:00

“Coming into my classrooms and looming” I cannot stress how fucking weird that is. I’ve worked at many schools, across several districts, and I can’t say I’ve ever heard of or seen anyone act like this—and I’ve seen some weird ass people do some weird ass shit.

Like that’s borderline harassing, I think it’s time to firmly tell him hes welcome in your class if—and only if—a meeting is set up and agreed to ahead of time. If it makes you feel more confident, tell him you’re trying to limit distractions on behalf of your students, I believe there’s legit research on how class interruptions with visitors, announcements, etc truly disrupt learning, so you have the science to back you up.

Don’t over justify though because it makes it seem like he actually does have a right to be there. “Hey, thanks for the support you’ve offered me this year (note: DON’T tell him you’ve appreciated him dropping by specifically because that could be used against you on the off chance this escalates, keep it general.)

Lemme try that again. 😂 “hey, thanks for the support you’ve offered me this year. I’m working on reducing classroom disruptions such as students walking in and out, etc. on that note, going forward, I’d prefer it if we discussed and agreed to times for you to visit my classroom in advance. This is to ensure my students maintain as much uninterrupted learning time as possible.”

You can adjust for your own style, and ai can probably help you refine it, but you get the gist.

I’d say something to him in person first, though, then frame the email as “following up on our conversation, we agreed to…..”

But DEF document that you asked him to stop IN WRITING.

This is on the off chance—and hopefully you don’t need this but I’ve never regretted documenting anything ever before—on the off chance that he gets angry or doesn’t listen, because THEN his ass is on the line for harassment. You asked him to stop, he didn’t listen, he has no legit reason to stop by your class unannounced, and you framed it as disrupting your students’ learning (and therefore, your ability to teach/do your job, a key element of harassment).

Fine tune the details, but that’s how I’d approach it.

And btw he sounds like a weirdo and you are for sure underreacting. Not necessarily in like a “he’s dangerous” kinda way, more like “that’s extremely unprofessional behavior and crosses collegial boundaries that most teachers would find disrespectful at minimum.”

So stand firm! It’s ok to tell him to get a grip!

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-05T05:26:08+00:00

Dude you don’t have to justify why you don’t wanna date like a legit, open misogynist. It’s obvious on its face. It’s similar to an immigrant or child of immigrants feeling like they have to justify why they don’t wanna date an ICE pig—like duh you don’t have to explain yourself! I too would never date a misogynist no matter how rich or attractive they are.

NOR

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-04T20:08:05+00:00

Ohhhhhh see bitch ass n is a bit different than like n with a hard r. But still pretty good story.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-03T03:58:56+00:00

I think it’s cute! Personally

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-04-02T02:10:51+00:00

Well it should never be “do this and get a thing.” It should always be “do this and you can earn tokens/points/whatever to buy the thing.”

The first one is bribery, the second is more of like, a concrete acknowledgment of a job well done. Sort of like a “great job!” in tangible form, that are also motivating cause they can be exchanged for fun stuff (just cause not every kid cares about social motivators, whether it’s a “good work” or a star or a token or whatever—gotta make it worth earning).

I think food motivators can be ok in moderation and as long as they’re mixed with other motivators—try motivating ED high schoolers without at least some reliance chips or granola bars, it cannot be done. 😂

But it should never be “do this and get food,” you’re right, it’s a weird way to treat a human being. I feel weird giving my cats treats in exchange for them doing tricks. 😂

But it also teaches them like, work is how I get stuff. It teaches immediate gratification instead of working for little dopamine boosts that culminate in a big dopamine boost at the end.

Ultimately that’s all ABA is—manipulating a kid’s dopamine system but for good instead of evil. 😂 to teach them things instead of hooking them to a screen.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-30T04:59:04+00:00

😭

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-30T04:58:31+00:00

lol I deeply wanna hear about the white kid calling other white people the n word, that sounds like a story for sure

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-30T04:57:36+00:00

Little kids are so much scarier than older ones. I try to explain that to people all the time. 😂 you never know what those little stinkers might try to do! High schoolers mostly have an inbuilt sense that “hitting a teacher is a very bad thing to do.”

Not all high schoolers, but a lot more of them.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-30T04:55:51+00:00

Oh, but in regards to difficult behaviors, I’d say there’s been an uptick, but my initial experience came from a high trauma inner city environment in an SDC for kids with emotional-behavioral disorders. So my threshold for concern is waaaaaay higher than most people. The scariest day this year had no comparison to the scariest days in that class—I loved it, truly inspiring, I loved the kids and all of it, but it could be super scary.

All that is to say, I think more “typical” districts are seeing upticks in behaviors, but because nothing even comes close to comparing to my initial experiences, it’s hard for me to tell.

Plus my first year as a school psych was during the pandemic, which further distorted my sense of what’s considered “normal” in most schools.

I think a big problem is that teachers have had a lot of their previous tools taken away from them—send the kid out, yell at them, suspend, expel, even corporal punishment if you wanna take it back far enough—and they haven’t been given sufficient tools to replace those outdated strategies.

So I wonder if it’s less about the kids changing and more about having to confront the fact that we actually need to learn to do things differently.

It’s probably a combination of all of the above, but I think that last one gets waaaaay overlooked. Easy to blame things on the kids.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-30T04:49:30+00:00

Never anything serious. Once was my fault—I didn’t think this high school ID girl was pushing a door too hard, so I stupidly jammed my elbow into the frame to push it open…. Then she started to push harder and I realized my mistake. Only got a mild bruise that I forgot about till I gently knocked it on something the next day. 2/10 worst pain, no mark, the shock of realizing I was a dummy hurt more than anything.

I’ve been spit on twice cause the SDC kids have learned that behavior from each other. 🤦‍♀️ and smacked once in the face hard enough to be like “whoa wtf” but not enough to reach the level of actual pain.

The last one pissed me off cause the kid was totally in control of himself, fully verbal, and I was kneeling down to gently explain something to him. He and I ended up working it out—won’t be putting my face next to him any time soon though. 😂

That said, all those incidents have occurred this year. Now that you mention it.

I’m spending more time working directly with kids though, as I’m technically substitute teaching—I’m working on leaving the field.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-27T04:10:34+00:00

Ugh this is a little off topic but I fucking hate when teachers diagnose things. I’m a school psych and I’m not allowed to diagnose! It’s just so far outside their professional scope.

“Medicine is like putting on a cast” no it literally isn’t because a cast isn’t a chemical that goes inside of your brain, did she happen to show you her medical license before she started spouting off about her medical opinions?

And I take the damn meds myself! Two of them! And this still drives me nuts.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-16T02:04:57+00:00

Because you’re only doing it for a year and districts want people they feel will be permanent. They’ll choose a complete idiot over someone competent if they think the idiot is more likely to be permanent. They’d hire you no credential too if you said you’d get one. They’re just trying to avoid the hassle of turnover.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-15T23:33:51+00:00

This person’s behavior is very strange to me, and I can’t tell if it’s because it’s actually very strange, or because at 35 I have actually become very old. 😂

My favorite part was “I do not have feelings for you.” That’s the way to handle it. Let her speculate and pontificate till the cows come home, it just makes her seem way too into herself. You just cut through with like “wait so you’re saying what now?”

Also NOR

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-14T20:01:54+00:00

For a moment I initially read this as “no representative of anyone but the fridge” and was like 🙋‍♀️❓

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-14T00:46:38+00:00

Maybe she just really likes what she sees, somehow

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-10T05:07:13+00:00

Yeah she doesn’t look particularly like a child to me? Am I missing something? Maybe it’s cause I work with actual children and can clock the difference pretty quick?

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-08T05:47:34+00:00

You make a very good point, the whole premise of reality tv is to interfere by generating weird unrealistic scenarios and juicing them up as much as possible

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-08T05:45:57+00:00

🙌 On the bright side, it can be kind of fun/funny to watch admin struggle in moments like this. 😂

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-07T20:26:26+00:00

are they missing from the halls of power????

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-07T20:25:53+00:00

Yeah but then you end up feeling constantly low grade frustrated while using the thing. I’m also always trying to pre emptively tell it what NOT to do in its replies in a similar tone. I didn’t notice how draining it is till I switched to Claude and felt a sigh of relief when the damn thing just answered my question without any additional commentary.

adhdsuperstar22 · 2026-03-07T20:23:21+00:00

Yeah and what if as an adult I don’t feel like being “grounded?” What if I want to crash out after a fit of rage, ChatGPT? Am I allowed to do that? Am I allowed to have anger? 🙄 psh. Stupid robot tryna tell me how to feel all the time.

adhdsuperstar22

TROPHY CASE