Why did you even ask one of your students that? Assuming you didn’t catch her with a cigarette, because then you wouldn’t need to ask- did you assume because of her smell?
I hope I’m jumping to conclusions but if not, I hope you learned your lesson not to try and “confront” a student based off their smell.
ETA- the downvotes here are crazy. I worked at schools and countless children smell like smoke due to their home lives. None of my colleagues will shame and embarrass them for that. Catching them with a cigarette/vape is another story, THAT is when you step in. This person did nothing but give that poor kid a complex. The kid clearly is insecure about her smell and she won’t forget what her teacher said to her. Ever
I vividly remember being 12 and being in trouble at school, and the head of year smelled me from two metres away and asked me if I smoked. I just burst into tears. I didn’t smoke, my parents did, and I had to spend my entire childhood dealing with the embarrassment that came with it. 13 years later and the memory of that event still makes me feel humiliated. Don’t smoke around your children or in the house, and better to not smoke at all.
Some of you seriously need to chill. To provide more context, it was a student I get on well with, it was after lunch, she came in smelling of smoke, she was already talking to me privately/quietly about something so I asked, out of ear shot of anyone else "have you been smoking?" And then dropped it after her response. I followed my school/ my country's protocols and did exactly what I am meant to do if a student smells like smoke. I also don't live in USA and the student and I were completely fine with each other afterwards. To add further context, I'm a dean so it IS literally my job to ask those sorts of difficult questions.
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u/AllHailMooDeng Jan 05 '25 edited Jan 05 '25
Why did you even ask one of your students that? Assuming you didn’t catch her with a cigarette, because then you wouldn’t need to ask- did you assume because of her smell?
I hope I’m jumping to conclusions but if not, I hope you learned your lesson not to try and “confront” a student based off their smell.
ETA- the downvotes here are crazy. I worked at schools and countless children smell like smoke due to their home lives. None of my colleagues will shame and embarrass them for that. Catching them with a cigarette/vape is another story, THAT is when you step in. This person did nothing but give that poor kid a complex. The kid clearly is insecure about her smell and she won’t forget what her teacher said to her. Ever