Suspension of Disbelief

It is a pity to say that there are days that can be summed up in a moment, but today was one of them. This morning, before all the kids had cleared out of the breakfast line in the cafeteria, one of my students was on his way home. He got the day off before it had officially begun.
Abner has an impulse problem, and today that impulse problem had him kicking another student. For No Good Reason. I'm not sure exactly what the good reasons for kicking someone might be, but he didn't have one. Not being able to control one's impulses does not count in the big book of Reasons. Stack that on top of being disrespectful and defiant to the assistant principal, and you have a solid case for a one day suspension.
Normally this would have weighed heavily on my conscience, as I tend to make my kids' problems my own, and I feel responsible for their actions as a reflection of my teaching methods and classroom management. This was different. All the ugliness had taken place before I had even seen him this morning. Perhaps at some deeper level, he was commenting on the efficacy in my classroom, but that may be giving him a little too much credit.
In his absence, the rest of the day sailed by. That's not to say that every student in the room operated at the highest level, or I didn't have to raise an eyebrow here and there, but the ones that were left made it through without major incident. It wouldn't be fair to say that Abner is the sole cause for the discontent in my class, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that there was a little fear in the kids who remained. Blood in the water, and all that.
Today there was one less voice, one less needy whine, one less bell to answer. It might be too much to ask for another outburst tomorrow morning. That would be wrong, but I've seen what we can do without Abner. Now we need to see what we can do with him.