Back to work...

Today was a fairly uneventful day in 4th grade. It was our first, sort of, work day since we mentioned the word TAKS 2 weeks ago. The kids saw the morning note on the board that said, "Good morning! Your morning work is on the back table. You may quietly work with your group. Make your lunch choice," and immediately began their moaning and groaning. "We have to start working again?" I asked if they would prefer taking a test every day rather than working and that got an immediate "NO!!!!!" (Thank goodness! I don't think I could take another day of that for myself.)

Getting back to work did refresh my memory of how I have one kid makes me tense. I don't believe I've mentioned it before but I have one kid in my class that just stresses me out (and I'm not a stress-prone person). He tends to be absent quite a bit and is always tardy. I know it's bad, but I smile inside myself when he's absent and I smile at the thought of him being absent. It's not that I don't like the child, it's that I don't like how the rest of the class acts when he's there. This one kid changes the dynamic of my entire class and I don't like it. They forget how to behave and talk to each other appropriately when he's there. He is constantly narrating what others are doing wrong, but never evaluating his own actions. He stirs up trouble where there isn't any and creates arguing when it should only be talking. He tattles on others when he is not involved and tattles on his own situations, when he's the one to blame. Hypocrite!
I know this kid needs love and stability and while I try to supply that, it's hard when he's constantly at the root of problems. He could easily come in and do his work and take care of himself and worry about how his absences have affected him not learning the same things as everyone else, but he does not. He needs me. What I need is for him to be absent. I feel like I've made great progress with my class since their last teacher, but feel like we've regressed when he's in class.
It's hard...do I discipline and not supply the caring support that he needs because he's causing the class to change their behavior or do I ignore his behavior problems and just love him?
Either one of these options is difficult because once we make any progress, he's absent for no less than 2 days in a row.