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Erin inquired further. “What’s the purpose of that, considering Kleinton has maintained the same school taxes for the past decade, at least?”
“Jumping right in, I see,” Julia joked. “Well, as you know,” Julia began in her teacher voice, the one that called attention and put her in the spot of authority, “we’re allowed a budgetary increase up to 3%, which we haven’t done in some time. We’ve had an increase in enrollment numbers. In response to this, we needed to address the necessary demand for more faculty and spaces to teach those students. We all understand the benefit of lower-class sizes.”
“Completely understandable.”
“Yes, it is. Of course, we have a plan to reduce the budget threshold again once we can secure funded grants. This is just a transitional period.”
Erin nodded, writing down notes to analyze later.
“What do you have to say about the teacher who was suspended without pay last school year, and then fired after allegations regarding texting underage students?” Erin asked it in a cool voice that mimicked a reporter, but her face didn’t match what should have been cool serene. A mix of concern and regret masked her as if that was the last question she ever wanted to ask.
Julia gasped in utter disbelief. She didn’t wait for a response or explanation. She’d be the last person to condone such behavior. The teacher was found innocent at the end of the grueling investigation, and text message history even proved it. Two senior students failed their final and instead of taking summer school before graduation, they came up with a lie. The rumors ran too deep, and the board forced Julia to release the teacher of his duties with a severance package. It was Kleinton’s image, after all.
Julia couldn’t help but let her emotions color her words.
“I would ask you, would you want to be judged the rest of your life based on our character in that bathroom many weeks ago?” Julia tried not to flush the color of Erin’s lips. “That one simple action could be grossly misinterpreted. That teacher did nothing wrong other than rightfully fail two students. He should still be here, but he’s unemployed with no chance of ever getting another job in education because no publicity is better than bad publicity for KHS.”
Erin’s eyes widened in astonishment as she absorbed Julia’s reaction. Her voice grew more pointed and harsher towards the end, momentarily forgetting who she was speaking to. Julia couldn’t help but carry the weight of guilt upon herself. She should have fought the board harder–should have reminded them that their integrity was more important than the bad press.
“I’ll note that,” Erin said with a nod, looking down to scribble something on her paper.
“No,” Julia pleaded, shaking her head and pressing her hand onto her eyes. “Please don’t include that. Just say I had no comment or that it has already been addressed.”
Erin raised her gaze, lines of concern etched into her skin with a thin marker. “I’m sorry I had to ask that,” she sighed, her voice soft and quiet. “There are some things that are under my prerogative, and there are those I have to. I’m sorry.”
Julia believed her. She didn’t know why. All she knew was that she did.
Erin asked next about department overtures, after-school programs, and remediation efforts. The last, mostly the focus of her interrogation. She asked about her involvement in the teacher preparedness mentoring program, as well as teacher retention strategies. They reviewed the cost per student of after-school sports and whether budget lines should be increased or decreased based on outcome. They analyzed regents scores and scoured over students’ grades. They found chemistry was the lowest of all scores.
“What’s your plan?”
“My plan?” asked Julia, already exhausted from Erin’s relentless line of questioning already. She was cute as a button, but holy hell, could she beat information out of her.
“To increase Chemistry Regent scores? They’re a huge component of your academic profile,” she explained, but Julia already knew all that.
“Our Chemistry teacher was one of our early retirees. We just onboarded our new hire, and fortunately, she’s a new, younger teacher. She has some incredible curriculum ideas, which we believe will contribute to significant improvements.”
“What are those ideas?”
“Well,” Julia paused as she desperately tried to recall what the teacher previously said, “I don’t quite remember the specifics.”
It was such a long couple of weeks. She barely remembered if she ate anything that day, let alone what was expressed dozens of interviews later.
“So, you only know that she has ideas?” Erin pressed on.
“Yes.”
“How do you know they’re any good if she is so new?”
“I don’t,” admitted Julia. “I trust that she will find her way and make a positive impact. She has a supportive mentor to guide her, and she just needs some time to adjust.”
“I think you should consider a more concrete plan,” suggested Erin, closing the notebook in front of her.
It really wasn’t a suggestion. She crossed one leg over the other, her pants pulled tightly across her thighs–the entire essence of a woman who meant business.
Julia wasn’t one of those people who hated being told she was wrong. She wasn’t one of those educators who thought she knew it all. She knew she didn’t, and that wasn’t a weakness.
When she was younger, her parents marveled at her buried beneath the sheets, absorbed in the stories bursting to life. They were convinced that maybe she had fallen one too many times as a toddler, jostling something loose in that beautiful mind. That wasn’t the case. She just fell in love with the feeling of absorbing words, as if each page held a gateway to an entire world of escape.
