Ellie looked up from the filing she was doing to see Gloria
walking into the office.
“Tardy?”
“Yep. I’ve reached my ‘absolute limit’ so here I am to ‘see
the principal about my lack of respect’ and I guess find out if he has any
extra laying around that I could borrow?”
“Did you tell her about the bus?”
“Do you think she cares?”
“Probably not.”
“Ellie, you can get back to your work, Gloria, Mr. Jacobson
will see you now.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Ellesworth. See you at lunch?”
Ellie smiled, “Yeah, I’ve got something for your mother too.
Remind me.”
“Girls, you can chat later.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Ellesworth.”
Ellie got back to filing records.
She had needed an extra elective credit for the semester and working as a TA
for the main office was fun. For her anyway. Except when she saw Gloria coming
in almost weekly for being late to her first class. Then it was just
frustrating.
“Gloria, I see you’ve reached the end of Ms. Erickson’s
patience. Have a seat and let’s figure this out.”
Gloria sat down facing Mr. Jacobson and waited for the
lecture and punishment that was coming her way.
“So why were you late today?”
“The same reason why I’m always late when I’m late. The bus
was behind schedule.”
“And as this is a recurring issue, is there an earlier bus
you could take.”
Gloria sighed. “I tried that. If you look in my record,
you’ll see what happened.”
Mr. Jacobson paged back a few pages. Gloria’s attendance
record was lengthy. “The police were involved?”
“Yes, the earlier bus gets me here a half hour before the
main office is open, so I had to sit outside and wait. Apparently, teenagers
waiting outside an empty school an hour and half before first bell are
suspicious, so someone called the cops. They came and made me sit in their police car
waiting until Mrs. Ellesworth got here and vouched for my identity. I guess my
student ID wasn’t enough. So now I just hope the bus won’t be late, though I
know it will be on Fridays and that’s just something I have to deal with.”
“Why do you know it will be on Fridays?”
“Fridays are Mrs. Hornby’s shopping day.”
Mr. Jacobson shook his head, “I’m sorry?”
“The reason the bus runs late some days is because Mrs.
Hornby needs more time getting on and off the bus. She uses a walker and moves
pretty slowly anyway. When she has to get on and off the bus, we have to get
her walker on, then help her on, then get her settled and get her walker
stowed. Then we have to do it all in reverse when she gets to her stop. It adds
about 10 to 15 minutes to the route, which makes me about 5 minutes late. And
she always does her shopping on Fridays so I know that day I will be late. But
she also rides other days if she has errands to run.”
“What do you mean we get her settled?”
“We, like me and the bus driver, some days that’s Louie and
some days that’s Maria, they alternate schedules, and whoever else is riding
that day. We all help out. It takes a village and all that.”
“I think the expression is it takes a village to raise a
family.”
Elle just looked at him, “Yeah. That’s what I said.”
“So, you are late on Fridays by about 5 minutes and then
sometimes on other days as well, depending on Mrs. Hornby’s schedule?”
“Yes.”
“And how long has this been happening?”
“Since the first Friday of Freshman year.”
“So why am I just hearing about it now, at the end of first semester
Junior year?”
“Well because normally I just have to have my attendance
sheet signed by Mrs. Ellesworth but now, I’ve reached the end of that road and
Ms. Erickson sent me to see you. And because before this year every other
teacher I’ve had for first period has understood and realized that nothing
happens in the first five minutes of class anyway. Ms. Erickson is the only one
who decided it was unacceptable and I needed to find a way to fix the issue.
Which I tried. And then…”
“The police.”
“Yep.”
“Okay, so how about this? How about we look at changing your
first period next semester?”
Gloria smiled, “I tried that at the beginning of this
semester. Because of my math and science classes this is the only time I have
to fit in world history. Once you are on the AP track you don’t have as many
options to shuffle your schedule. No offense to your hiring practices, but I
would never have kept Ms. Erickson as a teacher if I had any other option.”
“You’ve really tried to fix this issue with no luck.”
“Yeah, I have. I know she doesn’t think so, and thinks it
should just be easy to fix, but things aren’t always an easy fix.”
“Okay, I have one more suggestion. Is coming in on the
earlier bus something you can do easily? It’s an awfully early start to the day
and I know a lot of you kids would rather get that extra sleep.”
“It would be fine, I’m up early to have breakfast with my
mom before she leaves for work. I just don’t want to be stared at by the
neighbors or have the police called on me for coming to school early. And I
can’t just sit in a coffee shop and wait, if that’s going to be your
suggestion. They don’t let you stay if you don’t buy something.”
“No, no that’s not it. You know Mrs. Grambling?”
“The librarian? Yes, of course.”
“We’ve been given a grant to redo the research section of
the school library, but it is turning out to be a massive undertaking. There
are books and magazines and articles that need cataloged. She needs help and
time to complete this. We’ve added a zero-hour teacher assistant class period
to work with her on this project. Would you like to be added to that list of
students? It would work out with the earlier bus arrival time, you’d get
credit, and you’d be on time for your first period without issue.”
Gloria couldn’t believe it. She had expected to get
detention, not a solution, and a solution that sounded great. More time in the
library? And get credit for it? “Yeah, I mean, yes, please. I’d really like
that.”
“There are only finals left for this semester. Are you going
to be able to make it those on time?”
“Yes, sir. I’m actually staying with Ellie Sunday and Monday
so I can get here on time no matter what Mrs. Hornby does. I do try to make
sure I’m not late. It just doesn’t always work.”
“I understand. I really do. I think we’ve come to a good
solution. See Mrs. Ellesworth on the way out and she will have a late pass for
you, as well as your new schedule.”
“Already?”
“I figured you would take the opportunity when it was
presented.”
“Did you talk to Ellie about this already?”
“Well, she might have mentioned that it wasn’t exactly fair
that you constantly get tardy slips while a couple other kids in your class are
allowed to come in late without issue because they bring Ms. Erickson coffee.”
“I wouldn’t have said anything about that.”
“And you didn’t. But your friend Ellie is, well...”
“Not able to keep a secret? Yeah, she’s not.”
“I find her honesty to be refreshing. And helpful. I mean
look at this, we fixed your scheduling issue, got a chance to get to know each
other a little bit better and also managed to get you out of a study period
that I don’t believe you really needed.”
“So, if you already knew what was happening from Ellie why
did you ask me?”
“I appreciate Ellie’s forthrightness, but I also want to
make sure that I give everyone a chance to tell their own story. She knew you’d
like the library idea, but what she believes she knows and what someone else knows they believe might
not be the same thing.”
Gloria nodded, “Well for what it’s worth, if Ellie tells you
something about me, you can take it as true. She knows me better than anyone
else does.” She thought about telling him that Ellie also thought he was the
best principal they’d ever had, but she didn’t. Ellie might feel compelled to
always talk, but Gloria still thought some things were better left unsaid.
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