فصل سی و هفتم

Chapter 37

The meeting between Carla Davis and the Concerned Parents Organization was held after school in room 8, a second-grade classroom.

Carla sat in a chair that was too small for her and faced the parents. She crossed her ankles and folded her hands on her lap. The five members of the school board sat behind her. The principal sat next to her, at the teacher’s desk.

Bradley’s mother wasn’t there. She was out with Bradley, shopping for Colleen’s birthday present. Since she didn’t have any complaints, she didn’t come to the meeting. The only parents who came were those who had complaints.

“I’d like to know what we need a counselor for?” asked a father. “Kids have enough counseling. What they need is more discipline. If they’re bad, they should be punished!” The other parents clapped their hands.

“We need to get back to basics!” said a woman. “Reading, writing, and arithmetic. And, of course, computers.” Her husband had a chart that showed that if the counselor was fired, there would be enough money to put a computer in every classroom.

Everyone got very excited about that idea. They all loved computers.

“No one is being fired,” said the principal. “The purpose of this meeting is to give you a chance to ask Miss Davis questions.” “She told my son it was good to fail!” shouted a woman standing under a poster of an octopus. “She told him grades didn’t matter.” “I never said it was good to fail,” Carla calmly replied. “I simply tried to help him relax. Children learn better when they’re not under pressure. They do better when they can enjoy school.” “My son doesn’t go to school to have a good time,” said the woman. “He has to get good grades so he can get into a good college!” The principal reminded the parents that Miss Davis wouldn’t see any of their children without their permission.

“But why should our tax dollars pay for her to counsel other people’s children?” one of the mothers complained.

Several other parents agreed.

A woman with red hair stood up. “My daughter came home with one of those forms for us to sign, and we refused to sign it. We didn’t want her seeing the counselor. We try to give her all the counseling she needs at home. But then we found out the counselor’s been talking to her anyway.” “What’s your daughter’s name?” asked the principal.

“Colleen Verigold.”

Carla admitted that she had seen Colleen without her parents’ permission. “Colleen came into my office very upset and said she had to talk to me. She said it was an emergency.” “What kind of emergency?” asked the school board president.

“It was something very personal,” said Carla.

“But what was it?” asked the school board president.

“I’m sorry,” said Carla. “I never repeat anything a child tells me.” She knew Colleen wouldn’t want everybody to know she had gone into the boys’ bathroom.

“You’re not supposed to see a child without her parents’ permission,” said the school board president. “Now if it was an emergency, then you might have been justified. But we have to know the nature of the emergency.” “I’m sorry,” said Carla.

“You can tell me,” said Mrs. Verigold. “I’m her mother. If there was an emergency, don’t you think I should know about it?” “Ask Colleen. If she wants to tell you, she will. I can’t break my promise to her.” “But Colleen’s just a child,” said a member of the school board. “You don’t have to keep promises to children.” “I do,” said Carla.

“She’s been trying to make her change religions,” said Colleen’s mother. “Colleen came home from school and announced she didn’t want to be Catholic anymore. She wants to be a Zen monk!” Carla laughed, though she knew that was a mistake. She tried to explain about saying hello back to someone who says hello to you, but nobody seemed to understand what that had to do with being a Zen monk.

“You’re not allowed to teach religion in public school,” said the president of the school board. “And you weren’t even supposed to talk to her child in the first place.” He apologized to Colleen’s mother and assured her it wouldn’t happen again.

A woman in the front row raised her hand. “I never had a counselor when I went to school,” she said. “I don’t understand what they do, exactly.” “Why don’t you explain to the parents what you do and how you help different children?” the principal suggested.

“Mostly, I just talk with them,” said Carla. “I listen to their problems, but I never tell them what to do. I try to help them to learn to think for themselves.” “But isn’t that what school is for?” asked the woman. “To tell kids what to think?” “I believe it’s more important to teach them how to think, instead of what to think,” said Carla.

“But if they do something bad, don’t you tell them it’s wrong?” asked the man sitting next to her.

“No,” said Carla. “I think it’s much better if they figure that out for themselves.” “What if there was a boy who bit his teacher?” asked a father.

“What?” Carla exclaimed.

“Wouldn’t you tell him not to bite her?” he asked.

“No, I’d talk to him about it and try to find out why he bit her, but—” “What if he keeps on biting her?” asked the man. “What if every day he sneaks up behind her and bites her on her butt? Then what would you do?” “This is getting ridiculous,” said Carla.

“Tell him what you’d do,” said the principal.

Carla sighed. “I’d try to help the boy understand the reason he wants to bite his teacher, and then help him reach the conclusion that he shouldn’t do it.” “How long would that take?” asked a woman.

“I don’t know.”

“A month?”

“Possibly.”

“And meanwhile he keeps biting his teacher!” said the first man. “She could get seriously hurt!” “She could die,” said another man. “How would you feel then?” “What if the kid had rabies?” someone else shouted. “Don’t you think he should get a rabies shot?” “I bet you’d feel differently if he bit you on your butt!” someone called from the back of the room.

Everyone began talking at once.

“What if he bit you?”

“You’d punish him then, wouldn’t you?”

“Then you wouldn’t wait for him to think for himself, would you? Not if he bit you!” “What if he bit you?”

Carla uncrossed her ankles, then crossed them the other way. As she looked at the angry group of parents, she had the horrible feeling that they all wanted to bite her butt.