Chapter Sixty-Three: Whatever Happened to...

Chapter 63: Whatever Happened to…?

I am always asking for news of my former students, staff and coworkers. Sometimes I wish I didn’t ask. I am usually dismayed by what I hear, though not surprised. I didn’t need a crystal ball to predict some of the outcomes.

A UPS chasing substitute teacher? About two months before I left, Lynne handed me a pile of phone messages from someone who called half a dozen times that day seemingly desperate to teach at Prospect. With a straight face Lynne watched me read the messages. “The name of this wanna-be teacher was vaguely familiar. Should I know her?” Lynne’s curly red hair is standing on end and her eyes are bulging as she takes her hands as if to strangle me, saying, “It’s The Prison Guard!” I rapidly discard the stack of phone messages as if they were flaming and advise Lynne to throw away any subsequent phone messages from this caller.

Oscar, the principal of Haven Hill? He almost lost his job again for incompetence (again) but he begged the Superintendent to let him stay, saying he only has a few years before he retires. So the Superintendent made him principal at the public school for the ESE (Special Education) students with disabilities so debilitating they can’t function in a regular classroom. Once again, the children who need the most get the least….

Agnes, Oscar’s secretary at Haven Hill? She is the receptionist at a Herald County Public School building. Unclear as to whether she hung her Confederate flag in her new office.

Vince, the custodian? He retired.

Mr. Ericson, the owner of Ericson’s Speedy Mart who made a racist comment about the music? He and his wife sold the gas station to a family from India and are now customers rather than owners of Ericsons.

Stone, the teacher who wanted to be a Baptist Minister? After I left, he was groomed by The Boss to become principal and was put in that position temporarily, but the promotion never came to pass. Stone was furious and shortly thereafter, in September 2004, his name appeared in the local section of the newspaper: “An alternative school teacher was arrested Wednesday after fighting with a student, authorities said…. (He) was charged with physical child abuse after witnesses said he attacked a Prospect School student.”

Witnesses say Stone was heaping insults on the boy and poking him in the chest when the boy punched Stone. Stone shoved the boy, the boy hit back and Stone began to punch the boy violently in the face. Marci, the permanent substitute teacher, was standing nearby. Stone asked her to say he didn’t hit the boy. She refused, telling me later she couldn’t tell whether Stone, in his fit of rage. really didn’t remember hitting the boy or whether he was asking her to lie. Stone turned in his resignation, was handcuffed and taken away in the squad car to the county jail where he was later released after posting $2000 bond. Two months later Stone phoned asking me to write him a recommendation for a job that did not involve working with children.

Noreen, the math teacher with a criminal background who altered the hospital discharge papers for which she was subsequently fired? She was hired in 2004 as a teacher at ESAK and two weeks later was promoted to Director of Education at ESAK where she works today.

Marci the substitute teacher? After my departure she was made a teacher with the largest class despite only having a two year degree in criminology. During the Stone incident, Marci tried to break up the fight. In the course of this action, two of Stone’s punches connected with her head. Marci resigned shortly after the Stone incident and took a position at ESAK in their “outdoors” program. She will soon complete her BA in criminal justice and wants to earn an MA in counseling.

Buffy, the certified elementary teacher who never hung anything on her walls? Buffy was hired by Herald County Public Schools to teach the most at-risk third graders – those who were repeating third grade for the first or second time due to failing the FCAT. The principal who hired her without soliciting any feedback from me, is reportedly very unhappy with Buffy. She struggles with classroom management, the children aren’t learning, and their parents complained to him that when they came to open house night, they were upset to see bleak, bare classroom walls.

Henry, my public school liaison? Henry still has his job as liaison to the alternative schools and he is still of the opinion that these troubled children don’t deserve any more than they are getting.

Lucy, my fellow Prospect principal who resigned before me? She is an art teacher at a public school in a poor neighborhood in Tampa.

Lynne, my business manager? She is the receptionist at a Herald County Public elementary school. She is very overqualified for the position and the pay is much less than her former salary, but it is a job without the daily stress she experienced at Prospect. She reports that no parents curse at her and she never has to deal with anyone like The Boss. She does report that the principal at her new school has staff hold hands and pray before meetings.

Jordan, the teacher? After he and his new wife returned to his home in Alabama to care for his terminally ill father, they now have three daughters and he is working as a middle school social studies teacher in the public schools.

Rosie, my counselor? Initially She was working for a private counseling firm that contracts with the public schools to work with Medicaid-eligible children who need counseling. She had an office in a school in the north east corner of the county – the very white section where black people are discouraged from living. Boyd, the former Prospect student who didn’t bathe often enough, ran up to her in the hall, gave Rosie a big hug and told her how happy he is to be out of that awful school. He said his worst day was when Ernie slammed him up against a wall. Rosie said he just kept hugging her and hugging her. Rosie is now a teacher in a Special Education class.

Rex Stewart, my mentor? Rex moved from middle school principal to elementary school principal and just retired this year. He continues his work for local child advocacy as Chair of a local social services agency.

Lorayne, of tongue ring fame, who lives with her grandmother except for her stay in a foster home after she was found living with her forty-something “boy friend”?

Lorayne was sent to ESAK (the Ebencorp High School in Herald County) where she often missed classes due to her pregnancy.

Robyn, the girl who couldn’t find a quiet place to do her homework and was sent to live with her grandmother in Cincinnati? After she crawled out the bathroom window to play hooky one time too many, Grandma returned her to Florida. But her stepmother refused to let her live in the family’s trailer. The receptionist at the office where Robyn’s father works offered to have Robyn live with her. Robyn was sleeping on the receptionist’s couch and not going to school.

DerMarr, the 5th grader we put in a middle school classroom where his teacher, Jana, helped him grow from the student we almost rejected to our most improved student until his mother transferred him to public school prematurely? He spent most of the last two academic quarters suspended from school and thus failed to be promoted to 6th grade and, despite a previous retention and his large size, he was held back in 5th grade.

Tyryona, the aspiring actress living with her cousin? Tyryona did star in the play and my husband and I saw her stunning performance. There was one interruption half-way through the play when a very dressed up woman with a fancy hat made an entrance so dramatic it distracted from the performance. It was Tyryona’s mother. Tyryona didn’t last long with her cousin and shortly after the play, I heard Tyryona was bouncing from foster home to foster home.

Luke, with the hoop earrings and mother at McDonalds? Luke was sent to ESAK where he spends his afternoons in a “job training program” working in a fast food restaurant. I believe he is now at Popeye’s.

Darius, the gifted boy who lived in so many foster homes? The Boss had him arrested for throwing balled up paper at the bus driver. His foster mother washed her hands of him when she heard he was arrested so he was released to the Cressler House where he was involved in a fight, arrested again and found to have enough points to be held in the JDC (Juvenile Detention Center). When he was released he was sent to yet another foster home, this one in another county.

Perry, the boy who was raped as a preschooler? Perry spent 6 months in a boot camp and upon release was sent back to Prospect where he will stay until The Boss feels he is ready to return to public school. I think the odds are against that happening.

Warenita, the girl whose mother only needed one friend, Jesus? Mom lost her battle with drug addiction and also lost custody of her daughter. Warenita is living in a foster home attending ESAK.

Glenn, the unappealing boy who choked in our Geography Bee? His mother decided she couldn’t handle him and “gave him up to the system.” He has been moved from foster home to foster home. So far no foster family wants him.

Karla, the girl whose mother lives with the Rainbow People? Mom sent Karla to live with an aunt in Georgia. Karla and her cousin, the aunt’s daughter, ran away with the cousin’s boyfriend, a 24 year old man. They went to Ohio. The police followed them. The man was arrested. The cousin was sent home and her aunt promptly pulled her out of public school and sent her to a Catholic school. And Karla, she was arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center then onto a “program.” After three months she returned to Lakeboro and Prospect. For a few weeks she attended school regularly. Then she began getting on the bus and watching out the window intently for Lorayne illegally driving her boyfriend’s pick-up truck. At the next stop she’d dash off the bus as the sleepy eyed children tried to get on and run to join Lorayne. She did this on and off for a couple weeks, then stopped attending school at all. No one seemed to care or notice.

Mookie, the boy whose parents died of AIDS and who felt he had no future? We returned Mookie to public school at the end of the 2002-03 school year and so far he has not returned to Prospect. Fingers crossed, Mookie might just have a future after all.