REALLY BIG CHANGES... and repercussions (Part 133a)

REALLY BIG CHANGES... and repercussions (Part 133a)

The Board meeting was scheduled for 7:30pm and it was just a little after 7pm when I arrived There were already almost as many cars as there had been the night of the election. I’d called Jon (the milkman) to see if he had any idea of what he and the other Board members were facing and he said there was nothing concrete, only speculation. He added that the meeting was closed and the order of business was to elect officers for the upcoming year and to ratify some teacher contracts. Walking up the steps I heard some less than complimentary comments pointed at me. I recognized one woman who called me an ‘outsider’ and that I should go back to where I came from. In a way it was funny because I was (and still am) twelfth generation in the township. I noticed some older ‘locals’ in heated discussions with some of the younger people who were there. Not that I’d attended many of the open meetings but it just seemed strange. I asked one of Elle’s high school classmates if he knew what the fuss was all about and all he could say was that he’d gotten a call to just show up at 7pm.

The meetings were normally held in the library which was on the second floor. That meant that the members had to come through the front doors and then climb the stairs. In so doing they would have to face the gathering. Looking at the way the people had positioned themselves there was no way for the members to get up the stairs. Standing there I could hear the decibel level getting higher and higher. I was waiting for some Board members to arrive when I saw two somewhat familiar faces walk through the doors... two of the Trustees from the bank. One owned a local business in town and was the one that somewhat forced me to get involved on the Vestry of the church. The other was “Polak Joe”. They both smiled and acknowledged the other ‘locals’ pretty much ignoring the younger members of the crowd. Seeing them told me that this was ‘big’.

I really didn’t want them to see me so I moved down the hall a bit. One of the parents who lived in the neighborhood with Bob and “Polak Joe” was there so asked him why Joe was there. He gave me a funny look and then said he was involved “in everything”. I immediately wondered if he’d had anything to do with the voting change that had been passed by the school board right before the vote. When I’d asked one of the bank Trustees who was an attorney if it was legal he’d told me to “drop it”. It made me think the reason had been that Joe was now on the bank board and that if I pursued it that he could make things tough on me. The more I saw of the man the more I disliked him.

It was obvious when the school board members arrived. There was a big ‘push’ to go out the front doors to confront them. I stayed back. It turned out that the protest was to let the Board members know they wanted the meeting opened up to the public. The existing president told them “No way!” and he led the members that were with him back down the steps. As people continued to flow out the front doors I finally got there and saw them running across the lawn trying to stop them. I decided to go home. It was a classic case of attempted mob rule and I wanted no part of it.

At home, in spite of repeated attempts to reach both Jon (the milkman) and Bob after getting home I was unsuccessful. Elle had gone to bed before the late news on TV and after watching it gave up myself. In the morning I didn’t have to make any calls to find out what had happened. Bob called me just after 7am. The Board president got word to the other members to meet him at his house and then called the police. He’d been a town Trustee and knew the police Chief well. Fully expecting trouble, he requested a couple of patrol cars to park out front of his house. As soon as the ‘rowdies’, as he called the mob, started towards the house they stepped in. The Board went ahead and held the meeting and the ‘news’ was that on a four to three vote they elected not to renew the contract of the principal. It was what Pat (the PTA lady) had been working with the ‘group’ for but my first thought was what was going to happen when the word got out. It didn’t take long to find out.

Elle had already called the bank before I got there. She’d heard that three long time teachers were about to hand in their resignations. Selfishly, I thought about Elle getting a job there but quickly dropped it. We’d agreed that Elle wouldn't go to full time teaching until Kaye was in school full time. Back on track, it sort of made sense for some of the long time and loyal teachers to leave. I knew of a couple that should’ve retired years ago. Jean had one in her first year and if Elle hadn’t been a teacher she would’ve fallen behind. I thanked her for calling and told her I’d check with her at lunchtime.

The morning mail brought some expected but unwanted news... the official written report of the regulators examination.  Bert, Hobie and, to some degree, I knew what was in it. The bank could’ve started in on the recommendations that had been verbally made but had made the decision to wait for the report. That meant we had less time to implement them. So... I spent the rest of the morning in a planning meeting. When we broke for lunch I called Elle. The count was now up to six teachers who were planning on retiring or resigning with some actual names to go with it. Since I hadn’t ever thought about that possibility I didn’t know how to rate the information as to being good or bad. But, there was more. Bob, when he'd called, hadn’t told me that the Board had agreed to revisit the entire physical education program for the school. She said that Phyl, Bob’s wife, told her that it would probably be the next ‘bomb’ to go off. In some of the “’group’ meetings we had discussed the fact that ”The Coach“ had far too much power and I wondered if that wasn’t what she was meant.

One positive that came from the afternoon meeting was that there would definitely be some ’movement’ in pursuing a servicing company. It looked like my little visit with one of the examiners where I gave him my candid assessment of the Board’s lack of action was going to pay dividends. When we were done I checked with Bret to see how his day had gone. He surprised me with a huge grin and showed a thumbs up. I asked why and he pointed to Gina. I knew he had a ‘thing’ about her so it had to have been something really positive. He pulled me over behind his desk and said ”Light blue“ and nothing else. It only took a few seconds for me to figure out that he’d gotten a peek at her panties. I was jealous!

To be continued...