the school administrator-up the river, broken oar-4

the school administrator-up the river, broken oar-4

fiction
edward w pritchard

Paul and Sharon arrived at the top of the second floor hall way near the north step at the same time Monday morning, at 7:45 as instructed. Today they were both working in the rotating job program and would be working together as security guards in the halls of an inner city junior high school in Canton, Ohio. Paul and Sharon had met for the first time five minutes ago. Sharon was a school counselor and Paul taught second grade in the same school system as this junior high was in.

They were assigned to let no students up the stairs until 7:50, no problem the students were orderly this morning. For the next two hours they were monitoring two halls of mostly 7th graders who were moving between classes and then supposed to be in classes. The school had a no hall pass policy. To facilitate learning no one was to be roaming the halls without a specific hall pass allowing them to go to a specific location and in a certain time period.

There were maybe 500 students in the school and 40 or 50 seemed to be about the halls on and on throughout the day. Any pretext was reason to leave a class room. Mostly though they were late[tardy] often. For 5 or 6 minutes they wandered around. Other times they just slowing walked going no where but wandering, alone sort of happy. The same students always seemed to be the ones in the halls.

For the first hour Paul was very strict and was writing down names. Sometimes students would forget their names when he asked them. Sometimes students would be remarkably deviant for children. Sometimes students would be incapable of accepting authority and Sharon would be worried for them. For she knew that if a student from this neighborhood, especially the boys, had trouble accepting authority eventually a certain percentage would end up in jail. That was later however,for now there was a pretense that even though a certain per cent wandered aimlessly in halls they could catch up in the classes they were behind in, especially math. The pretense was that although a shockingly high percentage failed in math on standardized tests they would catch up later. However, many of the kids wandering in the halls knew better and this school wasn't the right venue for them but they didn't know what to do about it. People like Sharon who saw that didn't know what to do about it either, for the system was complex.

Sharon had more trouble today than Paul but was happier in her work than him. Paul was intense and expected a lot from these students and his blood pressure often spiked today from the disrespect for authority and he took it personally. Sharon loved these kids although she hadn't seen them before. She was very patient for she had problems of her own and didn't expect perfection from the students. A few students were incorrigible and they were the worse problems. They needed special help and shouldn't be here and they were often in the halls without good reason because they didn't belong for now in a classroom. Sometimes they would glare at Sharon and Paul and it hurt Sharon and angered Paul who were the same age.

While they were standing in the hall fourth period it was really quiet for a while down their hall. There was a large black policeman and he was new today, not the regular guy and the students were avoiding this hall. Sharon told Paul she had thought she saw a snake in her house this morning on the way to the gym before work. Paul who was very protective with women asked what happened, concerned. She said it was just a little piece of shoe string but she saw it twice as a snake even after she had determined factually what it really was, she saw a snake. She assured Paul who didn't know her she wasn't usually like this. Paul concerned asked "what do you think it means", She said I already knew before I saw it, "my husband is having an affair". I have no proof but I think I am starting to tell myself what I secretly know. Sharon had a life of her own besides being a school counselor.

Paul protected Sharon today and after she told him about the snake he did worse as a hall monitor. Things escalated un-necessarily because of him. However him and Sharon made a good team because he was stern, authority and she was loving, kindness. At home tonight, Paul who lives alone started thinking about Sharon and a few months later after she filed her divorce he called her.
end
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