high school hooligan

high school hooligan

fiction
edward w pritchard

The teacher's union lost three times in their attempts to get Lawson Jenson removed from our school. Too much money was involved. The school principal was adamant; the teachers would have to learn to deal with Tiger Lawson, the hooligan. Our principal, a woman got her's later. Lawson's parents successfully got the Principal sent to three sessions of sensitivity training at the University psychology clinic, after she was deemed callous in her behavior towards handicapped persons. Principal Nan Phillips had pulled little Tiger's hair one day in the halls after the boy did something especially incorrigible.

We had a large group of handicapped students at our suburban school. It was a lucrative profit center. Our principal had taught and then worked in administration at the local inner city schools and while there she had got a reputation for the efficient and profitable operation of several schools that had previously been bleeding money. She turned financially troubled schools around by accepting large numbers of multiple handicapped students for which the State paid extra reimbursement. In time most of the local handicapped students with behavioral problems ended up at our school.

Never was there a student of any category quite like Tiger Lawson. Less than four feet tall, initially he walked down the hall slowly bending side to side on crutches. Later he used a wheelchair. Not just any wheelchair however; his transport was imported from Finland and was voted number one in mobility wordwide for all such devices three years running. Lawson's wheelchair was also very expensive. His parents both professors at the University spared no expense in there attempts to mainstream their only son.

Lawson smoked large expensive cigars at school and wore strange hats in the building both of which were of course illegal here. Lawson also had a severe anger management problem. He displayed his temper often while at our school if he felt anyone was bullying or being condescending to one of the students in the red group, our name for our handicapped students.

I first met Lawson after he tried to run down Billie Hilton with his wheelchair. The wheelchair can travel at over twenty miles an hour in short bursts and Lawon was chasing Billie down the Hall over near the gym. Billie is best known around here for just missing the State record for a fourteen year old attempting to bench press over three hundred fifty pounds. Billie dove out of the way successfully at the last minute to avoid Lawson's charges but Billie cut a large gash in his head by crashing into a locker.

I was patching up Billie's head when he told me what he had done to anger Lawson who was already out of the building. Lawson had been suspended again for being overly aggressive, for three days this tiime.

Billie said he was accused by Lawson of taunting Lashea Simms about her weight. Lashea is not one of our handicapped students but she is very obese. Maybe three hundred pounds. I called Billie an A- hole. Not very professional for a school nurse to do. I am very over weight myself, since I was in junior high.

I called Billie Hinton's Father about what Billie said to the girl. I am not sure where that went.

Lawson was with us for about a year. His health kept getting worse and worse but that didn't keep him out of trouble. Several times I was involved in incidents Involving little Tiger Lawson's bad temper. I heard Tiger's in the hospital now and not doing well. That's sad, it was nice to have someone stand up for us aroud here.
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