As I read
the letter in front of Janice I couldn’t help but snigger at some of the things
he’d said and I was quite impressed at the composition of the e mail.
“It’s pretty
good, actually.” I said to Janice.
“Yes, it is,
very well formulated in fact.”
“So, what
exactly happened then with Victor Churchman and Mr. Fothergill?”
“Well, the
problem is, Mr. Fothergill feels that if Brendon had issues with the school he
should have come to senior staff or himself.
Involving politicians makes problems for him if they think the school is
being run inefficiently.”
Yes, I
thought. I bet he didn’t like that one
bit. He was all about the SAT’s results and exam passes and becoming the
leading school in the area. Now Brendon
had made his technology college look like a joke. Particularly since the IT teacher didn’t even
understand the methods that Brendon had suggested.
“Oh. So how
does this affect him on Governors report?
Is this like another black mark against him?”
“I suppose
it depends on the outcome.” She said.
“Mr. Fothergill is none too pleased but it would depend on how the Governors
feel. However I have to discuss more on
that since last week’s meeting.
Ah, the result
of the Governors meeting. I waited to hear how that had been received after
we’d left. I didn’t feel on so much of a
high now.
“After discussing it with Mr. Fothergill, Mr Locks
has decided that we need to put Brendon on an individual timetable plan and
perhaps remove him from one or two lessons.
Just concentrate on his ten key exams and then have him leave school.”
“Leave
school? What do you mean leave school?” I started to panic.
“Basically just come in when he needs to for
the relevant lessons and then go home. We believe that this is the only way to keep
him from being in any more trouble than necessary and from risking expulsion.”
“What do you
mean, remove him from other lessons?” I
wondered where this was going.
“Well there
was an incident in Business Studies that we’ve yet to talk about.” She flicked, as usual, through the reports.
My heart was
racing. All of a sudden the school had
made all these monumental decisions in the space of two days.
She read out
the incident:
Mr. Jenkins – Business studies – Brendon kept asking
me to explain a part of the business sector as he said he wanted more
information. I asked him to refer to the
text book in front of him. Brendon
continued to ask me to elaborate stating that the text book was not ‘in depth’
enough and he wanted me to explain certain modules. I told Brendon that this was all we needed to
cover for today’s lesson and all the relevant information pertaining to that
was in the text book. Brendon said “You’re
obviously refusing to explain this to me as you don’t properly understand
business. Your job as my teacher is to
explain all the concepts.” I told Brendon that my job was to stick to the
lesson plan to ensure all pupils covered the exam criteria. Brendon then replied with “Well, if you
understood business properly then you’d be running one and wouldn’t be a
teacher on £25K a year”. I found
Brendon’s remarks rude and unnecessary and asked him to leave the lesson.
I winced at
his comment to the teacher and couldn’t believe he’d had the gall to say
something like that.
“Oh no. Why
can’t he just keep his mouth shut?” I said shaking my head at Janice.
“Look,” She
said. “Its part of the way he thinks but
we need to keep him in line. The idea of
this plan is that he sticks to main lessons and then is back at home. We’ll keep him on Governors report to keep
that ‘threat’ up there so he knows
it’s the last boundary. Mr Locks and I
would also like you to come in on Mondays and Fridays for reviews so we can
work hard together at getting him through and maybe every morning or after
school for the first few weeks so we can keep on top of daily incidents."
I sat and
let this wash over me for a second. How
the hell was I supposed to do that and keep my job?
“Have you
done a new timetable yet?” I asked.
She bought
it out of the folder and I glanced over it week by week. There was a whole day that he wasn’t even in school and others where there were
just one or two lessons starting around 10 am.
If I wasn’t there to make him get up and go to school then I knew he
probably wouldn’t bother. Brendon truly
believed he could pass his exams with no effort and saw revision and course
work as a pain.
“Janice..I’m
going to have to seriously consider this.
You have to give me a few days because it will affect my life massively.”
“I understand." She replied “But if there are ways round
it then I really think it’s for the best.
The best way forward for Brendon.”
She printed
me off a copy of the revised timetable that they wanted to implement after next
week and a copy of his letter to Victor Churchman for posterity.
Janice then
went to fetch Brendon so we could all have a discussion together. He came in and gave me a big hug. “I love you Mommy.” He said as sat down next
to me and began drumming his fingers on the table.
“Brendon”
Janice started. “We need to discuss a couple of things, the first one being an
email you sent to the MP Victor Churchman?”
“Oh yeah.
His secretary replied back to me the other day and said he’d look into it.”
“Well, he
actually came into school the other day to see Mr. Fothergill.”
“And?” Said Brendon wondering what the big deal was.
“Well, do
you not think it would have been better for you to address these problems with senior
staff like Mr. Locks or Mr. Fothergill before you went directly to your local
MP?” She offered.
“Err,
No. Since when do they EVER listen to
me? Besides, I’ve probably done this school a favour now and they’ll get better
software.”
To be
honest, as I sat and listened, I really couldn’t come up with any argument.
Janice and I looked at each other in silent agreement.
“And
Business Studies.” She continued. “What you said to Mr Jenkins about him being
a teacher because he hasn’t the ability to be in business?”
“Well it’s
true.” He stated.
“Whatever
you may believe Brendon that was a hurtful and disrespectful comment that has
no merit.”
“Mr Jenkins
has never explained anything to do
with business, EVER. He hasn’t got a
clue and all he does is refer you to a text book. That’s not teaching. I can read a book at home.”
Again,
whilst I recognised his rudeness, part of me agreed with his argument. I was beginning to wonder if Aspergers was
catching.
Janice went
through the proposed new timetable with Brendon, explaining that I would be
coming in if I could also on a daily basis. He didn’t really seem to be bothered either
way apart from the fact he got a whole day off and could use that to play on
his computer. Aspie kids didn’t revise
at home. I’d been told this by the SEN
team when I’d been struggling to get him to do homework. Home is for home and work is for work and
never the twain shall meet.
Brendon said
he had to go because he was hungry and needed to get to the canteen before his
next lesson. He ruffled my hair and
disappeared.
“I’ll let
you know what I can do in the next few days.”
I said to Janice as I stood up to leave.
She rubbed
my shoulder. “I know it’s hard. You know
where I am and we’ll talk soon.”
I drove home
wondering how the hell I could manage Brendon’s new timetable, daily school
meetings and stay at work. It wasn’t
possible. It would be easy to say no to
the school but if I didn’t accommodate them would they see that as neglect on
my part? Would they have further excuses
to get him out? Besides, I’d spent four
and a half years fighting his corner; I couldn’t just give up at the last
hurdle. This was the time he needed me
so he could have something to show for the brilliant mind that he was and
finish school with decent qualifications.
I got back
and decided I should talk to Karl. He
would help me decide what to do or give me some alternatives. Plus he needed to
know the next stage we were at since the Governors meeting.
His phone
rang a few times and I was expecting the Bond style answer machine to kick in
when it answered.
“Hello...” Said
a young female voice at the other end.
It floored
me a little.
“Err..
hello, is Karl available please?” I asked the girl. The girl I recognised as Sarah.
“No he’s
indisposed at the moment and he’ll be busy most of the day. Can I take a message?”
Indisposed.
Really.
“Can you ask
him to ring Sophie, please?” I replied
politely biting extremely hard on my lower lip.
“Who, sorry?”
She schmoozed. I really wasn’t in the mood for this little
game.
“SO-PHIE.” I
replied loud and clear. “And when he’s finished being indisposed please tell
him I need to speak to him as a matter of urgency because I’ve just received a
letter from the clinic and it looks like he’s contracted a sexually transmitted
disease.”
