Bayview Heights Trilogy (33 page)

“You should.”

“I know. She was great to me after I decided
to dump that chip on my shoulder.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “Even if
she was prom queen and head cheerleader.”

“It was an unlikely friendship the two of you
had.”

“Well, she told me once she hated how the
other kids ostracized me. She’d seen her brother suffer through it
in elementary school.”

There it was again.
Kevin
Cartwright
. The boy who haunted him like Caesar’s ghost. “I
never knew she related to you because of Kevin. I didn’t have much
contact with her when she was in high school.”

“That’s because you were too busy with punks
like me, Mr. T.”

Seth grinned at the old nickname.

“Why did you bring up Lacey?” she asked.

“Because of the editorial she wrote in
yesterday’s paper.” The thought of it sparked his anger again, so
he changed the subject. “Speaking of punks, have you heard from
Johnny?”

Cassie had gotten one of her students, Johnny
Battaglia, on the right path, just as Seth had done for her. Then,
when Mitch had come to the high school, he too had taken Johnny
under his wing. A New York City gang had been trying to lure Johnny
back into its fold and Mitch and Cassie had given the boy the
support he’d needed to say no. Johnny was now eighteen and in
college and was like an adopted son to the couple.

Cassie’s smile was proud. “Yeah, he’s doing
great at Columbia. Mitch’s brother says he’s invaluable at the
clinic. He’s also—”

The door swung open and Seth’s secretary
burst in. “Seth, there’s another fight in the orange hall.”

Bolting out of his chair, Seth flew to the
door. When he felt Cassie behind him, he turned. “Stay here,
Cassie. You could get hurt—the baby could.”

Cassie stopped.

Dozens of students blocked the hall, making
it almost impossible to penetrate. As Seth elbowed his way through
the crowd, he saw several adults keeping kids back. When he reached
the scene, he found two teachers in the fray, both women, one on
the floor on top of a girl, one backed up against the drinking
fountain trying to maintain a hold on another girl. There was blood
on the linoleum.

Seth stepped in.

o0o

TWENTY MINUTES LATER Seth walked back into
his office, needing to be alone, discouraged by yet another
eruption of teenage violence. Cassie had left but his least
favorite teacher waited in the outer area for a meeting Seth had
forgotten about.

“You’ve got to do something about this
fighting,” Jerry Bosco whined, his small eyes narrowed behind
wire-rimmed glasses.

Yeah, like I did with you and Kevin
Cartwright?
“Come into my office,” Seth said, quelling his
resentment of the man. Every time he looked at the guy, Seth
wondered if he’d made a mistake in believing Bosco eight years ago
when he’d accused Kevin of assaulting him.

When the science teacher was seated, Seth
took his place behind his large mahogany desk and wasted no words.
“Jerry, something’s got to change with you.” He held up Bosco’s
most recent classroom observation report. “Alex’s notes on the
lesson he observed show no innovation using the teaching methods
you discussed with him.”

“Alex Ransom doesn’t know squat about
teaching. He was a damn gym teacher before he became junior class
vice principal.”

Seth held his anger in check. Bosco was
running scared for good reason. “Alex is a competent administrator.
People here like and respect him. You’re the problem, Jerry.”

Bosco’s bushy eyebrows rose. “If this is the
tack you’re taking, I want a union representative with me when we
talk.”

“Fine,” Seth said, slapping his hand down on
the desk. “Get a union rep in here.” He gave his calendar a quick
glance. “A week from Monday at 7:00 a.m. I’ll tell you both then
what I intend to do.”

Red-faced, Bosco stood, his pudgy stomach
heaving. “We’ll be ready for you, Mr. Taylor. As will the union
lawyers.”

Frustrated, Seth sighed as Bosco stormed out
the door. The situation with Bosco was bound to come to a head. His
attitude and his archaic and ineffective teaching methods had to be
dealt with. This just wasn’t a good time.

Before he could catch his breath, Seth’s
secretary looked in again. “Can I talk to you?”

Seth smiled. Sue Watson was a godsend. She’d
kept his office running smoothly for the twelve years he’d been
principal at Bayview. “Of course.”

Poised, almost unflappable, Sue smoothed the
front of her classic blue suit as she sat down. Her gray hair was
meticulously cut. But her usually happy brown eyes were troubled.
“I know it’s been a bad morning, but I promised myself I’d do this
today if it killed me, and you’re booked up this afternoon.”

Alarmed, Seth leaned forward. “What is it,
Sue?”

“I’m resigning, Seth.”

Poleaxed by the news, he sank back against
the leather chair. “Resigning? When?”

“As soon as we get a replacement.” She
paused. “I wanted to tell you first, before giving you written
notice.”

Seth blew out a heavy breath. “Why? Aren’t
you happy here?”

“No, I guess I’m not.” One of the things Seth
liked best about Sue was her honesty. Her gaze swept the office.
“I’ve been a secretary in this school for twenty-five years. It’s
not the same now as it was. It’s tougher. Like that latest fight. I
heard Joan Jackson went to the hospital after getting slammed up
against the drinking fountain. And all the bad press is even more
discouraging. I’m too old for this.”

The phone rang, interrupting them. “I’ll get
it,” Sue told him. “We’ll talk more later.” She picked up the
extension on his desk.

“It’s for you. It’s the State Education
Department.”

He took the phone and his secretary left.
Still stunned by her news, he said into the receiver, “Taylor.”

“Seth, this is Mike Thomas from State
Ed.”

Seth had been meeting with the representative
from Albany about the Board of Regents’ new requirements. The
Board—which was responsible for all New York State instruction—had
recently introduced an entirely new and more rigorous curriculum
and had upgraded the tests students needed to pass in order to
graduate. Though Seth agreed with the changes, this kind of
revamping caused anxiety among teachers, parents and
administrators.

“Hi, Mike. What can I do for you?”

“Well, we’ve been talking about you here
lately. The guys upstairs have been discussing the need for an
additional member of the advisory staff to get these Regents’
requirements in place. Since you were so effective in our initial
meetings with the school principals, I thought you might want to
apply.”

Seth remained silent.

“You interested in leaving Bayview Heights?”
Mike asked.

Images of Lacey Cartwright, Jerry Bosco and
the two female teachers who’d intervened in the hallway fight
fast-forwarded in front of Seth’s eyes. “Yeah, Mike, I might be
interested. Tell me more.”

AT PRECISELY SEVEN O’CLOCK that night, Seth
looked up from his computer, then stood when the slender blonde
reached the doorway. “Mr. Taylor,” she said stiffly.

“Ms. Cartwright.” He nodded to a plush chair
opposite his desk. “Sit down.”

As she seated herself—he did too—she glanced
at the newspaper on his desk, open to her “What do you think?”
column on the School Page. Tracking her gaze, he asked, “No one
should give out any reports on what’s happening here at the high
school without running it by me. Where did you get this
information?”

Lacey Cartwright sat up a little taller. “My
sources are confidential.”

“So is the number of fights at the high
school. Where did you get the statistics?”

“What does it matter where I got them? The
facts are accurate—and damning.”

“When they’re presented in such an
inflammatory manner.”

She cocked her head and her delicate jaw
tensed. “I thought you asked me to stop by here to discuss the
editorial. If you’re simply going to attack me, I’m leaving.” Lacey
got to her feet.

Seth’s temper rose as he stood again, too. He
didn’t try to disguise the anger in his voice. “Sit down, Ms.
Cartwright. I’m not through with you.”

Her eyes widened. He saw that they were the
exact whiskey color of her brother Kevin’s. The reminder of who she
was, why she had such an interest in the high school, calmed him.
He dragged a hand through his hair and opened his mouth to
apologize, but she cut him off.

“I’m not through with you, either, Mr.
Taylor.” She glanced around his office. “Or with this school.”

Maybe it would help to get to the root of the
problem, though each time he’d tried to discuss the issue with her
grandfather in the past, the older man had exploded. Seth released
an exasperated breath. “Please sit down.”

Reluctantly she did.

He followed suit and steepled his hands.
“Your attacks on the high school are because of Kevin, aren’t
they?”

“No, they’re not.” Her voice was strained but
controlled.

“You and your grandfather still blame me for
what’s happened to him.”

“That’s another story.”

“You do, though, don’t you?”

Lacey forced herself to stay calm as she
studied Taylor. He still exuded the aura of someone comfortable
with himself. He’d always been like that. He’d been a teacher at
Bayview Heights High School when Lacey attended here, though she’d
never had him in class. She’d been a straight-A student and he’d
taught all the unmotivated kids.
Reluctant learners
, they
were now called.

Like Kevin
. “You know how I feel
about what happened to Kevin,” she said impatiently. “I made it
very clear to you eight years ago when I came back from California
to help straighten out the trouble he’d gotten into. This editorial
has nothing to do with my brother.”

Taylor hunched over his desk and clasped his
hands in front of him. “I put Kevin on permanent suspension because
of the number of fights he had while he was a student here.
Particularly the last one where he attacked a teacher. The district
was going to pay for home tutoring. When Kevin refused to
cooperate, the courts recommended Hillside.”

Lacey stared at him hard. “Are you trying to
convince me, or yourself, Mr. Taylor?”

A shadow crossed his face—regret? Guilt?
Lacey couldn’t tell. She listened as he continued. “I’m trying to
convince you. I know that what I did was best at the time. But it
wasn’t an easy decision. I told you that then.”

Wearily Lacey shook her head. She hadn’t
planned on getting into this.

Seth added, “And I feel bad about your
grandfather’s heart attack last February.”

Cold seeped into her bones at the reminder of
Philip Cartwright’s condition. Though she knew blaming Taylor
wasn’t completely fair, it was hard to separate the chain of
events—begun by this man—that had devastated Lacey’s family from
the man, himself.

Her shoulders sagged with the weight of it
all, especially when she remembered how Philip had given up a
prestigious position to come home and take care of her and Kevin
when her father had died. That unselfish action, along with his
unstinting care, had earned him her absolute loyalty. “Look, Mr.
Taylor,” she said, trying to restore the conversation to its
original topic. “I know you’ve gone around on these editorials with
my grandfather.”

“Yes, I have. And I haven’t been happy about
yours since you took over the paper. They’re biased.”

“My grandfather’s editorials were based on
fact. So are mine. I resent your accusations.”

He flicked the paper with his fingers. “And I
resent yours. Do you have any idea how hard it is to run a high
school like this?”

She shook her head. “In some ways I probably
don’t.”

“Maybe you should spend some time finding out
instead of consistently printing dirt about us.”

Though she resented the slam, she refused to
react to it. “Maybe.” Bending down, she gathered her briefcase and
purse. “Or maybe
you
should spend some time figuring out a
way to make this place safe.”

With that she stood, turned and walked out
the door.

o0o

THE NEXT DAY, Seth had just sat down to lunch
when Jerry Bosco plopped the
Bayview Herald
onto the
cafeteria table. “Have you seen this?” the teacher asked.

“Yes,” Seth responded, refusing to let the
man rile him.

“Apparently the press agrees with me. Perhaps
you should concentrate on disciplining students instead of
teachers,” Bosco said smugly, then walked away.

Seth picked up the
Herald
, folded
open to Lacey Cartwright’s column. He wouldn’t read it again.
Instead, he tossed it into a nearby wastebasket.

Carolyn Spearman sat down with her lunch.
“Hi.”

He smiled at the senior class vice principal.
“Hi.”

She angled her head at the trash can. “You
letting that get to you?”

“No.” She stared at him until he said, “Yeah,
I guess.”

“Schools always take a lot of heat from the
community.”

“Yeah, I know. This is more personal, though.
Eight years ago, the editor’s brother was suspended from this
school for fighting. Given the reference in the editorial to
dealing with student violence by ‘getting rid of the kids,’ this
was clearly a vendetta against me.”

“So, meet with the editor. Tell her about the
Safety Task Force you’ve set up to begin next week.”

Seth smiled at his practical, no-nonsense VP.
“I met with her last night. I didn’t have a chance to tell her
about the committee before the accusations started flying.”

“I’m sorry. Want some good news?”

“I’d love some.”

“Seventy students signed up this morning for
our first meeting on this year’s Christmas Good Deeds Project,” she
said, referring to the high school’s annual drive to provide
holiday gifts and food for needy families in the community. “That’s
ten percent of the school.”