by Dwayne Phillips
April 26, 2008, 2008-017
Todd Hindle stood in the doorway between the main hall and the counseling center. He knocked in disgust on the doorframe.
“Todd,” said Mr. Martin, “come in. What is it?”
Todd fell into the red plastic seat of a metal-frame chair. He exhaled slowly, more air came out than should have. “I’m dead Mr. Martin, sunk, it’s all over.”
Mr. Martin chuckled briefly, “Really Todd, what do you mean? Talk to me.”
“It’s Mr. Gulato. He hates me. Why else would he do this to me?”
“Oh, I don’t know that he hates you Todd. I’ve heard him praise your achievements in his class, especially in your lab work. Besides, what is he going to do to you?”
“He’s taking away my scholarship, my chance to go to college”
“Todd, Mr. Gulato doesn’t sit on any college boards. He has no say on scholarships,” answered Mr. Martin.
“No, but if I get a D in bio, I get nothing.’
“Todd,” answered Mr. Martin, “I’m not following you. A D in biology?”
“Gulato is stealing my work. Look I know this is just high school, but the experiments I did the last three months in the lab, they can be the basis of a Biology Lab Handbook. There isn’t much money at stake, but still a published handbook. Kind of nice for a bio teacher to have out there.”
“Oh, a handbook. I think that is good, good for the both of you.”
“Yeah right,” huffed Todd. “Except Gulato’s name doesn’t go on the cover alone if I get credit for doing all the lab work. So to get his little taste of fame, he takes all my notes off the computer and squirrels it away on the faculty-only server last night. I can’t get to my data. I can’t write my final report. I get an ‘incomplete’ in lab and a D in bio. I’m dead. My mom’s got no money for college, and a kid with a D in senior bio doesn’t get a scholarship. Dead!”
“Todd, I think I see why you are upset. I think we can work this out. The Lab Handbook, is it important to you?”
“What? Who cares about that? I need the grade. I need the scholarship.” Todd punched the last words of his sentences as if he were punching Mr. Gulato. The venom poured.
“I think we can do this Todd.”
Todd paused and twisted his expression. “We? Do what? What do you mean?”
“We, the two of us and Mr. Gulato and Mrs. Black. We can all meet and work through this.”
“How?” asked Todd. “What’s the deal?”
“Oh, no deal Todd, just the truth. I can see Mr. Gulato publishing his handbook with his name on the cover. Inside is an acknowledgements page. Mr. Gulato would mention you there an assistant in the lab. You would receive some credit, he publishes his handbook, you get your data back as well as your grade and your scholarship.”
Todd changed his demeanor and his posture. He sat up and inched up to the edge of his chair. “You can do that Mr. Martin?”
“Yes Todd, we can do this. I’ll set up the meeting. You show up dressed a little nicer than today, be respectful and optimistic, none of the ‘I’m dead’ talk or ‘Mr. Gulato stole from me.’ Can you do that?”
“Yeah, I mean yes sir. I can do that. You’ll be there Mr. Martin? You’ll help? You’ll explain how to do the acknowledgements and all?”
“Yes Todd. I’ll say to Mrs. Black and Mr. Gulato what I’ve said here today.”
* * * * * * *
Todd entered the main office area of the high school. He wore a pair of blue jeans – full length, not cut off below the knees and having no holes. He also wore a shirt that had buttons on it. He usually only wore this shirt on Sundays, but he was able to sneak it out of the house this morning stuffed in his backpack.
Todd approached the counter and announced to the lady sitting at a desk, “I’m here for a meeting with Mr. Martin, Mrs. Black, and Mr. Gulato.”
Mrs. Hagens peered over her reading glasses and to the side to see Todd. She didn’t turn her head, so Todd caught “the look” from her. “The three of them are in a private meeting right now.” Mrs. Hagens then shifted her eyes over to the seating area in the corner of the office. “You sit over there and wait.” She returned her eyes to the papers on her desk.
Todd, not sure what had just happened, stood still for a moment.
“Go on, sit over there and wait,” added Mrs. Hagens.
Todd moved this time. He sat in the first chair and looked at the clock on the wall. It was five minutes before noon. The meeting was for noon, so okay, he was a little early. But why were the others already having a meeting? Just something adults do. Todd sat and thought.
Todd was startled by an announcement from Mrs. Hagens, “You can go in now. Mrs. Black is ready for you.” Todd looked at the clock; it was now ten past noon.
Todd stood and walked through the opening at the end of the counter. He walked a few steps down a hall that had offices on either side. He had never been in this part of the school. It was clean and decorated, nothing like the rest of the school. Maybe this is why teachers try to become administrators, the offices. Todd found the nameplate that read “Dr. Irene Black, EdD, Principal” on a door and knocked.
Mr. Martin opened the door and smiled. “Come in Todd. We’d like to talk now.”
Mrs. Black, now known to Todd for the first time as “Dr. Irene Black, EdD” sat behind a large wooden desk. Mr. Gulato sat in a chair on the far side of the desk facing the doorway. Todd and Mr. Martin sat in chairs with their backs to the door. Todd had a feeling of “us vs. them” from the seating arrangement.
“Todd,” started Mrs. Black, “Mr. Gulato has told us about your work in biology lab or rather the disturbing lack of work.”
Todd’s mind spun. This isn’t right. This isn’t what we are supposed to talk about. What is this? Settle down Todd. Do what Mr. Martin said, good attitude, hang in there, Mr. Martin will straighten this out.
Mr. Gulato chimed in, “Yes Todd. I really don’t understand this. You have been an excellent science and math student in high school, but you haven’t put any biology data on the lab server. You haven’t showed any work the last three months. I very disappointed in you lately.”
Todd fought all his instincts to dispute what had been said. This was wrong, and he was dead at this point. Hold your tongue Todd. Just hold on a couple more minutes. The truth will come out.
Todd’s expression betrayed his thoughts. His face opened wide around his eyes. His eyes darted frantically about the room among the faces of the three adults.
“Todd, what do you have to say for yourself?” asked Mrs. Black.
“This isn’t true. I’ve worked my b…” Todd caught himself and started again. “I’ve worked hard in the lab the last three months, several hours after school every day without a break. I put all the data on the server where it is supposed to be. Those files disappeared two days ago, but I know where they are. I can see traces of them on the faculty server.”
“Students cannot see the faculty server,” said Mrs. Black sternly.
“I can’t see the data there, but I can see that the files are there. I know a way to do that,” pleaded Todd.
“Todd, that is simply not possible,” said Mr. Gulato. “We have firewalls and security software. Students cannot see even a glimpse of the faculty server. Besides, we aren’t here to discuss computer security. We are here to discuss how to have you do some make up work so you can pass senior biology and graduate with your class. If you don’t do make up work you will have to take a class this summer and graduate in August.”
Todd huffed out all the air he had. His shoulders slumped and he fell back against the back of his chair.
Todd bounced back up to the edge of his seat. “No this isn’t it. I did all the work and put all the data on the server. You,” pointed to Mr. Gulato, “moved my data to the faculty server, deleting my files. You’re going to use that data in your Lab Handbook, you’re going to use my data to publish your little handbook.”
Mrs. Black held up her hand to stop Todd from talking. She looked at Mr. Gulato who was looking at her. Gulato had pursed his lips together in a sly grin and was slowly shaking his head from side to side.
“Didn’t I tell you?” said Mr. Gulato. “Didn’t I tell you he would invent some story like this? Say something like this to cover his tracks?”
Mrs. Black faced Todd again. “I know that Mr. Gulato is working on publishing a Lab Handbook. He has been working on it for the past two years. We are proud of his work in that regard. We aren’t here to discuss that. We are here to discuss you Todd.”
“I didn’t invent any story,” blurted Todd. “I can prove it to you. I hid comments in my data files. I have hid the same kind of comments in all my data files since I started high school. Give me access to the files and I will show you the comments. Then look at my data from the past three years. You can see the same comments, you can see that I did that work.”
Todd was staring at Mr. Gulato while speaking. He saw a flash of panic on Gulato’s face. It was just a flash, and Mrs. Black was looking at Todd, so she didn’t see it.
“Todd,” interrupted Mrs. Black. “Students may not see files on the faculty server. That is school board policy, and we cannot do anything about school board policy. Mr. Gulato has agreed that if you work hard the next couple of weeks you can have a D in biology and graduate with your class. Well?”
Todd stared at Mr. Gulato. He looked to Mrs. Black, but her appearance offered no hope. He turned to Mr. Martin who was yet to say anything.
“Mr. Martin,” pleaded Todd. “Come on Mr. Martin. Tell them what you told me. Tell them about acknowledgements and how Mr. Gulato’s name still goes on the cover and I still get credit for my work and I still get a scholarship. Please, tell them what you told me a couple of days ago.”
“Todd,” said Mr. Martin. “I know we talked earlier this week about this matter, but, but…”
“But what Mr. Martin?” asked Mrs. Black. “Do you have anything to say about this?”
“No ma’am, I have nothing to say about this,” answered Mr. Martin.
* * * * * * *
Todd Hindle stood in the doorway between the main hall and the counseling center. He knocked in disgust on the doorframe. He didn’t wait for Mr. Martin to answer. Instead, he walked into Martin’s office forcefully and sat in the cheap red plastic chair. He squatted on the chair with all his weight hoping to break it.
Mr. Martin looked up from his desk and set his pencil down. “Todd. What is it?”
“What is it? Mr. Martin, what is it?”
“Todd, I have a lot of work to do today. I can’t talk much, please be brief. What is it?”
“Mr. Martin, what happened yesterday? Mr. Gulato stole my work. I can prove it, just give me access to the faculty server and I can prove it.”
Mr. Martin spoke slowly in a bored tone. “Todd, students cannot have access to the faculty server. That is school board policy.”
“But Mr. Martin, I’m dead. The best I get is a D and a dead end. No college, no nothing.”
“Todd, Mrs. Black made an exception to see you about this. Consider yourself lucky.”
“Mr. Martin, you were going to tell them about acknowledgements. You were going to tell them about sharing credit and still letting Mr. Gulato have his handbook. You were going to tell them everything you told me.”
Mr. Martin moved his gaze away from Todd. He stopped making eye contact. Instead, his eyes fell to his shoes and his hands went to his temples. He rubbed his head making circles with his hands and leaving red marks on his skin.
“I know I was. I didn’t. I couldn’t.”
“What?” asked Todd. “You mean, you do remember? You do know what happened?”
“Yes Todd, I know.”
“But then, why? Why didn’t…”
“Why didn’t I say what I knew? Why didn’t I speak when I should have? Why didn’t I say what was right?”
“Yeah Mr. Martin. Why didn’t you do all those things?”
“I don’t know Todd. Whenever I sit in front of Mrs. Black I can’t say anything. I just sit there. I guess I’m a coward, I’m just afraid.”
“Afraid of what? Mr. Martin you’re the counselor. You have nothing to be afraid of.”
“I agree Todd, but I still just sit there in front of her and freeze.”
“Mr. Martin, what is going to happen?”
“Todd,” said Mr. Martin, “you are going to work hard, get a D, and graduate with your class. You will work hard at odd jobs and go to college.”
Todd and Mr. Martin sat silently for a moment looking at one another. Todd dropped his gaze to the floor. His eyes glazed over and he rubbed them before a tear could form.
“Todd,” concluded Mr. Martin, “and perhaps you won’t cower in front of authority like me. Perhaps that is the one great lesson you will learn from high school – how not to act like Mr. Martin.”