(6th story) Tell Me What Happened

The first bell rang.  Clumps of students surged through the halls.  Their excited voices filled the building.

A good beginning makes a good ending, Lora Thornton, vice principal of Westwood Elementary School, thought as she half closed her office door. 

  “Do not climb the walls inside the school!” a teacher yelled.

Mrs. Thornton wished she could close the office door the whole way, but the school board, principal’s association and teachers’ union all agreed. The door must be kept open.  

“Okay, Kyle,” she said. “Mrs. Lang told me what she saw.  Let’s hear your side of the story.”   

“Zack wouldn’t let me play,” the boy said.  He sat on one of the adult sized stacking chairs that stood in a row against the wall. His feet didn’t reach the floor. 

         “Did you ask Zack if you could play?” Mrs. Thornton walked to the office chair by her desk, sat down and turned to face the seven year old boy.

“Yes.  I even said please.  And when he said no, I reminded him that Ms. Smythe says we are supposed to include, not exclude classmates.  Exclusion is a type of bullying.” The boy nodded his head.

Mrs. Thornton looked down at her lap, then coughed slightly behind her hand. “At what point in that conversation did you roof his ball?”

“I was just trying to show how good I throw so they would let me play,” His hands curled around the edge of the chair’s black plastic arm rests. 

“The basketball nets are not near the roof, Kyle.  Don’t you think it would have been more impressive if you had thrown the ball into the net?” The vice principal sat back and placed her hands in her lap.

“I see that now.” Kyle said.  His blue eyes were wide and earnest.

The vice-principal coughed again.

The boy slid forward on his chair.  “Zack said his mom said he couldn’t play with me because I’m a cheater and a bully!  Ms. Smythe says those are putdowns!”

The vice principal raised her eyebrows. “You have roofed Zack’s ball before.”

“I throw good.”

“Aim is part of throwing well, Kyle. Were you aiming for the roof?”

“I guess I need to work on that part.”  The boy slid back and swung his feet.  “Is Zack going to get in trouble for excluding me and using put downs?”

“I’ll talk to Zack.” Mrs. Thornton rose from her chair. “You are in trouble for roofing his ball.  You’ll miss first recess and write a letter of apology to Zack and to Mr. White since he will have to go on the roof to get the ball.” 

“But what about Zack? He’s a bully!  He used put downs and he wouldn’t let me play and he wouldn’t let Sam and Marc let me play either.”

“I will talk to the other boys, but roofing the ball was not the right decision. What should you have done when Zack said you couldn’t play?”

The vice principal was standing now.  Kyle looked up at her face.  He scowled.  “I should have gone to get a yard duty teacher or asked to join someone else’s game.”  He swung his feet faster.  “None of this would have happened if my mom hadn’t taken my basketball away.  This is her fault.” 

Mrs. Thornton sighed as she reached into a black mesh cup on her desk.  She chose a thick, blue primary pencil and picked up a sheet of ruled paper from the pile on the filing cabinet.  “The first step in learning from your mistakes is admitting to them.  You chose to roof the ball, Kyle.  Your mother did not make that choice for you.  Go sit down and start writing those letters of apology.”

***********************

“My mom is going to be so mad. That was a new ball!”  Zackery sat on the edge of the black plastic stacking chair so that his feet were firmly on the floor.  

“Mr. White will get your ball down from the roof.  I’ve already told you that, Zackery. Can you sit properly, please?” Mrs Thornton sat back in her office chair. 

The boy shrugged, then slid forward. Mrs. Thonton pressed her lips together. It seemed they had different ideas of what sitting properly meant. “What did you say to Kyle?” she asked.

“I said he couldn’t play because we had already started the game, but maybe he could play next time if he promised not to cheat or roof my ball.” 

“Did you call him a cheater and a bully?”

. “No!” Zackery exclaimed. “I reminded him that he was a cheater last time.” The back legs of his chair lifted a millimetre off the floor.

Mrs. Thornton rose and strode towards the boy, whose brown eyes grew wider as she approached. “Sit back Zackery. You’re going to fall.” She set her hand on the back of his chair.   “You should not have called him a cheater. You’re going to have to apologize to Kyle.”

The boy wiggled back. “He called us sissies and he roofed the ball!”

“How did he get the ball?” Mrs. Thornton returned to her chair.

Zackery slid forward on his seat. “He caught it when Sam was throwing it to me. When will I get my ball back?” 

The chair tipped forward and Zackery fell to the floor.

****************

“Okay Sam.  Tell me what happened outside this morning.” Mrs. Thornton said.

Sam sat back on the chair and swung his legs back and forth.  “Me and Zack and Marc were playing basketball.  Kyle asked if he could play.  I threw the ball to him.  He’s a good basketball player. Then Zack said it was his ball and Kyle couldn’t play because he cheats.  He does cheat sometimes.  He needs to work on his good sportsmanship. Ms. Smythe says that’s important. Then Kyle said he wouldn’t cheat.  Then Zack said his mom said he wasn’t supposed to play with Kyle ‘cause Kyle was a cheater and a bully.  Then Kyle said that was silly and he threw the ball really hard and it landed on the roof.  Then Mrs. Lang came over.and she told Kyle to go to the office and then I don’t know what happened because I was still outside, but we couldn’t play basketball no more ‘cause we didn’t have no ball.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Mrs Thornton rubbed her forehead. “You may go back to class.”

********************

“Okay Marc.  Tell me what happened outside this morning.” Mrs. Thornton sat back in her chair.

Marc sat on his hands and rocked back and forth. “I didn’t even see Amanda. It was an accident.  I didn’t fall on her on purpose.”

The vice principal sighed.  She spun her chair and scrawled a note on a pad of yellow paper.

“I didn’t fall hard,” Marc said.

Mrs. Thornton turned her chair back around. “Okay, Marc.  I’ll check with Amanda to make sure she’s okay. Be more careful.”

Marc nodded.

“What happened between Kyle and Zackery this morning?” Mrs. Thornton crossed her ankles.

“Kyle took Zack’s ball from Sam and roofed it.” Marc threw a pretend ball into the air.

“Was there any name calling?” Mrs. Thornton asked.

“Kyle called us bullies and sissies. I think Kyle’s the bully.”

“Did Zack say anything to Kyle?”

“He asked for his ball. I went for help. I got Mrs. Lang. Ms. Smythe says we should get help from an adult.  I did that.”

“Good work, Marc. You may go back to class.” Mrs. Thornton rose from her chair.

**************

The final bell had rung.  The children had gone home.  Lora Thornton stepped out into the hall to enjoy the quiet that had returned to the old brick building and to reflect.  Had her day begun well?  She tried to remember.

Then the copier beeped and a young woman walked out into the hall with a pile of papers in her hand.

“Sherry, may I speak with you for a moment?” Mrs. Thornton called to the young woman.

“Sure. Is this about the Kyle and Zack issue?” Sherry Smythe, one of the grade two teachers, stopped and turned to face the vice principal. 

“Yes, You’ve done a good job teaching them what they should do.  They quote you often.” Mrs. Thornton leaned back against the wall and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jacket. 

“Thank you,” Sherry smiled. “Kyle wanted a class vote on who was the bully.”

“They need to learn to differentiate between bullying and conflict,” Mrs. Thornton shook her head. “How was the rest of their day?”

“Not great.  Zackery was passing Kyle’s letter of apology around.  I took it away, but Kyle was in tears.”

“I expect I’ll get a call from both their parents. Accusations, like history, repeat themselves. I did consider phoning, but Zack got his ball back and the incident didn’t seem like that big a deal. But,” Mrs. Thornton sighed.  “Maybe I should have phoned.”

“Lora!” Bev Grey, principal of Westwood School, called.

“Yes.” Lora Thornton turned to face the principal.

“We need to talk.  I just got a call from from Mrs. Winston.  She says you bullied her son into an unnecessary and insincere apology. She is very upset.”