school.
Linda had never heard any mention of a charter committee before this, and she read the names of the seven members with interest. They were all teachers and staff members who shed heard through the grape-vine were gung ho about switching over. The principals secretary, Bobbi, of course, and Janet Fratelli, the fascist librarian, as well as the math teacher Art Connor and the band teacher, Joseph Carr, two recent hires she recognized by sight but didnt really know. Then there was history teacher Nina Habeck, PE coach John Nicholson and art teacher Scott Swaim, all instructors with whom Linda had had run-ins over the past few years, Nina because of her insensitive treatment of a learning-disabled freshman girl whod ended up in tears after a humiliating lecture in front of the rest of her class. This did not bode well, and Linda called Diane to get her take on the situation.
Jody may have kept mum about this charter thing to us, but she obviously has a whole transition team in place and a plan thats rarin to go, her friend said. My opinion of that woman has done a complete one eighty over the past week. I swear, if you had told me last semester that I would feel anything but gratitude and admiration for her, after the way she turned this school around, Idve said you were crazy. I considered her a friend!
I know, Linda agreed. As far as I was concerned, Jody was the best principal Ive ever worked under. And who knows? Maybe she still is. But its definitely disturbing to find out that she was covertly planning a coup the whole time she was pretending that it was business as usual.
You know, Diane pointed out, we were two of the biggest complainers about the school board, especially after the election.
Which is why its so weird that Jody didnt confide in us. I mean, this wasnt some big state secret. There was no reason to keep this under wraps. And it seems to me that by getting the input of the teachers, she could have made an even more effective case for secession. But the way she went about it . . .
Does not seem promising, Diane agreed.
Exactly.
Maybe were wrong, her friend offered. We will be getting away from the districts craziness, so it could be that this really will be better for the school. Maybe its not a power grab and Jodys just passionate because she believes so much in this.
Maybe, Linda said doubtfully.
Youre right, Diane responded. Its a power grab. All hail the queen.
The charter itself was an intimidating, densely detailed document written in nearly incomprehensible legalese that had to have been cribbed from somewhere else or generated by a lawyer. There was no way that the principal or her secretary had come up with it. The charter not only spelled out the chain of command and hierarchical levels of authority that would be installed in the reorganized school, but enumerated a dizzying array of new rules and regulations that would apply to both students and staff. To Linda, it seemed night-marishly Orwellian. If the goal was, as stated in the cover letter, to get out from under the stifling dictates of the district and put the emphasis back on teaching, this sure was a funny way to go about it. The districts bureaucracy was nowhere near as complex or byzantine as what was being proposed for the charter school.
One subparagraph in particular caught her eye: Agreements made between employees associations and the district will neither apply to nor affect charter school employees. Any union or employees association seeking to represent charter school employees in their dealings with the charter committee must first gain the approval of the charter committee, which has the right to terminate any agreement, arrangement or understanding at its discretion.
Linda read the words again. Was that