by Briar Lane
“Well, that would be because there is no Mr. Taylor. But there is another Mrs. Taylor. Mrs. Ann Taylor.”
I suddenly understood. “Oh… Josh has… two moms?” I asked.
“Yes, Josh has two moms. So I am thinking homophobia is not playing into this issue.”
I felt my cheeks flush red. Okay, I guess I had jumped the gun on that one a little. But who could blame me? It made no sense why she would care about this.
“Okay, so, if she doesn’t have a problem with two women dating, why exactly is she so upset?”
“She feels like it’s inappropriate for a teacher to date a student’s parent. Like it breaks professional conduct,” he responded.
“But it doesn’t,” I said quickly. “I mean, there’s nothing in the code of conduct that says a teacher can’t date the parent of a student, right?”
“Actually… there is,” he responded seriously. “I actually didn’t know about the rule myself. It’s buried in the code of conduct. It’s not a districtwide rule; it was just put in place for our school.”
That shouldn’t have surprised me. Our particular school was the oldest in the district and it was also the most highly rated. Though it was a public school, it was still quite distinguished and we had stricter rules than the other schools did, generally speaking. Most of the rules were created back in the ‘30s and I should’ve known they’d be ridiculous.
“But… it’s not like I’m dating a student. I’m dating another adult who wants to be with me. I mean, we’re the same age, for crying out loud.”
“I really couldn’t agree with you more. Had Mrs. Taylor brought this up to me and there was nothing written about it in the code of conduct, I would’ve dismissed it. But being that it is…”
“I have to be punished somehow,” I finished for him. “Okay, so, what kind of punishment is in the code of conduct for a teacher who dates the parent of a student?”
Principal Byron looked very grave as he said, “Miss Andrews, I’m very sorry, but I have to fire you.”
I nearly choked. “Fire me? You’re going to fire me for dating another adult?”
He nodded slowly. “I don’t want to. I think you’re a fantastic teacher. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t do it.”
“But it is up to you!” I argued. “You’re the principal! Who else would it be up to?”
“Even as principal, I don’t have the power to change the code of conduct. If I didn’t have a student’s mother breathing down my neck, I would ignore it entirely. But she’s demanding I take action and I don’t see how I can avoid enforcing the rules that are plainly written.”
It was like my entire world was crumbling beneath me.
“But I love this school. I love my students.” I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else. Hell, I probably couldn’t get a job anywhere else. I was very fortunate to even get this job. Now I had only a year and a half of teaching experience and I was fired from my position? Teachers almost never get fired! Who would hire me now?
Nobody.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Andrews. I really am,” Principal Byron said. “I know it’s no consolation but I’ll write a letter of recommendation and send it anywhere you apply to.”
“I… thanks,” I said, and I had to accept that there was no use in arguing. I couldn’t get out of it. There was no way around it. “So… what about today?” I asked.
“What about today?” he asked, not understanding what I meant.
“Do I just finish out the day? Or do I work for two more weeks? Or…?”
“Sorry if I was unclear,” he said, “but you’re done… now.”
“Now?” I asked, shocked. “But what about the kids?”
“I’ve got a substitute for them. They’ll be okay.”
It was like my heart had shattered into a million pieces. I knew I had no choice, but I felt like I was abandoning my students. I wasn’t even going to get to say goodbye or explain that I wasn’t going to be able to come back.
I simply nodded and then made my way out of the office. I stopped by my classroom really quickly to collect all my belongings out of my desk before the kids got there, and then I headed to my car.
The second I was behind the wheel, I burst into tears.
15
Katie
I was just getting ready to start the car when my phone vibrated. I almost went to pick it up when I heard Alex’s voice shrill voice yell out from behind me.
“No phone!” she snapped.
“Okay, okay, you’re right,” I said. I had been trying to teach her that you can never look down at your phone and drive, and I demanded she tell me if any of her friend’s parents looked at their phone when they were in the car with her.
I had to practice what I preached of course, so I threw my cellphone in the glove box and started the car. Whatever it was, it could wait.
It was probably just work anyway, I figured. They were always calling me on my day off and bugging me to come in. Well, I had errands to run so the answer would have been no. There was no point in me rushing to call them back if I wasn’t going to come in anyway.
After I dropped Alex off at school, I turned on the radio and listened to music on the way home so I could ignore the buzzing of my phone. Even without Alex in the car I wanted to stay true to my lessons to her. Not being a hypocrite was important to me.
But as soon as I was parked, I grabbed the phone, ready to either tell off my job or a telemarketer. But to my surprise, it was neither calling me.
It was Lana.
I rang her back immediately, feeling anxious. She never called me several times in the row like this. And how was she even able to call right now? Shouldn’t she be starting class?
Lana picked up. “Hello?” she said, and I could tell immediately that she was crying.
“Baby, what’s going on?” I asked quickly. “Are you okay?”
“No,” she mumbled.
I was so confused. Was she crying like this in front of her students? Had something happened at school? Holy shit, was Alex okay?
“Where are you?” I asked immediately.
“I’m at home,” she said. I was a little relieved to hear that. At least nothing was going on at the school where I had just dropped off my daughter. “Are you at home too?”
“Yeah, I’m home,” I told her, still curious about what was happening. “Come over.”
“I’ll be right there,” she said.
I stayed in the car, wanting to watch Lana walk up the sidewalk so I could make sure she got here okay. She sounded really upset.
When I saw her come up the street, she looked even more upset than she sounded. Her entire face was puffy like she’d been crying for hours.
I jumped out of the car and ran to her, wrapping my arms around her. “Baby, what’s wrong?” I asked.
She blurted it out. “I was fired!”
My heart dropped. “What? But… why?”
“Because Mrs. Taylor complained to Principal Byron that we were dating.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped, anger overtaking me. “They fired you for being gay? Oh my God. I swear, we are going to sue that school—”
“No!” Lana said quickly. “It’s not like that at all. Mrs. Taylor is gay. She has a wife. It has nothing to do with me dating another woman.”
Now I had no idea what she was fired for. “But, okay, I don’t understand then…”
“She just didn’t like it. She thought it was unprofessional. And even though the principal didn’t really care, there is a rule stating that teachers can’t date the parents of students. Mrs. Taylor insisted that Principal Byron fire me, and because the rule is in the code of conduct, he had to.”
“Oh my God, babe, I’m so sorry.” My heart instantly broke.
I knew what this job meant to her. She loved being a kindergarten teacher. She had told me many times how lucky she felt to be working at the best school in the district her very first year out of college. She was working her dr
eam job… and now she lost it?
And it was all because of me.
I instantly felt guilty.
“Let’s go inside,” I said.
Lana nodded, and I had no idea what to say as we walked in. No clue what to do, either. I didn’t want to make this all about me, but I felt genuinely bad. Her dating me had cost her the job she loved. How was I going to live with that?
We sat on the couch and I had to ask the one thing that was on my mind.
“Do you want to break up?”
She looked at me, horrified. “What? No! Why would you say that?”
“Because I know this job is everything to you. And if you wanted to break up so that you could keep it, I would understand.”
“No, absolutely not. I wouldn’t give you up for anything. And besides, I don’t think that is how this works. The principal didn’t exactly offer to let me break up with you and keep my job. He just fired me. So breaking up with you would only mean I lost my dream job and my dream girl.”
I rubbed her back gently. “Oh, honey, I’m so, so sorry.”
She nodded. “I just… I don’t know why I came here. I just had to tell you, but I know there’s nothing you’re going to be able to say to make me feel better… I just, I don’t know. I think maybe I’ll just hang out at home today.”
“Alone?” I asked. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. There’s really nothing you’re going to be able to say and… I don’t know. I just need some alone time. Time to think this over.”
“Okay, sure. I understand,” I told her, though it was really hard to let her go back home alone when I knew she was this upset. The only thing I wanted to do right now was make her feel better, but I also knew there was nothing I could say to do that.
I gave Lana a kiss on the cheek. “I’m so sorry, babe. Is there anything I can do?”
She sighed. “No, there is nothing anyone can do.” She kissed me back and headed for the door. “I’ll call you later?”
“Okay, sure,” I said as I sat back against the couch.
But her words were ringing out in my head. ‘There’s nothing anyone can do.’
That couldn’t be true. Rules come from somewhere.
I remembered her saying that the principal didn’t even particularly care that she was dating a student’s parents and I had to wonder… If he didn’t care, why was this even happening? If he didn’t care, surely something could be done to change it.
I waited about five minutes to allow enough time for Lana to be settled back in her house and then I grabbed my keys.
Something could be done and I was going to make sure it was.
I drove back down to the school, but instead of going to the drop-off and pick-up zone like I usually did, I went to the parking lot in front of the office building.
I walked in, and though I was livid, I smiled at the school’s secretary. You get more flies with honey and all that, right?
“Is Principal Byron available?” I asked pleasantly.
“Let me go check for you, dear,” the secretary said, as she stood up and walked toward his office. Her soft gray curls bobbed a little as she walked, her green striped skirt swaying side to side.
I found myself tapping irritably on the counter of the receptionist’s desk, waiting for her to return. I don’t know why I was being so impatient. Really, I should have been happy that she and the principal were taking their time to come out. I needed to figure out what I was going to say.
The whole ride over, I wasn’t thinking about how I was actually going to address this with the principal. I could only think about how heartbroken I was for Lana, and how badly I wanted the situation fixed.
The secretary walked back out of Principal Byron’s office with a smile on her face. She was a plump woman, and the smile really accentuated her round cheeks. It made her seem very warm and inviting.
“The principal is available. Just make a right at the hall there and his office will be on the left side,” she said, pointing to the hall right next to her desk.
“Okay, perfect. Thanks.” I braced myself. I still had no script in my head. I was just going to go in and wing it. And based on how mad I was, that was probably an awful idea.
I knocked on the principal’s door and heard a “come in.”
I stepped into his office and he smiled at me just as pleasantly as the receptionist had. “Hello, how can I help you?”
“Hello, I’m the mother of one of the kindergartners here,” I said. “My daughter is Alex, from Miss Andrews’ class.”
“Ah, right. Please, have a seat. What can I do for you?”
“I take it you know why I’m here,” I said, as I sat in a chair in front of him.
“I can guess, but… if you’re here to ask why Miss Andrews was fired, I’ve got to say, it’s a little inappropriate and there’s not much I can do for you.”
I furrowed my brow. “I think it’s a little inappropriate for another parent to be getting involved in a teacher’s personal life,” I said seriously.
Principal Byron nodded. “Fair enough… But, like I said, there’s nothing that can be done.”
“How is that possible?” I asked. “How is there nothing that can be done?”
He sighed. “There are rules and I can’t circumvent them, even if I want to. Look, I really like Miss Andrews. She was a lovely teacher. I really hoped she would have a future here. But I can’t change this.”
“So, what, the rules are just written in stone?” I asked. “Surely you guys have gotten rid of outdated rules in the past, right? I mean, this is an old school. I imagine certain rules fell out of favor a long time ago.”
He nodded. “Of course. The rules change from time to time when a parent brings up something in the code of conduct that no longer seems relevant. But it’s not up to me whether that rule gets changed.”
“No?” I asked. “Who’s it up to?”
“Well…” He thought for a moment. “I suppose it’s up to everybody, really.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“When a rule has been changed in the past, it’s because it had been brought up at a PTA meeting and both parents and teachers have a vote on it. It’s the votes that decide whether a rule stays or goes.”
I smiled. There, that was it. That was how I was going to fix it.
“So, if I want to change this rule, I can go propose it at the next PTA meeting, make my speech on why it should change, and if other parents agree, we’ll vote on it?”
“Yes, that’s how it would work,” he said.
“And if that rule was changed, would you be willing to hire Lana back?”
“Yes, of course, but—”
“But what?” I asked. “How could there be a ‘but’? This seems all above-board.”
“It is. And if you make it happen, I will gladly hire Miss Andrews back. But you should know that bringing the issue up at the next PTA meeting and calling a vote won’t guarantee that the rule is going to change.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
“Because in addition to having a lot of clout in the community and being friends with most of the other parents, Mrs. Taylor, the one who complained about Miss Andrews, is head of the PTA.”
Well, shit.
16
Lana
Being that it was toward the end of the school year, it was obviously impossible for me to find any new teaching positions to apply to. I was going to have to wait until the summer for new positions to open up, so, unfortunately, I was stuck at home every day without even a job search to keep me occupied.
I tried to spend as much time as I could with Katie and Alex, but, oddly, that had been even less time than usual. There were many nights that Katie told me she had things to do. Which was weird because, before this, she didn’t seem to have that much going on. I mean, not that she didn’t have a lot going on in her life, that wasn’t what I meant at all. But whatever she normally had to do, she did with me around. Lat
ely it seemed like there was a lot she didn’t want me around for.
I didn’t know why. My only guess was that maybe she still felt guilty about what happened with me getting fired and that was why she was keeping her distance. I’d told her many times that she had nothing to feel guilty about. I chose to date her.
I was happy I was dating her, even after everything that happened. At the end of the day, I loved my job, but it was only that… a job. It wasn’t my life.
And I could see Katie actually being my life. I mean, all that really matters in this world is the people we choose to love and spend our time with. The people who become family. Already, Katie and Alex felt like my family. If they were my future, it was worth losing my job to have them in my life.
I wouldn’t deny that this was really hard for me and I imagined it was going to continue to be very hard for me. But I would survive. I would grow from the experience, and who knows? Maybe this time next year I’d have an even better job.
Okay, probably not. This was the school I had wanted to work at above all others, so the chances were that no other job was going to be better for me. Still, I was determined to remain hopeful.
I decided to go to the grocery store to grab some things for dinner. Katie was at work and Alex was at school… I had nothing to do, so I figured, why not surprise them with a huge fancy dinner?
I texted Katie on my way out the door, “Dinner tonight at my place?”
She wasn’t going to answer right away. She never did when she was working, but I knew her answer would likely be yes so I set off to the grocery store anyway.
There was a grocery store minutes from my house, but I decided to drive to the fancier grocery store in town that was about fifteen minutes away. It had better produce as well as specialty chocolates and wine. I figured I’d grab some of those for Katie as well. Why not? I really liked spoiling her.
I didn’t mind grocery shopping. In fact, I really quite enjoyed it. There was something relaxing about waltzing down the aisles, looking at all the food planning meals. Sometimes I even brought my headphones and listened to music while I shopped and made it a whole experience, but I’d forgotten them at home this time. Ah, no matter, I thought. I’m sure it’ll be relaxing for me anyway.
