Karla pulled her collar up and trudged on. She was pessimistic about finding Stephanie anywhere nearby but decided to continue for a while. The phone chirped a minute later. It was Ryan to report that he had had no luck but he had called several parents who were now helping search the neighbourhood. She told him what she was doing and clicked off, only to have her phone chirp again. It was Pauline who was now crying openly.
"She's not here, Karla," she sobbed. "I've phoned Gary…" That was her husband. "He's rung the police and is coming home."
"I've just about got to the Grover Road exit. I'll go up to the road and if I don't see her, will continue up the track." Karla clicked and almost ran up the steps to the road; saw nothing except rain and an empty bus shelter. She sighed, returned back down to the track and walked up a steep zigzag section. It was quite eerie here and would have been scary for a little girl. After the steps changed direction twice she came out onto open section with a creeper covered cliff on her left and a down slope of grass in the other direction. The rain hit her face as she glanced around. There in the mud were several tiny footprints.
"Stephanie!" she screamed. "Are you there, Sweetheart?"
Silence!
"It's Miss Spicer, Stephanie. Your mummy is looking for you. We all are!"
She stepped forward and frowned. Even though the muddy surface continued, the footprints stopped three quarters of the way across the open section. She almost ran the dozen or so metres, slipped and just managed to stay on her feet. The grass on her right had a narrow crushed line that dropped down into trees about twenty metres away. Beyond them the ground dropped into a deep gully.
"Stephanie." she screamed again. "Just stay still. I'm coming down!"
It was a steep slope. After only three steps she slipped, fell sideways and skidded down with a mini landslide of mud and debris accompanying her. For a moment she was disorientated with only the sensation of feeling soaking wet, that her arm had banged against something and immediately ahead was a steep drop into the gully. If she fell over that! She brought her knees up and lashed out with her arms, found a clump of fern to grab and managed hit her shoulder on a tree trunk She reached out, grabbed an adjacent root and stopped herself from going further. Covered in mud, she stood, rubbing a scratched and bleeding arm. At least she didn't go over the cliff
Sobbing on the left reached her ears.
"Stephanie!"
"I'm sorry Miss Spicer."
There holding on her backpack and cuddling in against the tree was the little girl everyone was looking for.
"Oh Stephanie Sweetheart, there is nothing to be sorry about" She grabbed and hugged the little girl. "It's all okay. I'll phone Mummy. She's been really worried about you."
Karla looked down and realised her mobile phone had gone. Damn, she must have dropped it on the way down. She glanced up but could only see mud and grass where she had slipped, the rain was cutting across in a torrent and further up, everything was hidden by the misty conditions.
"The big boys teased me, Miss Spicer," Stephanie sobbed. "I couldn't find the steps home and…" She burst into anguished sobs. "My dress is all muddy. Mummy will be mad."
"Look at me, Stephanie," Karla whispered. "I'm all muddy too. What is Mr Narwood going to say to me when I go back to school?"
"He'll send you home and tell you to put a new dress on." Stephanie wiped her tears and gave a little pout at the idea of their principal telling a teacher off.
"That's right, he will so I'd better get you home so I can go to my house and find a clean dress."
Stephanie nodded and almost smiled. "Will Mummy growl at me?"
"No, I don't think so, Sweetheart. She'll be so pleased you're safe she will just hug you tight. I think Daddy will, too."
"And Peter and Cathy?"
Karla assumed they were Stephanie's brother and sister. "They sure will."
She held the little girl who was shaking, wet and cold. The tree they were beneath actually grew out of the bank. Beyond it was an almost vertical drop down to a grove of shrubs. Karla turned but saw nothing on either side of them that they could walk across. The only way out was back up to the track.
"We have to climb back up the bank that I just skidded down," she said. "We will get wet and muddy again but you don't mind, do you?"
Stephanie shook her head. "I was too scared to try it by myself."
"It was very sensible to get under the tree and wait. When we go up, keep an eye out for my cellphone. It must be there somewhere." Her ploy was to give the little girl something to think about. "Now you go first and I'll be right behind you. If you slip I'll grab you. Okay?"
"Yes, Miss Spicer."
Karla lifted Stephanie up above the exposed root and checked that she was secure before she managed to pull herself up.
"Try to keep to the grass on our left. Reach up, grab a clump of grass and pull."
"My backpack!" Stephanie cried. "I've lost my backpack."
"No, I've got it. Are you ready"
Stephanie actually made her way up the slippery slope quite easily while Karla had to be careful she didn't pull any grass out by the roots. She almost slipped once but dug her shoes in behind a large stone while at the same time boosting the little girl further up to a small ledge. It was slow progress with mud in her hair and the pouring rain soaking right though her clothes and stinging her eyes.
Finally, they reached the top where, gasping and heaving, she placed her arms around the little girl and just hugged her close.
"Would you like a piggy-back home?" she asked. "You can put your backpack on and climb on my back. Okay?"
"I'm cold, Miss Spicer."
"So hang on around my neck and cuddle in close."
She helped Stephanie put her pack on, hitched the little girl onto her back and stood up, amazed about how heavy she was.
"You okay?" she shouted back.
"We never found your phone."
"Doesn't matter. I've got a spare one at home. Now, hang on tight but don't throttle me."
Stephanie laughed and sounded quite cheerful as they walked back along the track. It was further than Karla remembered but when they arrived at the steps, she recognised the area. She hitched her companion up again and was thankful there was a handrail to hold as she ascended the steep steps.
They came out on the road to see a blue and red flashing light in the misty rain about a hundred metres up the road. A police car was parked by the kerb in front of an upmarket house that Stephanie said was her place.
A policewoman walked out of the house driveway with Pauline beside her.
"Mummy!" cried Stephanie.
The woman glanced up, saw them and broke into a run. She stopped just before them and stared at Karla with tear-stained eyes. "You found her, Karla. Oh my God. You found her! Thank you."
Karla squatted down and helped the little girl slide off her back. She watched as a crying Pauline lifted Stephanie into her arms and kissed her.
"Miss Spicer found me Mummy. I slipped down a bank."
Pauline glanced up. "Oh Karla," she sobbed. "But look at you. Your sleeve is soaked in blood."
Karla lifted her arm and realised it was bleeding. "I never noticed," she muttered.
Without warning, everything around began to spin and she only had a vague memory of the policewoman reaching out to grab her as she sank to the ground.
*
She opened her eyes and saw a white ceiling above her and felt the sensation of moving. She was lying on a narrow bed and someone was holding her hand. It was Ryan! "Where am I?" she gasped.
"In an ambulance," Ryan replied. "Stephanie and Pauline are in another one. We'll be at the hospital in five minutes." He grinned at her. "When you knew Stephanie was safe you collapsed on the road. The medics reckoned you'll be okay but are taking you in for a check up, just in case."
"How's Stephanie?"
"Better than you, to tell you the truth. She's a brave little girl."
"She is." Karla felt w
oozy so lay back on the pillow and shut her eyes. Stephanie was safe and that was all that mattered.
*
"So you made one of your biggest pain-in-the-butts into a friend?" Ryan said two hours later after she had her cut arm bandaged and was declared fine by the Accident and Emergency doctor. She had had a warm shower at the hospital and changed into dry clothes Ryan had produced. Afterwards they took a suburban bus back to Tui Park School where both their vehicles were still parked.
Karla grinned. "I guess so. Pauline was a genuinely upset, you know. I'm glad it turned out okay."
"Yeah but if she wasn't so demanding of her child it probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. "
"Possibly but who am I to judge one of our parents. I do my best for the children and take the adults for what they are."
"Snobs and slobs?"
Karla nodded. "And everyone in between."
Ryan laughed. "Okay, point taken. Want to go and have a coffee?"
"No thanks."
"I could come to your place."
"No thanks."
Ryan grinned. "Well you can't blame a lad for trying."
Karla reached up and kissed him on the lips. "I'm going home. See you tomorrow." She walked over to her Mazda, climbed in, waved and drove away.
*
CHAPTER 6
The following week's senior staff meeting at Tui Park came to a head after another disagreement about the school's assessment policy with Val continuing her opposition to the National Standards and insisting that the system they had used over the previous few years should be continued in parallel with the new system.
Karla's argument was still that it duplicated work and should be replaced by the new system. Gillian supported her and Murray, as usual remained neutral but after almost an hour of sometimes-heated proposals he agreed with her and Gillian.
"So at the end of the year we will also change our school reports to parents to include the national standard graphs and cut out all the long written notes that tend to be flowery anyway?" Karla asked.
"They are not," snapped Val. "My parents find them very informative. The comment boxes should stay."
"So keep them in the Junior Reports to Parents," Gillian said.
"Sounds reasonable," Murray replied. "We'll keep them for the juniors and phase them out in the senior school." He glanced up. "I guess you would use the Senior Reports in your syndicate, Karla?"
"Well we're amalgamating next year anyway."
"So you flutter your eyebrows and get your own way yet again." Val whispered. "It's like that episode with Stephanie McKay."
Karla swung around. "What about that?"
"Well you had to run off to find her and get the glory instead of following school protocol."
"Which is?" Karla hissed and felt anger rise in her throat.
"You should have stayed at school to coordinate the rescue and sent the boyfriend off up the track."
Karla stood up, shaking and glowered at the smirking woman. "Boyfriend!" she retorted.
"Everyone knows you're shacked up with him practically all the time. I doubt if that helps our school's good reputation."
"And if you didn't roar out of the school grounds everyday by three-thirty instead of being here until the expected four you could have been the coordinator!" Karla found her voice was almost a scream. She lowered it to a whisper. "Anyway, what I do in my personal life is none of your business."
"Ladies, please!" Murray stood up between them for Val was now also on her feet with her jaw stuck out and bosom heaving. He turned to Val. "I agree with Karla. A colleague's personal life is exactly that, personal."
"She started it with her innuendo about me leaving early all the time. I wish to remind you that…"
Murray held his hand up, "Stop it, Val. Please sit down."
Karla also sat down but avoided looking at Val. She did, however notice Gillian's looking at her with slightly raised eyebrows and slight nod. Karla swallowed. "I'm sorry, Murray. I should not have reacted as I did."
Val muttered her own apology under her breath but still sat on the edge of her chair with her face looking like thunder.
"I think we will call it a day," Murray said. "At tomorrow's full staff meeting I'll give them details of our new reporting system, the standards and our reports to parents." He gathered up some papers before him, flashed a grimace around and retreated.
Val followed without another word and Gillian placed a hand on Karla's shoulder. "Don't let her get to you," she said in a kind voice. "She's not worth it."
"Okay we disagree on school policy but when she brings my personal life into it…" She shook her head and found there were almost tears in her eyes. "And that bit about Stephanie."
"Sheer jealousy. I guess you didn't hear the latest."
Karla glanced up. "The latest what?"
"Pauline McKay had a big row with her yesterday, told her bluntly she wasn't satisfied with the way the Junior School was run and if she copied the Middle Syndicate her little girl would have made better progress. She also approached Murray and insisted that Stephanie be put in your class next year."
Karla grinned. "Sounds like Pauline. Give her another week and she'll forget about what I did for Stephanie and be on her next rampage about something else she doesn't like."
"Possibly," Gillian replied. "She's a better friend than enemy, though. There are plenty of other parents here who are similar to her."
"I know," Karla said as she gathered up her gear. "Thanks for your support Gillian."
"No problem." The deputy principal smiled. "I think both Val and Murray have had trouble adapting to the modern school environment."
"So they should both retire?" Karla whispered.
Gillian just gave a shrug. "See you tomorrow," she replied and walked away.
*
John Cosgrove gazed out the window from one of the upper floors the Bowen Street State Building behind New Zealand's parliament at the southerly storm that still battered Wellington. He grinned at the sight of pedestrians way below almost being blown over. He was interrupted when he heard his named mentioned. His boss, Doctor Janice Trent, Education Review Office Chief Executive Officer was staring at him.
"You're the senior ERO officer who visited the Top Plateau School for the latest inspection. Can you tell the Associate Minister of Education what you reported to me?" She nodded at the other woman in the room who sat across the oval shaped table.
"My formal report is on the table." John muttered. He had only been seconded to the ERO team from his position as a primary school principal a couple of months earlier and found this hierarchy of top education professionals a little overwhelming.
"What do you think about the school, its principal and the Board of Trustees? More importantly what you recommend should be done." Like Janice Trent, Lorraine Tapiki, was a highly educated person but she was a Member of Parliament and ultimately the one who made any final decision on the matter. "Just tell us what you hinted at in your official report."
"Can I be blunt?"
"Of course. Nothing said here goes any further. However, if we think it desirable, a vetted version could be sent to the Crown Law Office for their perusal."
John sighed. "Edward Wilton the principal and sole teacher at Top Plateau School has done nothing criminally wrong except for perhaps plagiarism and even that would only result in a wrist slap if he was ever charged. He is, or was well respected in a conservative farming area because he relates to the farmers there."
"How?" Mrs Tapiki asked.
"Oh he's the Grit of the Earth sort. He has a beard, goes shooting and tramping, looks after school sheep as well as any farmer and knows how far he can go without stepping over any line."
"Explain!" Janice Trent whispered as she placed her iPad on the table.
"Written records. When he arrived at the school back in 1997 he followed a young woman who was very conscientious and had meticulous records. She, by the way is now principal of quite a l
arge school in the South Island. These records carried him through for almost a decade but with a change of emphasis they became dated. Five years back he was advised to update his charter and other records, He never did and two years ago he was issued a stern warning to do it. Likewise, his records of subject planning and children's progress were almost non-existent. When we returned ten days ago we were given written and online documents that looked on the surface to be of high quality." John stopped and sipped from a glass of water before continuing. "They seemed so out of character that I decided to do a check. Victoria University has a sophisticated search programme to check on plagiarism in student's research and can find paragraphs or even sentences out of millions of words published throughout the world that are not original. It can even cross-reference acknowledgements at the end of a thesis, for example and highlight those sections that are illegally copied. His charter was an amalgamation of three charters from other New Zealand sole charge or two-teacher schools. Oh it flowed beautifully without the usual geographical errors etcetera so I used this programme to run another check.
There is a Hong Kong company that specialises in fake degrees. It's called 'Sound Degrees' and goes beyond just issuing certificates from known universities that one can place on an office wall. It will for a price, send you a whole thesis and follow up documentation that a student might have in, say, a three year masters degree.
We believe that Ted Wilton sent this firm the three charters along with his original one, the one his predecessor wrote and possibly Ministry of Education documents on new policies to have this new immaculate charter made up. I even costed it out."
"Interesting, but go on," Mrs Tapiki said.
"For a little under a thousand New Zealand dollars he could have had this, school planning for two years and individual records for the dozen children at the school sent to him. Even children's fake individual work would have been included. I think he baulked at using these records but did include this fake planning and evaluation."
"And this Hong Kong firm. Can we as a government put a stop to it?"
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