Summary: Alan and Margaret meet with Charlie's second grade teacher.
Alan sat next to his wife in the back of the room, waiting for their turn. It idd not escape his attention that, while the other parents were scheduled to meet with the teacher for 15 minutes, they had gotten a good half hour. Parenting Charlie Eppes was certainly an adventure.
The teacher was a young, pretty woman. She smiled sweetly and gestured that Margaret and Alan should join her at the table near the blackboard.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Eppes," she said, shaking their hands.
There was a faint knock at the door and two men entered. They were the reinforcements. One was the schools' principal and the other its psychiatrist. No introductions were necessary. They were all well acquainted. Margaret and Alan exchanged glances.
"Please, have a seat," the teacher said. "First I want to tell you how wonderful it is to have Charlie in my class. He is so smart and sweet. He's very helpful with the other students."
"But..." Margaret started the next sentence for her.
"But, we're not sure we can meet all of Charlie's needs here," the principal finished.
Margaret shook her head dismissively. This was well-covered territory, and if they thought she was going to budge one inch, then they didn't know his wife very well. "He's receiving private tutoring now."
"Yes," the teacher said, "and that's certainly helping. He's not nearly as bored as he once was. But, you see, he works on special assignments during school hours. Things the other students don't understand."
"Yes, but he does all of your assignments too," Margaret interjected.
The teacher sighed. "Look at this." She pulled out a manilla folder and opened it. In it were short stories the students had written. Each one was on a single piece of construction paper, written in the teacher's neat hand. "We asked the students to write stories. These are what the other students wrote. This is what Charlie wrote." She pulled out a five-page typed bundle. "The other students wrote about their families, or pets. Charlie wrote about slaying a dragon. Now, where did he get that idea?"
Margaret shifted uncomfortable in her chair and glared at Alan. Alan mumbled something.
"Hmmm? What was that?" the teacher asked.
"I'm reading The Lord of the Rings to him," Alan answered loudly.
The teacher sat there silently for a second, staring at both of them and then turned to the psychiatrist for assistance. He cleared his throat. "We don't really consider that appropriate reading material for an eight year old."
"His brother is reading the series," Alan explained. "Charlie begged us to read it to him."
"Does Charlie want to do everything his brother does?" the psychiatrist answered.
"Of course not," Margaret lied.
"These sorts of things, reading books that are above the other children's heads, special tutoring, they just serve to make Charlie stand out. To make him different from the others," the psychiatrist said.
"Charlie is different from the other children. And no one is more aware of that than Charlie," Margaret snapped. "Pulling him out of school and tutoring him full-time certainly isn't going to help that situation. Charlie needs to be in with his peers. He needs to go to recess and play tag. He needs to be in a public school."
The teacher looked at them sympathetically. "But he doesn't go out to recess. Most days he stays inside and reads or works on his tutoring assignments."
"I'll talk to him about that," Alan promised. "He'll start going out."
"It's not about recess," the principal replied. "We'd like you to consider letting Charlie skip a few grades.:
"Nope," Margaret said defiantly. "Not until he's older We will talk to him about the recess thing. And as far as this goes," she held up the story, "I'm not asking him to stifle his creativity because it makes you uncomfortable. Anything else?"
"His book report," the teacher said, meekly. "He did it on a math book.I...I don't understand it."
Margaret stared at her icily. "Then it sounds like this is a great opportunity for you to supplement your own education. I trust we're done here?"
The three educators stared at each other. They all nodded, defeated. "Then I'll see you in a month or so," she said and walked briskly out the door with Alan right behind.
Once again, Alan thought, the educational system pounded its head against the brick wall that was Margaret Eppes and came away with nothing but a headache.