The principal was clearly not happy to see them when they entered his office on Thursday. Jane assumed that he knew that they would bring in a complaint. She could already feel how he would try to get rid of them as quickly as possible. He didn't even offer them some water or coffee and immediately took on a defensive position. They both gave him a polite smile after exchanging glances seeing that they both were thinking the same.
"Please , have a seat." The principal said and motioned to the seats in front of his desk. It was Maura who opened the talk by stating that Harry had told them about some incidents at school. The principal smiled innocently as he listened to the one specific incident which had led to the fist fight between Harry and the other boy.
When Maura had finished, he leaned forward and gave the doc a glance as if she was being ridiculous. "Ms. Isles, the children tell their parents everything to make them believe that they are innocent. I had a talk to the other boy and he said, that Harry had punched him out of no where. And I took it from your reaction back then, that it hadn't been the first time your son had become violent." The man paused and Jane already felt enraged.
"Its Dr. Isles. And I wonder why you believe the other boy more than ours?" the blonde calmly said. Jane truly admired her for keeping it that cool towards the outside. Although she knew by now that Maura felt completely different on the inside. It wasn't her style to emphasize her title, but the prick had it coming as it was obvious that he deliberately dropped her title when addressing her. Jane found him arrogant.
"As you might know, we are one of the best schools in the entire county, probably in the entire states. We must turn down hundreds of applications each year. We took your son because he seemed to match the intelligence to fulfill our high standards. If I had known that he was unable to control his anger issues, I would have turned him down." The principal said in self-satisfaction. So, this is what it came down to Jane thought: he was now threatening them. God knew on how many parents his demeanor worked, but it wouldn't on them.
Maura was rich for sure, and her sons education was important to her but she wouldn't let him threaten them. Jane was aware of Maura bending forward too. "If I had known that this school allowed bullying, I would have considered my choice of sending him to your school." She said staring him in the eye.
The principal gave a small laugh, seemingly becoming insecure at the fact that his threatening wasn't working. He was the one who became defensive now. "Listen doctor. I know my students and I know my teachers. There is no bullying going on in these sacred halls."
"Liar!" Jane scoffed and now benched forward as well. "I witnessed how the referee treated Harry on the field. Moreover, he made some really inappropriate comments towards me in front of the kids." She said.
"I'm really sorry Ms. Rizzoli that you feel so easily offended. I understand that parents defend their children when they think that injustice is done to them but you punching the referee in front of the kids certainly gave a worse example to them then whatever he might or might not have said to you." The principal smiled arrogantly at her.
"Did you even investigate the matter?" Maura asked before Jane could reply.
The principal leaned back again. "Of course, I did. All witnesses underlined the fact that the referee had been nice to Harry and that Ms. Rizzoli started a fight. Like mother like son I'd say. And speaking of which, I feel highly uncomfortable at the situation. Parents have already turned up asking questions and complaining. Harry claims that Ms. Rizzoli is his second parent. Whatever that means… father or mother. Its bad enough that you confuse the child with lying about being homosexual." He grinned in satisfaction. Jane translated his words into him asking to be grateful that Harry was still at his school. She began to wonder how much the monthly tuition was. They had never talked about it and she had never asked.
"You can't afford to kick Harry out of your school." Maura stated calmly. "In the contrary of you I did some real research. Your school is still rated highly and still lives from a good reputation which in reality is crumbling. Parents are taking their kids off your school one by one, and I wonder if you ever asked yourself why this is." She looked at him as he slightly shrunk in his chair.
"These are lies. The school has no problems. If parents take out their kids its probably because they move to another state." He explained licking his lips nervously. "We are a good school. We take good care of the kids. And yes, maybe the referee might not always have been fair. But that's part of the lesson we want to transpire: life is not always fair." He was in total defense now.
Jane huffed. "I think Harry already learned that and its not your task to teach kids stuff like that." Maura nodded in agreement. "We trust you with our kids. But you let some stupid teachers be bad examples for them. How many kids got bullied here I wonder? The number of dropouts is higher than it would be if someone would just move to another state. Your teachers are being bad role models to them, teaching them that its okay to hurt people. And forgive me for saying so, but that's stupid. Pupils will leave the school stupid because this is the biggest lesson they have learned that its okay to treat other people like shit." Jane was enraged now, and Maura didn't hold her back. It was only fair to Jane to speak up because she knew what she was talking about. She too had experienced enough injustice in her life.
Jane and Maura had conducted the studies together. Maura had taken care of statistics and dug out some severe cases of bullying and Jane had talked to some of the parents.
And after Jane had pulled the financial background information of the school – illegally, but as she had explained to Maura: the cause justified the meanings – they knew that the school was already sort of broke. They needed every tuition to keep this place running.
The principal glanced at them, and Jane stared back. Maura shook her head. "If you cant handle this, we will take Harry off your school." She simply said. The principal licked his lips. "Maybe there is a misunderstanding." He began. "Maybe all parties just misunderstood the things happening. I think we could manage a new start." He offered with a slimy grin but Jane had had enough.
"No, I think we're done. We are going to find another school for Harry. He is a sweet kid and deserves better than the shit you've been handing him here." She spoke looking at Maura who smiled.
"I agree. I honestly hoped that we could settle this problem but stating that it might be a misunderstanding is not enough for me. I would have expected you to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. But you failed us. You made it clear that you believed everybody else more than us which is probably the most convenient way for you. If you close your eyes towards the bad things happening here, you wouldn't have to take measurements against them." The blonde stated and stood. The principal was about to speak up again but Jane simply held up her hand. "Don't" she warned and took Maura's hand. They both left the office and smiled.
Maura didn't object when Jane suggested to send him to a public school. In fact: she had already asked if they would take him at TJ's school and they had said yes. They would even be in the same class.
